DES MOINES, Iowa - March 23, 2011 - Dr. Ron Paul (R – Tex.), The Patriot Congressman, warned a group of homeschooling advocates on Wednesday that officials at the Department of Education are trying to indoctrinate their children.
“They don’t educate our kids, they indoctrinate our kids,” the Texas congressman said of federal education efforts. “It’s a propaganda machine.”
Paul, who's considering a second White House bid in as many cycles, cast the many homeschoolers in the crowd as something akin to a merry band of rebels against federal overreach. “What I’ve seen from you is an effort to counteract the propaganda machine."
Paul said concerns expressed about children who are homeschooled have been overblown; he contended that the children who really have problems are those who grow up in the public school system.
“In public education they’re intimidated to be conformists, (while) individuals taught at home are very adapted to expressing what they believe,” he said.
Paul also credited homeschoolers - many of whom, he conceded, supported his 2008 presidential campaign - for fostering an appreciation of the Constitution and the Founding Documents.
“The best thing that has come out of the homeschool movement is the respect you’re teaching about the rule of law and our Constitution,” he said.