Gender Identity Ideology: The Totalitarian, Unconstitutional Takeover of America’s Public Schools

The seeds of totalitarian-style education are germinating in America’s schools. The dominant ideology that is sprouting is gender identity ideology. Through massive federal spending, state ownership claims over children, de facto denial of educational choice, curricular overhauls, new teacher “training” programs, inter alia, many of America’s schools have slowly become indoctrination factories for the belief that sex is fluid, that there are multiple genders, and that a person’s “sex assigned at birth” has nothing to do with a person’s so-called gender identity. This Article argues that totalitarian-style education—now manifesting in indoctrination in gender identity ideology—is fundamentally inconsistent with American ideals and constitutional principles. First, the Article surveys the educational systems and philosophies of three totalitarian states: Sparta, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany. Based on these surveys, the Article deduces five tenets of totalitarian education. After taking power, each totalitarian state consolidated all power over the education system in the central government and stripped all educational authority from outside influences. Second, children were viewed as property of the state, and the state became the primary influence upon children. Third, education at state-run schools was made compulsory from young ages. Fourth, the curriculum was highly controlled and intentionally ideological, constructed with the singular goal of molding children into uniform citizens who would serve the state’s ends. Fifth, teachers were controlled and required to instruct their pupils in the tenets of party ideology or risk termination or worse. Through this process, the State would destroy the individual and produce uniform citizens that would serve the interests of the state. The Article argues that each of these five principles is inconsistent with the Constitution. The Federal Government has limited powers and has no constitutional authority to control education. The Constitution recognizes the right of parents to care for their children and direct their children’s moral upbringing and education. States have no authority to force children to attend public schools. The First Amendment bars the state from submerging the individual by indoctrinating children in its preferred ideology. Public-school teachers are guaranteed First Amendment rights of speech and association, and therefore the state cannot force teachers to join a union, swear oath to an ideology, or terminate them for refusing to teach an ideology. Finally, the Article demonstrates that—despite the inconsistency—each of the five totalitarian principles is gaining ground in American institutions and schools with the goal of indoctrinating children in gender identity ideology. The Article concludes by urging parents to take control of their children’s education, whether by holding school boards and states accountable or removing their children from public schools altogether. Without such drastic action—and quick—the roots of totalitarianism will have spawned an oak too mighty to uproot.