# ‘Undoctrinate’ Your Kids: Pushing Back against Classroom and Campus Propaganda 

Parents can help to “undoctrinate” their kids by fostering critical thinking skills and encouraging open dialogue and debate.

March 25, 2022 • Commentary 

By [Kerry McDonald](https://www.cato.org/people/kerry-mcdonald) 

This article appeared in *[Foundation for Economic Education](https://fee.org//)* on March 25, 2022.

Tolerance of different viewpoints and values is a key principle of a free society, and yet in classrooms and on campuses across the country, young people increasingly self-censor and self-silence to avoid speaking out against the dominant cultural narrative.

Parents can help to “undoctrinate” their kids by fostering critical thinking skills and encouraging open dialogue and debate.

Some students may not even realize that there are different viewpoints and values, conditioned as they are from their early days of schooling to accept whatever their teachers say. And their teachers are being similarly conditioned, spending time in colleges of education that tie grades to ideological activism and link achievement to allegiance with an approved interpretation of concepts like “social justice” and critical race theory.

All of this can lead parents to wonder what they can do to help prevent their children from being indoctrinated into a belief system that may run counter to their own values or may not allow for viewpoint diversity.

The answer, according to Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder, is to *undoctrinate* your kids. Kerrigan Snyder is the author of the new and important book, [*Undoctrinate: How Politicized Classrooms Harm Kids and Ruin Our Schools—and What We Can Do About It*.](https://amzn.to/3L6CWuh)

In this week’s episode of the LiberatED podcast, I talk to her about her book and the startling trends she sees in both K‑12 classrooms and on college campuses across the country.

You can listen to the LiberatED podcast on [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liberated-podcast/id1608978473), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/3lbII0Zc2ikyfiQKqkITHW), [Google](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5saWJzeW4uY29tLzM5NzAzNy9yc3M?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiQjpXRw4H2AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQBw), or wherever you get your podcasts, or visit [lib​er​at​ed​pocast​.com](http://www.liberatedpodcast.com/).

##### About the Author 

[![Kerry-McDonald-cropped.jpg ](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2019-10/Kerry-McDonald-cropped.jpg?itok=9Tl9CbTD)](/people/kerry-mcdonald) 

##### [Kerry McDonald](/people/kerry-mcdonald)

Adjunct Scholar 

[ 

](https://twitter.com/Kerry_edu)