“On education all our lives depend. And few to that, too few, with care attend.”
— Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1748
Franklin’s timeless words ring truer now than ever. Education shapes not just minds, but hearts, values, and futures. Yet today, what passes for “education” often strays far from truth — teaching confusion instead of clarity, ideology instead of wisdom, and self-definition instead of the Creator’s design.
Across Michigan, a newly proposed Health Education Framework is stirring deep concern among parents and educators. Starting as early as third grade, young eight- and nine-year-olds would be instructed in all the details of sexual reproduction. By sixth grade, the framework seeks to introduce and normalize gender identity and sexual orientation lessons across multiple areas of the curriculum — teaching eleven- and twelve-year-olds how to make independent decisions about their sexual health. Rather than guiding students toward truth, it encourages children to engage in harmful behavior and blurs the lines God Himself established.
But in moments like these, the simple honesty of a child reminds us of what’s real.
Just yesterday, our family was walking into the grocery store. An older lady, returning her cart, smiled and commented on our kids. “I had five myself,” she said, “and I just love seeing young families with little ones.”
Without hesitation, our three-year-old son piped up, “Yeah, and I’m a boy!”
The woman’s face lit up. “Yes, you are,” she said, “that’s exactly how God made you.”
“Amen to that,” we replied.
In that brief exchange — a child’s confident declaration and an elder’s affirmation — we saw a glimpse of what’s at stake in today’s classrooms. Truth, identity, and gratitude for God’s design are being replaced by confusion and self-invention. Yet even a child knows, deep down, that he was made — fearfully and wonderfully — by a loving Creator.
The Image of God: Our Unchanging Identity
Scripture tells us plainly:
“I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well.”
— Psalm 139:14
Every boy and every girl bears the image of God. Male and female, He created them. Our worth doesn’t come from how we feel or from a self-proclaimed, socially affirmed “identity” — it comes from Who made us. And when our schools, policies, and curricula teach otherwise, we must speak truth in love, with clarity and conviction.
Franklin warned that few attend to education “with care.” That’s our challenge — and our calling — today. Parents, churches, and communities must once again take great care with what is being taught to our children. Education should lead them toward truth, not away from it. It should affirm God’s good design, not deny it.
As we advocate for truth in Michigan and across the nation, may we never forget: our children are not blank slates or social experiments. They are image-bearers of God, entrusted to us to nurture, guide, and protect.
Because truth — not ideology — needs a witness.
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