IndoctriNation ~ Review
We have always homeschooled our children, I knew before any of our children were born that I would want to homeschool them. I love resources that help me be a better teacher to our children, but I also enjoy reading or watching something that helps me remember WHY I'm homeschooling them.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this product for review, all opinions are 100% my own.
I recently had the opportunity to review a DVD copy of IndoctriNation a documentary movie produced by Great Commission Films.
What Is IndoctriNation?
IndoctriNation was created by Colin Gunn. Colin was born in Scotland and in the film talks about him having an average school experience there. While Colin is talking about his education experiences the screen is showing report cards from his childhood.
You can see the discouraging comments made by his teachers about how Colin needs to try harder and apply himself etc. When Colin married and moved to the USA he knew that he would like a better way to educate his 7 children. Colin's family became a homeschooling family.
This film is about Colin Gunn's family traveling across the USA on a quest to understand how the modern public education system began and what its impact on our social culture.
IndoctriNation is really in 2 parts. In the first part, Colin buys an old yellow school bus and turns it into a temporary mobile home as they travel around the USA interviewing people about the education system.
In this film, Colin talks to well-respected public school teachers and principals. These are people who love the Lord but whose hands are tied when it comes to really sharing about their faith in their classrooms.
They are forced to teach curriculum that is completely the opposite of what the truth is and you can really see it weighing on their hearts.
They also interview a student who went to what is considered a very good school about her experiences there. She shares so much of what goes on and how hard it was on her. So many things happen in public schools that are not told to parents.
The second half of the film is a trip through the history of the public school system in America. The yellow school bus stops to take on passengers through time including Robert Owen, Horace Mann, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, and many more.
If you don't recognize all of these names, it's well worth the watch to realize the strong impact they have had on the public education system.
This film tries to cover the debate in Christian groups about if Christian children should be sent to public schools to be witnesses the “salt and light” to children who are not believers. Or whether Christian children should be given a Christian education.
IndoctriNation includes interviews with pastors, historians, and lawyers including some well-known in the homeschooling circle, Ken Ham and R.C. Sproul Jr.
IndoctriNation is 102 minutes long and available in both Spanish and English on the same DVD.
What Did We Think?
IndoctriNation was one of the best documentary films we had watched in a long time. It was very easy to connect to Collin's school experiences as both hubby and I were publicly educated in Canada and it was very similar to his experience.
IndoctriNation is very easy to follow and understand. We liked how he tried to show both Christian viewpoints. One side is that Christian children should be sent to public schools because the schools are doing so bad morally. That these children should be used as the salt and light to show other children the truth about God.
The other side of the debate is that Christian children should be educated in Christian schools or homeschooled to ensure they are being given a Christian education.
When we really look at this viewpoint I'm in the group that Christian children should not be in a public school setting, if at all possible. First of all, I don't believe that it's the job of little children to be witnesses. They are children! They are easily impressionable and their job is to be taught the ways of the Lord so that when they are adults they can be strong in their faith and teach others.
Also in our public education system, I hear constantly news reports about children being expelled for trying to pray before they eat or share God's word with others. This also applies to teachers who try to share their faith. This film covers at least 2 teachers who lost their jobs because they would not hide their faith anymore.
I really liked how at one point it showed a timeline of the changes in the education system. Then as the film went on as new material was brought up it was shown how it tied back into an earlier interview. I really can't say how good IndoctriNation is, I would recommend this to all Christian parents as a must-watch film.
I would strongly caution that parents pre-watch this film before showing it to their children. There are parts of it that deal with sexuality and violence in the school that I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable letting our children watch until they are older.
