by Janelle Powell, Opinion Contributor
Parents send their children to school to learn math, science, history, and civics – not to be pawns in a political mind game. Yet at Lyons Township High School, sophomores were handed a so-called “non-political quiz” in civics class that looks more like an exercise in political conditioning than education.
The assignment, titled “Liberal vs. Conservative Style Non-Political Quiz,” presents students with a series of questions about trivial school-related scenarios – cafeteria food, classroom seating, sports uniforms, school mascots – and forces them into binary “liberal” or “conservative” categories.
For example:
“Should the cafeteria try new foods? Answer A: Liberal. Answer B: Conservative”
“Should sports teams change uniforms sometimes? Answer A: Liberal. Answer B: Conservative”
“Should the school mascot be changed? Answer A: Liberal. Answer B: Conservative”
This is presented to 15 and 16-year-old students as a civics lesson. The problem? These questions have absolutely nothing to do with actual liberalism or conservatism in the American civic or political sense. They are arbitrary and misleading parallels that equate curiosity, creativity, or even preference for variety with being a “liberal,” while equating tradition or consistency with being “conservative.”
In other words: if your child prefers the same lunch menu every week, they’re “conservative.” If they like trying a new sandwich, suddenly they’re “liberal.”
This is not education – it’s indoctrination.
The Parent Perspective
One parent I spoke too, who wants to remain nameless, was furious:
“What the hell does liberal and conservative even have to do with the mascot and lunch food at Lyons Township? That teacher is trying to brainwash them to think that their totally logical thoughts about high school make them liberal.”
Exactly.
This is the danger – conditioning young students to see normal preferences and personality traits through a false political lens. And worse, doing so under the guise of a neutral civics lesson, without parents’ knowledge.
Civics, Not Social Engineering
The goal of civics education should be to teach the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, how government functions, and why civic responsibility matters. It should not be to manipulate teenagers into political identity boxes through cafeteria hypotheticals and mascot debates.
Parents need to know this is happening in their children’s classrooms. Thankfully, there are options. Illinois families do not have to accept indoctrination disguised as curriculum.
What Parents Can Do
Now is not the time to stop paying attention to what your kids are learning in high school. These years are some of the most formative – and potentially the most detrimental – of their lives. You need to be a part of it.
Ask questions. Be present. And most importantly: make your kids show you their assignments.
Groups like Awake Illinois provide resources and guidance on how parents can opt their children out of this type of political conditioning and restore civics education to what it’s supposed to be – education, not indoctrination.
Visit Awake Illinois to learn more about your options and how to push back. Our kids deserve civics lessons grounded in truth and history – not politically loaded quizzes that sort teenagers into categories they never asked to be put in.
The teacher responsible for distributing this assignment could not be reached for comment.
