Military families shouldn’t have to worry that their kids are being indoctrinated while they defend our country.
However, for families sending their children to schools funded by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), which operates domestic and overseas schools for military children, the consequences of a neo-Marxist education are now a troubling reality.
In 2021, DoDEA schools sponsored an “Equity and Access Summit,” which prepared their teachers to instruct their students to engage in emotionally distressing discussions about their race and sexuality and how to be social justice activists.
Two years later, in 2023, the DoDEA diversity, equity, and inclusion department—which facilitated the summit and other, similar initiatives—was disbanded following congressional complaints over anti-white tweets from the department’s chief DEI officer, Kelisa Wing, among other concerns related to what was being taught in schools.
Following the disbanding, DoDEA formed a separate DEI Steering Committee to manage its efforts, and other DEI specialists were integrated into more behind-the-scenes roles at the agency.
This restructuring has led to decreased transparency, as the agency is now also avoiding Freedom of Information Act requests from congressional representatives and parents, or returning them heavily redacted with little information to glean about its DEI-related activities.
This month, Open the Books released a scathing report detailing DEI ideologies in curriculums still in place at DoDEA schools, such as instruction about social-emotional learning, sexuality and gender identity, and the values of social justice.
Open the Books also highlighted concerns about unsafe practices related to student data at DoDEA schools.
Overemphasis on Social-Emotional Learning
The report explains that social-emotional learning instruction, which was also taught at the summit, includes making DoDEA students focus on their “privileges” and disclose their race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexuality to their classmates and teachers to increase their social awareness and place them within a “hierarchy of ‘power.’”
Furthermore, social-emotional learning forces children to be highly aware of their emotional states. Teachers are instructed to ask students questions similar to “What is something your parents don’t know about you?” or “What do you wish your parents would let you do?” which are meant to “build trust” with their classmates and teachers.
These questions are part of a more extensive process of collecting data on students’ well-being that can be used “to direct students to mental health interventions that parents may not be aware of.”
The Open the Books report also highlights that since the children of military families “are subject to frequent moves and unique family stressors,” they are “particularly vulnerable to … emotionally manipulative pedagogical methods,” such as social-emotional learning, which is being integrated into DoDEA schools.
Teachers Are Trained to Indoctrinate
DoDEA teachers are also being trained to advance social justice values in the classroom. They read the pedagogical book “Coaching for Equity,” which contains “rebukes of capitalism, ‘patriarchy,’ traditions like Thanksgiving, and America’s existence as a country (founded on ‘stolen land’).”
Even worse, four of the 11 teacher-development standards used by the DoDEA directly reference equity, and they encourage educators to “advocate for ‘equitable’ policies in whatever context” they may find themselves.
In addition, texts with “sexual and ‘anti-racist’ themes are available in school libraries from kindergarten up.” Teachers who think existing offerings are insufficient are given additional authority to include more “extremist content” in their classrooms and require it for assignments.
Unsafe Practices in Pursuit of Data
The report also highlights how the DoDEA’s pursuit of students’ emotional data has blinded it to many of the risky practices it employs.
Data on a student’s internet activities is collected throughout the school day and stored on “Google Workspaces for Education,” which all DoDEA schools use based on their contracts with Google.
In 2022, all Google products were banned from a city in Denmark due to security concerns regarding student data collection. Just as concerning, we also know that while using the Google Workspace products, students’ “emotional states are being recorded all day long,” and “teachers are encouraged to provoke student emotions.”
Even worse, DoDEA administrators’ interest in tracking children’s emotions may lead to more overtly harmful practices down the road.
During the Equity and Access Summit in 2021, one counselor suggested using “brain imaging device[s]” to track students’ responses to particular stimuli.
Open the Books warns that giving children access to this technology could easily “encourage [them] to fixate on mental health conditions” or “be used to inappropriately pre-diagnose,” which could further enable medical intervention by school officials.
What Happens Next?
When the latest National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law in December, it included a bill of rights for service member parents. Those rights included the right to review school curriculums and instructional materials, be notified of and consent to medical examinations, and whenever medical information was being collected on their children.
While these changes are necessary, there are almost no methods of recourse for parents who investigate what their children are being taught and disapprove of. And since military families move frequently, there often isn’t enough time for them to address those grievances.
Giving parents the freedom to choose how their children are educated is the only way to ensure we properly honor those giving everything to serve our nation.
A Federal Solution
Federal lawmakers have already proposed to grant military families the educational freedom they deserve. The Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., would provide military families with education savings accounts worth about $6,000. These accounts could be used to pay for various educational products and services of their choosing.
We know that military families often decide whether to remain in or leave military service based on their children’s education quality. ESAs would give military families the educational assurance and freedom they deserve.
Furthermore, military families are supportive of education choice. A 2019 nationally representative survey found that 72% of active-duty military respondents supported ESAs.
The U.S. military is incredibly diverse, made up of Americans from all backgrounds. DEI efforts focus on our differences, which can undermine military cohesion. Schools that serve children of military families should not teach this pernicious ideology.
Now is the time for federal lawmakers to provide more options for military children and their families, giving them confidence that they have learning options that support the American idea that the military upholds each and every day.
