Leftist activists know that capturing the youth is the best way to expedite transformational social change.

Accordingly, they have co-opted our schools to indoctrinate our children with radical ideologies. Not only do they insist on allowing men in girls’ sports and private spaces and forcing teachers to use the preferred pronouns of transgender students, but “progressive” states and school districts are also mandating curriculum and lesson plans that teach our children that America and the institutions of our civilization are inherently discriminatory and evil.

By shifting its focus away from teaching core fundamentals toward ideological agendas that teach our young students to hate America, public education is neglecting its primary responsibility — turning our children into patriotic and productive citizens.

A major part of this effort has been the elimination of the study of the foundational principles of our democracy. In many states, the study of Western Civilization has been replaced with a warped, culturally Marxist narrative that sows division and confrontation based on race, religion, and gender, and seeks to impose specific views on students about politics and sex. It has become commonplace in schools to implement “action or protest” civics, replacing “service learning” with formal civics education in the classroom.

The spread of so-called ethnic studies programs across K-12 schools nationwide is a good illustration of what is happening on this front. Defending Education just released a major report documenting how “ethnic studies” programs are being used across the country to indoctrinate students and turn them into activists in support of an extreme Leftist agenda.

The report exposes, for example, Berkeley’s High School Ethnic Studies Initiative’s resource hub,  which includes lessons and resources on “drag pedagogy,” “equitable grading,” “teach[ing] Palestine”, and “whiteness as property,” as well as the University of Minnesota “Ethnic Studies Initiative,” which works directly with K-12 districts to create lesson plans and resources for 6th graders that promote defunding the police and glorifying Black Lives Matter.

Sadly, we are already witnessing the impact of this indoctrination. According to a June Gallup survey, from 2021 to 2025, less than half (41%) of Gen Z adults said they were very or extremely proud to be American. Not surprisingly, many of them are embracing socialism and taking to the streets to advocate for all sorts of radical causes.

It seems obvious that if we do not reverse this trend, we will lose our country. And this requires prompt action and strong leadership at all levels of government.

Considering that education is ultimately an issue reserved for the states under the Constitution, governors and state lawmakers should move quickly to revise curriculum and education standards to depoliticize the classroom and ensure our students receive proper civic education that fosters a love of country.

Some states have already moved decisively in this direction. Iowa passed a law last year requiring its Board of Education to review and revise the state’s social studies standards to emphasize “United States history, government, founding philosophies and principles, important historical figures, Western Civilization, and civics.” Ideally, states should model their standards on strong, substantive content, such as the American Birthright curriculum of the National Association of Scholars.

Parental rights protections should also be strengthened through legislation at both the state and federal levels to guarantee that parents can fully review what their children are being taught and can have them opt out of any class, lesson plan, or survey that is purely ideological.

Full, universal educational freedom should also be pursued by states to allow parents to select alternatives to schools that seek to radicalize their children. The publicly funded Education Savings Account programs in Arizona and Florida, available to every student in the state and allowing parents to use funds to pay for school tuition, are excellent models for states to follow. President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act also provides a historic and consequential boost to education freedom by creating a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 on donations to non-profits that grant scholarships that can be used to pay for tuition.

As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, let us remember the Founders’ belief in the importance of education, especially classical education, for the preservation of liberty and republican self-government. If we do not act swiftly to take back our schools from the clutches of ideological zealots, our great experiment in freedom and democracy will not endure.

Alfonso Aguilar is Senior Director of Government Affairs at Defending Education and former Chief of the U.S. Office of Citizenship in the administration of President George W. Bush.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.