During many of his appearances to promote school choice, Gov. Greg Abbott has told parents that he wants to end indoctrination of “woke” agendas. Critics are quick to point out that most of Abbott’s appearances are religious schools. The governor, they claim, is a hypocrite because he is promoting a “new brand of indoctrination.” While I am not a big fan of Abbott, on several counts this is an unfair and inaccurate claim.
First, Abbott has not stated opposition to any form of indoctrination. If he had done so, then he would be a hypocrite if he supports indoctrination of religious ideas.
Second, teaching a set of ideas is not indoctrination in and of itself. Indoctrination occurs when dissent and opposing views are not allowed, when ideas are supposed to be accepted uncritically. The fact that a private school teaches the tenets of its religious beliefs is not evidence of indoctrination.
Third, there is an important and essential distinction between the indoctrination that occurs in government schools and any indoctrination that occurs in private schools. And this distinction goes to the heart of school choice.
Government schools are political institutions. A state agency—the Texas Education Agency (TEA)—controls the textbooks and curriculums in government schools. Funding of those schools is controlled by the legislators. Local school boards are elected positions. Political agendas shape the made by the TEA, politicians, and school boards.
Parents who send their children to government schools have little voice in what is taught. Certainly, they can take their concerns to the TEA, their representatives, or the local school board. But they are one voice in many, and they must ultimately accept whatever politicians and bureaucrats decree, even if it isn’t what is best for their child. The parents of government school students cannot choose what ideas their children are taught. They will receive whatever indoctrination the educational bureaucracy chooses.
Having said all of the above, indoctrination in any form is not a rational educational policy. Indoctrination stifles a child’s intellectual development. He is not taught to think, but to passively accept whatever he is told. And that is the dream of every dictator.