Published June 18, 2026
One of the striking lessons of the past century is that movements seeking to transform society eventually turn their attention to education. Political victories can be reversed, laws repealed, elections lost. But shape the imagination of children, and the future would largely take care of itself.
Education is always, whether consciously or not, an effort to answer deeper questions: What is a human being? What is freedom for? What kind of person should a child become? When education is built on faulty presuppositions about foundational questions, no amount of innovation can fully compensate.
Imagine a greenhouse whose plants are yellowing, brittle, and failing to bear fruit. The gardeners respond by installing sophisticated irrigation systems, monitoring sun exposure and temperature, and hiring consultants. Yet the plants continue to decline. Eventually, someone might wonder whether something more fundamental is amiss. Perhaps the soil should be examined. In what are these plants rooted?
In the ecosystem of education, many have spent decades focused on almost anything except the soil. They’ve launched anti-bullying campaigns, rolled out innovations in phonics and math, distributed laptops to every child, hired more counselors and therapists, redesigned testing standards, and made a curriculum out of social-emotional learning. Each initiative promised to address a real need.
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Noelle Mering is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in the Life and Family Initiative. She is the author of No Contact: How a Seductive Ideology Broke Families and Friendships—and How We Can Repair Them (Penguin Random House, 2026). She is also the best-selling author of Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology and co-author of the Theology of Home book series.
