OPINION:
Actress, writer, talk radio host and mom-of-three Sam Sorbo said America’s public school system is in shambles, teaching what it’s not supposed to teach, indoctrinating when it should be educating, and raising the next generation in ways it decidedly should not go — and voila, no wonder socialism and secularism are spreading in quicktime, throughout the country.
“I’m telling you,” she said in a telephone interview, “this is a crisis.”
Quite right.
Recent polls have indeed been blaring the sad and sorry news about today’s youth practically preferring socialism to capitalism — government hand-outs to good, old-fashioned self-sufficiency.
Sorbo, a homeschooler of three, ages 18, 15 and 13, has been working hard to be part of the solution.
She’s written a book on the practical aspects of homeschooling — “They’re Your Kids: An Inspirational Journey from Self-Doubter to Home School Advocate.” She speaks out both frequently and boldly on the power of the parent over government. And she’s starting a new initiative, perhaps a nonprofit, an as-yet-unnamed endeavor, but one with a mission to empower families to better educate their growing children.
“With my book, it was about trying to empower parents,” Sorbo said. “But now it’s not good enough to save a few families from a [failed public school system]. We need to raise awareness so parents can rise up and change the system from within.”
Exactly.
But what a battle.
Look at what’s been taking place in the public schools and it’s enough to wonder, as Sorbo did, “Do government schools hate our children?”
Common Core has wreaked its havoc; The Federalist just ran a story, in fact, with this headline: “9 Years Into Common Core, Test Scores Are Down, Indoctrination Up.” (Why would parents even want their kids affiliated with an education program dubbed “common?” Sorbo quipped. Why indeed.)
Meanwhile, the LGBTQ community has caused chaos in the restrooms and bathrooms. Teacher strikes — the latest, in Chicago — have disrupted student learning in favor of union rights. And with pitiful consistency, America’s been falling in the ranks of education, when compared with other nations.
“American Schools vs. the World: Expensive, Unequal, Bad at Math,” The Atlantic reported in 2013.
“U.S. academic achievement lags that of many other countries,” Pew Research reported in 2017.
Add to that a youthful mindset that socialism is the way to go, and honestly, where will our country be in a decade?
“Freedom isn’t free,” Sorbo said.
Neither is it permanent.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,” Ronald Reagan famously said.
But not all fights for America’s core of greatness have to be waged on the political stage. Sorbo, in addition to advocating for more parental controls on education, and for more truthful teachings of America’s history and founding premises, has a new movie she’s trying to bring to town — a story of hope and redemption and faith.
A story that, in essence, ties inextricably into America’s basic concept of freedom.
Because what says freedom like forgiveness and the opportunity for a second chance, right?
It’s called “Miracle in East Texas.” It’s in the distribution stage — and could use financial help to bring it to theaters nationwide. And it’s a based-on-true tale about a couple of con men who sell worthless oil well shares to unwitting widows — until they actually strike oil and must decide: Is it worth drilling if their swindle is discovered in the process, and they could be sent to jail?
“We tell it as a comedy,” Sorbo said, “because frankly, it’s fun. It’s also true.”
But it also carries a crucial message that’s sorely needed in America — one that’s common in the Christian community, but that’s all-too-often shrugged in these hotly charged political times: the idea that nobody, no matter how far fallen, is irredeemable.
“I make movies to give people hope,” she said. “We should be telling the stories of hope and redemption. … [There are too many] strong narratives about hopelessness, about the irredeemable. That narrative is getting way too much play these days.”
She’s right.
And maybe, just maybe, she’s onto something else here.
Maybe, just maybe, that’s why the darkness of socialism has been selling with such concerning rapidity among the youth. They’re being fed a false hope of government — and being led astray from the real hope that rests in a higher source.
With hope, as with redemption, comes freedom. If today’s youth are not only taught the proper role of government in schools, but also offered a proper outlook in culture, on the big screen, in the powerful medium of movie-making — if they’re actually inundated with all these positive truths, rather than fed lines of victimhood and lies of secularism — perhaps tomorrow’s leaders will begin to understand what freedom really means. And govern accordingly.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.