For generations, parents have sent their children into classrooms believing they were places of learning where students would be taught the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic.. But what if schools are doing far more than teaching academic subjects? What if they are also shaping how children think about God, morality, family, identity, truth, and their place in the world? The statistics show that they are.

That was the focus of our recent conversation with journalist and author Alex Newman. During one of the most eye-opening interviews we’ve had this year, Newman argued that America’s education system is not simply facing an academic crisis. It is facing a worldview crisis. He explains that many of the ideas now being taught in classrooms were never intended to be neutral. They were designed to shape how future generations think and what they believe.

The statistics alone should concern every parent. Alex brought the receipts! He cited data suggesting that roughly 80% of children from Christian homes who spend twelve years in government schools eventually leave the faith and leave the church. At the same time, less than one-third of students are proficient in core academic subjects such as reading, writing, and math. Mental health statistics paint an equally troubling picture. Forty percent of students report persistent sadness or hopelessness. Twenty percent have seriously considered suicide, and ten percent have attempted it. One California survey found that 94% of young people reported mental health challenges. These numbers raise an obvious question: if the system is succeeding, why are so many students struggling academically, emotionally, and spiritually?

As Alex went on to tell us, understanding the present requires understanding the past and how we got to this point.

You see, most Americans assume public education was simply created to educate children. But Newman traced the roots of the modern government school system back to Robert Owen, a nineteenth-century socialist who openly opposed Christianity, marriage, family, and private property. Owen believed society could be reshaped by influencing children at a young age through state-directed education.

The most shocking part of this came from Owen himself. Near the end of his life, he reportedly revealed that many of his ideas had been influenced through communication with spirits. According to historical accounts discussed during one interview, he described receiving guidance through tapping sounds in walls and furniture and through methods similar to Ouija boards. He believed these spirits were helping guide humanity toward a new future.

Those ideas eventually found their way into Prussia’s state-run education system and later into America through Horace Mann, who became one of the leading advocates for government-controlled education. Decades later, educational reformer John Dewey further transformed the system. Dewey openly embraced humanism, helped draft the Humanist Manifesto, and promoted a worldview that rejected biblical creation and elevated man rather than God as the source of truth.

Today, many parents are seeing the results. Students are increasingly taught that truth is subjective, evolution is fact, morality is fluid, and identity is self-defined. God is often treated as irrelevant to science, history, morality, and human origins. A generation searching for answers is being told that they are the product of unguided processes and that truth is whatever they choose it to be.

One thing became clear during this conversation: parents need to understand what is shaping the worldview of their children.

This was one of the most eye-opening and thought-provoking discussions we have had. The history, the statistics, and the documented statements from the architects of modern education raise questions that every parent should seriously consider.

If you are a parent, grandparent, teacher, pastor, or simply someone concerned about the next generation, we strongly encourage you to watch this conversation in its entirety.

And if you know another parent who needs to understand how these issues may be affecting their children, please share it with them.

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