Escape from the Classroom

The Real Reason Parents Are Fleeing Public Schools

This week, Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, shared a link to an Axios.com piece by Sareen Habeshian simply entitled, “What’s Behind The Increase In Homeschooling.” Apparently, Weingarten is puzzling over the increasing trend of educating your children at home.

It's a typical move from the head of a major teachers' union—feigning ignorance on a glaringly obvious issue. What's driving parents to homeschool? Well, if you've been paying even a fraction of attention, the answer is as clear as day.

But Habeshian's article spins a narrative that pins the homeschooling trend on racism and bigotry. It points to families escaping the school system to avoid being bullied by those who have traditional religious beliefs or parents saving their gender-fluid child from threats of harassments. She even claims that there are Black families that avoid the school system because of the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

Here are the hard truths that the Axios piece and similar narratives conveniently overlook:

1. LGBTQ+ Ideology Over Education

   The aggressive push of LGBTQ+ themes in school curricula, targeting children as young as five, isn't just educationally inappropriate — it's ideologically driven. This isn't about tolerance or diversity; it's about indoctrinating children with a specific worldview, often at the expense of foundational academic skills.

2. Parental Rights Erosion

   The increasing incidents of schools making critical decisions about a child’s gender identity, without parental involvement, smack of authoritarian overreach. This isn’t just about education; it’s about fundamental parental rights being trampled upon by an increasingly intrusive educational bureaucracy.

3. The Collapse of Academic Standards

   The catastrophic decline in public school performance is not a secret. With math and reading proficiencies hitting rock bottom, the public education system is failing its basic mandate. We are watching a system implode, prioritizing social engineering over academic excellence.

In this climate, homeschooling emerges as just about the only rational choice for parents who care about a meaningful education. It's not about sheltering kids from diversity; it's about shielding them from a system that's more interested in political indoctrination than in teaching basic skills.

Weingarten’s question is a distraction from the real issue: a public education system in freefall. The rise in homeschooling isn’t just a trend; it’s a referendum on a failed system. It's time to demand a return to an education system that teaches, not preaches; that informs, not conforms; and that prepares our children for the future, not just propagandizes them in the present.