The Tuttle Twins: A Parent’s Weapon in the Culture War

The National Education Association, at their annual meeting June 30-July 3, 2021, pledged to spread the controversial Critical Race Theory in public schools in all 50 states and 14,000 local school districts. Their agenda, according to a report by CatholicVote, includes a “national day of action” in October, when they will join with Black Lives Matter to hold nationwide rallies on George Floyd’s birthday. The NEA will also, according to CatholicVote, provide what it calls

“an already-created, in-depth, study that critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society,” and “oppose attempts to ban critical race theory and/or The 1619 Project.”

Most Americans would disagree with the NEA’s understanding of America as a racist nation. But wait, there’s more: The NEA’s website includes a resource page designed to 

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[P]rovide educators with LGBTQ+ information, tools and resources they need to support transgender and non-binary students, to be more inclusive of LGBTQ+ history in their classrooms, and to stop LGBTQ+ bias and intolerance in our public schools.

Further, the organization advocates for trans students who want to play on sports teams of the opposite sex and opposes conservative viewpoints expressed by some members of local school boards.

So, what’s a parent to do? 

If public schools (and even some private schools), as well as the mainstream media and the entertainment industry, actively promote radical theories, won’t children be influenced to reject the values they’ve learned in their Christian homes?

Here’s one suggestion: Introduce your children to The Tuttle Twins. Written by Connor Boyack, the Tuttle Twins books are intended to help toddlers, teens, and those in between to better understand economic, political, and civic principles. Boyack, president of the conservative Libertas Institute, was worried about the “new normal” that society is trying to cram down our throats, and he wrote the Tuttle Twins books to help children develop critical thinking skills about real-world concepts. “Let’s be honest,” Boyak said:

Most children’s books teach very basic ideas, if any at all—they’re full of fluff and silly stories. And while these can be good to develop reading skills and phonetics, they typically don’t teach children important ideas that they can apply in their life.

Our books recognize that the world is full of companies, people, and politicians who want to expose your children to ideas you don’t support.

The Tuttle Twins empower parents like you to make sure your children have a foundation of freedom—to understand the ideas of a free society that socialists are trying hard to undermine.

In all, The Tuttle Twins series includes twelve books for children ages 5-11 and three books for teens (ages 12+). There are also three Guidebooks: a Guide to Logical Fallacies, a Guide to Inspiring Entrepreneurs, and a Guide to Courageous Heroes. There are several e-books for adults, including the popular Tuttle Rebuttals: 40 Responses to Popular Political and Economic Myths.

In preparing my report on The Tuttle Twins series, I read three of the books intended for young children:

In The Tuttle Twins and the Golden Rule, twins Ethan and Emily Tuttle embark on a summer camp adventure and learn an important lesson: We should treat others as we want them to treat us. Aggression, revenge, and blowback are dangerous—while peace and friendship are important! 

In The Tuttle Twins and the Miraculous Pencil, the twins learn that no single person knows how to create a pencil. Rather, there are workers around the world who each contribute to the project: who mine the graphite in South Korea, produce the paint with lacquer from plants grown in India, fashion erasers with rapeseed oil from Indonesia and rubber trees grown in Africa. The ferrule—the small piece of metal that helps secure the eraser to the pencil—is cut from sheets of brass, a mix of zinc and iron ore. It’s a great lesson, showing how hundreds of workers in a free-market economy cooperate to produce helpful products that improve our lives.

In The Tuttle Twins and the Education Vacation, Emily and Ethan’s father is invited to speak at a conference in Sweden, and he decides to take the family on a whirlwind tour of Sweden, England, Germany, and France. The weeks-long trip offers educational opportunities which contrast sharply with classroom learning where teachers teach all children the same way and judge them by the same standard, expecting them to learn the same things, on the same schedule. The twins learn firsthand about Westminster Cathedral, the Mona Lisa, Rome’s Colosseum, and much more. 

Of the three books I read, The Tuttle Twins and the Education Vacation was perhaps the most controversial, with its insistence on the superiority of homeschooling over classroom instruction and its condemnation of a standard curriculum. Compulsory education, it teaches the reader, “has succeeded in undermining the individuality and free will of children—just as it was designed to do.” It warned about textbooks which incorporate government propaganda, and about efforts at social engineering—molding people’s children to change society the way they want. It was too negative, I thought; and then I read about the Leftist indoctrination I noted above going on today in America’s classrooms. 

Each book in The Tuttle Twins series comes with discussion questions at the end, helping parents to talk with their children about the important ideas in the book—ideas such as individual rights, the proper role of government, and what it means to be free. There are also free activity workbooks to accompany the books.

The Tuttle Twins series, Boyack says, is about “helping you have amazing conversations with your children about the ideas that built our amazing country, but which are now under attack.” Children who understand these time-tested principles of free-market economy, property rights, and the appropriate role of government will be equipped to recognize and reject the socialist messaging they’re bombarded with in the world. 

[Image Credit: Tuttle Twins website]

Author

  • Kathy Schiffer

    Kathy Schiffer is a Catholic blogger. Her work can be found at the National Catholic Register, Aleteia, Legatus Magazine, the Michigan Catholic, and other Catholic sites. She has worked in Catholic and Christian nonprofit organizations since 1998. Among her roles, Kathy was Al Kresta’s producer at Ave Maria Radio, and conference director for Legatus.

tagged as: Catholic Living

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