“Brussels doesn’t believe its policies have failed: it believes you are the problem”—Sociologist Ashley Frawley

The European Conservative ^ | 28 Dec, 2025 | Javier Villamor

[MtnClimber]

Education has become one of the main ideological battlegrounds across the Western world and particularly within the European Union. Although the EU treaties recognise education as a national competence, in recent years Brussels has developed an increasingly sophisticated architecture of programmes, funding streams and partnerships with NGOs aimed at exerting direct influence over what happens in classrooms—especially in areas related to identity, gender and sexuality.

It is in this context that the report Indoctrinating Children: How Brussels Embeds Gender Identity in the Classroom, published by MCC Brussels and authored by sociologist Ashley Frawley, must be understood. The study documents how millions of euros from programmes such as Erasmus+, CERV, and Horizon are channelled into activist-designed educational projects, which are then promoted as ‘best practice’ at the European level—even in countries where such policies have been explicitly rejected by national parliaments or parents.

Frawley, a researcher and author specialising in the analysis of contemporary social problems and the growing use of ‘behaviour change’ as a political tool, warns that these are neither isolated nor benign initiatives. Rather, she argues, they form a coherent project of social engineering. In an interview with europeanconservative.com, she unpacks Brussels’ underlying motivations, the mechanisms used to circumvent subsidiarity, and the democratic consequences of a strategy that, in her view, seeks to “reform the citizen” from childhood.

Ashley Frawley

Why do you think it is so important right now to understand the obsession of European institutions with education and the so-called re-education of children?

Because the European Union is increasingly convinced that its policies do not work—and that the problem is not those policies, but the behaviour of ordinary people. The idea has taken hold that Europe would be a wonderful place if it could just ‘fix’ Europeans, if it could manufacture the perfect citizen

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Society
KEYWORDS: leftism

[MtnClimber]

This is why so many on the left believe that they need use force to make people do the “right” things. They do not believe that they work for us. They believe we are their subjects.

[riverrunner]

Very true

[ClearCase_guy]

I know it’s a bit trite to mention him, but I will say that Hitler never thought he was the problem. His policies, you see, were always correct. The problem was the German people. They weren’t good enough and they didn’t deserve a great leader like Hitler.

The EU is a Nazi regime. It’s what the Third Reich had been trying to achieve. The Germans lost WWII, but the Nazis won. If things aren’t perfect, it’s not the fault of the EU. It’s the fault of the Europeans. Perhaps they need more Muslims.

[cgbg]

The guillotine was invented to deal with leaders who thought the people were the problem and needed to be “fixed”.

[Sicon]

The idea has taken hold that Europe would be a wonderful place if it could just ‘fix’ Europeans, if it could manufacture the perfect citizen

Here’s their template:

[PeterPrinciple]

Throughout history, the messenger is the problem, not the message.

No one liked the OT prophets, or Jesus for that matter.

Rather that focus on the messenger, We need to look closely at the message.

I remember at a Sunday evening service once a fresh you Christian from campus burst into our service and stated, “God says you need to repent.” Of course we all focused on the disturbance he created and promptly ushered him out.

On reflection, the message was proper, we didn’t have ears to hear.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Echos of the "New Soviet Man." It was a central ideological concept in the Soviet Union, promoted by the Communist Party from the 1920s onward that envisioned an archetype of the ideal citizen: selfless, educated, physically fit, disciplined, and devoted to collectivism, Marxism-Leninism, and building communism.

This effort aimed to forge a unified Soviet identity transcending ethnic, cultural, or class differences through propaganda, education (e.g., literacy campaigns), labor heroism (like Stakhanovites), and moral codes, ultimately seeking to transform human nature for a socialist society. "Education" was central to creating the New Soviet Man:

• Mass Literacy Campaigns (Likbez, 1920s–1930s) — These eradicated widespread illiteracy (from ~60–75% in 1917 to near-universal by 1939), enabling access to ideological materials and fostering a scientifically minded, modern socialist individual.
• Compulsory Universal Schooling — Free, state-controlled education (initially experimental, later structured and disciplined under Stalin) integrated polytechnical training, linking learning to productive labor and erasing distinctions between mental and manual work.
• Ideological Indoctrination — Curricula, textbooks (e.g., Stalin-glorifying history books), and lessons instilled patriotism, class consciousness, atheism, and devotion to the state. Schools promoted "communist morality" and collective over individual values.
• Youth Organizations — Groups like the Young Pioneers (ages 8–14) and Komsomol (14–26) reinforced school efforts through rituals, oaths, activities, and peer pressure, separating children from "bourgeois" family influences to build loyalty to the collective.

Overall, education served as the primary tool for long-term human transformation, combining practical skills with pervasive propaganda to create a unified Soviet identity transcending old class, ethnic, or religious divisions.

[BEJ]

Brussels has let in all the Muslims, and they will cut westerners throats on the issue of gender identity. That is the mark of stupidity gone wild in the west. A false virtue that destroys you as no other false virtue can. Gosh, people are stupid.

[DugwayDuke]

“The idea has taken hold that Europe would be a wonderful place if it could just ‘fix’ Europeans, if it could manufacture the perfect citizen.”

That essentially describes the difference between socialism and communism. The communists understand that people must be transformed into the ‘communist man’ before communism can work. Socialism is the process to accomplish that transformation. IOW, socialism uses force to make people act like communists.

[SaxxonWoods]

A free economy gives people what they want rather than what some group thinks they should want.

And that’s the whole problem for the Left, as identified by Thomas Sowell.

[oldtech]

Better listen to the people who send their children to your schools. Test scores & other things will reveal whether or not your school policies have failed. If parents are having a problem with what their kids are learning at school, then apparently your policies have failed.

[oldtech]

Perhaps they need LESS Muslims, like none at all.

[bobbo666]

That is a tell for a communist. That is how they justify murder — you are subnormal.

[Carry_Okie]

Rather, she argues, they form a coherent project of social engineering. In an interview with europeanconservative.com, she unpacks Brussels’ underlying motivations, the mechanisms used to circumvent subsidiarity, and the democratic consequences of a strategy that, in her view, seeks to “reform the citizen” from childhood.

Developing that capability has been the published institutional objective in the United States since 1933, as designed and implemented by but one person, with the specific goal of population control in order to "protect the environment." He was wrong from an ecological perspective. We don't have the manpower available right now to keep native plant systems and the insects that depend upon them alive and reproducing.

[BradyLS]

No wonder he’s angry: his thumb is on backwards!

[BobL]

She’s definitely NOT GUILTY.

As to the topic, the Europeans, and no doubt Biden’s Women, tried this crap in Africa and the result was that they were driven out of virtually every country, starting with Niger. Seems Africans prefer to deal with countries like Russia and many others that do not push an ideology on other countries, especially a SICK ideology.

[SaveFerris]

[The idea has taken hold that Europe would be a
wonderful place if it could just ‘fix’ Europeans,
if it could manufacture the perfect citizen]

I believe there was a little corporal
who had similar ideas / agendas.

I think it ended badly. 🤔🤔🤔

[Chickensoup]

Better listen to the people who send their children to your schools. Test scores & other things will reveal whether or not your school policies have failed. If parents are having a problem with what their kids are learning at school, then apparently your policies have failed.

........

This is an error because schools no longer test traditional knowledge.

If you think school grades mean anything you are deluded.

[lee martell]

Doubling down, tripling down on stupid and destructive.
These kind of zealots will never change. They have to be rooted out and/or replaced. Same as it was with
Frau Merkle from East Germany.