The bittersweet moments of young adults venturing off to college for the first time looms about us. Colleges are taking every opportunity they can to seize incoming, misty-eyed freshmen for indoctrination.

It isn’t just the Ivys such as Harvard pushing these ideas. Take the latest instance from Virginia Tech. Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America accounts in detail for The Federalist her son’s college orientation day:

Nobody expected the event to begin with prayer or the Pledge of Allegiance — heavens, no! But one might expect to remember the names of fallen cadets on the pylons or the 32 dead and 17 injured in the 2007 shooting on Virginia Tech’s campus, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Nope. Instead, the administration made the stunning choice to open orientation by recognizing two Native American tribes on whose land the college was built (with the implication that it was stolen).

What followed went from slightly bothersome to downright alarming. The college filled the next two hours with speaker after speaker who introduced themselves with not just their names and titles but also preferred pronouns — as in, “Hi my name is Penny Nance, and I identify as she and her.” At first, parents were slightly surprised; by the end, they were mad.”

The indoctrination is rampant in the lecture halls and Student Unions. It’s more than the buzzwords of “inclusion”, “activism” and “acceptance”, universities are going all-out. From the gentle nudge to use preferred gender pronouns to schools like American University mandating of their use. Schools are changing their mottos because they are not “woke” enough. Dorms are being segregated, while all-female and all-male clubs are open to the opposite (or other) genders.

The rest of the day followed the same two-track program, parents versus children, allowing the college to share different sets of information with each. It gave parents the hard line against underage and excessive drinking, but according to students present, the university assured them that campus police are there to help them navigate wayward behavior, which was implied to be normal. ‘Be open to new experiences,’ orientation leaders urged throughout the day.

‘Parents, don’t be shocked if your kid comes home changed,’ they intoned in the other room — this to the hundreds of parents, including myself, who had saved and sacrificed to send our children to this “top educational institution.”-Penny Nance

This is why one’s precious babe who, once upon a time, had a few rational bones in his body, comes home for Thanksgiving break protesting the ceremony of a simple celebration of sharing dinner with family and friends. Don’t be shocked if he’s changed, parents. This is why one’s fun-loving kid ends up being a complete and total pretentious buzzkill at parties. He’s “woke AF”, man. College will change him with the pressure to join the mob of collective thinking or be an outsider. College will pump him with a TON of useless information and he will expect taxpayers to foot the bill for learning all of it. (If you did, parents, it’s too late to get your money back). College will give him the expectations that someone should employ him, for no less than a six-figure salary even though he’s had not a lick of work experience. You, as a parent, have trained him to be a free-thinker, discerning and independent. One who was once independent in spirit is dependent on leaders, a system and a pipe dream ideology instead of depending on oneself for mental capacity and resourcefulness…and they’re tricked into actually thinking they have more “freedom” than ever before! But, don’t be shocked if he turns into an overly-anxious, hyper-offended snowflake. He’s changed.

If you think all indoctrination starts in college, think again. Elementary schools add their own “pledges” to be good citizens of the school and tack these declarations onto our Pledge of Allegiance daily. The first time I heard one of these, I was floored. June art projects feature rainbows (you see where I am going with this). All the while, motivational statements in elementary schools start with, “We’re (insert school or mascot here) and WE’RE GOING TO COLLEGE!”

All of this has me thanking God we have a few more years with our teenager. It pays to be wise to subtle indoctrination and to help your children cut through this fog. For those who have kids going to college, my prayers are with you. Hoping that instead of coming back changed, they will have the strength and the fortitude to be the ones to change the tide.

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