Quiet Takeover
“Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.” – C. Everett Koop
In Wyoming — a place that prides itself on independence and family autonomy — parental responsibility carries even deeper meaning. It’s within the home that children develop their first sense of identity, learn core values, and gain the guidance they need to grow into capable adults. At the center of this is the vital role of parents. They are the primary decision-makers, protectors, and advocates for their children long before any outside institution steps in.
But this role requires far more than love and good intentions. With parental authority comes an enormous amount of responsibility. God has granted parents these children, and it is their fundamental right to raise them the best they can. Every family must navigate a complex web of daily decisions that shape a child’s development: their health care, social experiences, emotional maturity, education, and more. All of these responsibilities must be shaped around the unique values and priorities that make each family different. Parenting is one of the most demanding leadership roles a person can take on.
And it is precisely because this responsibility is so significant that a troubling development deserves attention: a quiet takeover aimed at shaping children’s worldviews and core values from outside the home. Across the country — and increasingly here in Wyoming — schools are moving beyond teaching academics and are beginning to force their way into controlling aspects of a child’s development that can, and should, only be guided by parents. Decision-making that once belonged firmly in the home is being subtly redirected into the hands of bureaucracies and outside influencers.
Most teachers and school staff genuinely care about the kids they serve. They show up, they work hard, and they want students to thrive. These people are not the problem. It’s the larger systems and outside pressures shaping what those classrooms are becoming.
Classrooms are being used to advance political objectives that have little to do with genuine education. Curriculum changes, social messaging, and policy decisions are being shaped by outside influencers who are not accountable to local communities. This goes beyond academics. It signals an attempt to guide children’s beliefs, behaviors, and identities according to value systems chosen by special interests rather than parents.
The result is a troubling landscape where educational goals are pushed aside in favor of ideological agendas. It is a system that is slowly minimizing parental involvement, making key choices about children’s development without the partnership, approval, or even awareness of the families it is supposed to serve.
Students become vehicles for political advantage. Classrooms become battlegrounds for contested ideas. And children, perhaps the most vulnerable stakeholders in the system, are treated less as young learners and more as pawns in a larger effort to reshape culture from the inside out.
Schools were never meant to replace parents or define a child’s worldview. They were meant to partner with families, not pull authority away from them.
Schools are supposed to be serving parents, supporting them in a way that complements their family’s learning priorities and worldview. Not undermining parents’ rightful authority and creating distrust. And yet here we are…
A quiet takeover.
Learn more about the issue:
Parents across Wyoming Grade Their Children’s Public School Experience a C-
Which special interest group is using WY students as their political pawns?