10
Big Reasons NOT to Send Christian
Children
to Public Schools
By David d’Escoto
I love reading Bible commentaries
and sermons almost as much as I love reading the Bible. I especially enjoy gleaning insight from some of the
gifted teachers and theologians of the past. It was in reading 
the
old nineteenth-century preacher Spurgeon and his Spurgeon’s Sermon Notes
that I came across this quote: “As a rule, the children of godly parents are
godly. In cases where this is not the case there is a reason.
I have carefully observed and have detected the absence of family prayer,
gross inconsistency, harshness, indulgence or neglect of admonition.
If trained in God’s way, they do not depart from them.”[1] The departure
from godliness by scores of young people who have been brought up in Christian
homes is cause for real alarm. What are well-meaning parents missing
in the training of their children? I think the answer lies in these
key words: ‘God’s way.’
Among
the many problems within our culture is the downward spiral in the hearts and
minds of today’s youth. What many of us may not realize is that among the
biggest morality corrupters and worldview warpers are the secular-humanistic
public schools. A slew of anti-God teachings within an unbiblical setting
produce an enormous list of stumbling blocks, proving that public schools are
manifesting the ideologies of their humanistic founders, Horace Mann and John
Dewey. To hone in on a few of these, here is my “top 10” list of big
reasons why Christian parents who are truly committed to training up their
children God’s way should ‘not’ be sending
their kids to public schools.
1. Cookie Cutter Approach
Public schools fail to train up each child according to
his or her unique gifts, learning needs, and future callings. When one
teacher has to manage a classroom full of children, many simply fall through
the cracks. It is no wonder that the number of tutoring programs and
learning centers is growing so rapidly, and it is no wonder that the dropout
rate is right around 1.2 million kids per year (7,000 every school
day).[2] Our children have a special purpose in God’s plan, and no
government institution that shuffles millions of children through an
efficiency-based system can come close to addressing this the way parents can
in the home.
2. Anemic Academics
The latest
research reports that the U.S. spends well over a half-trillion tax dollars a
year (over $9,000 per student) on education.[3] One would think that
there would be a decent return for this amount of spending, but as the Washington
Post reported recently, children who are government schooled consistently
rank near the bottom of all industrialized nations in math and
science.[4] As our taxes increase, literacy levels drop, and academic
standards are being dumbed down to cover up school ineptitude. Being
smart just ain’t what it used to be. In equipping
our children for service to their King, we should be giving them the highest
quality education possible.
3.
Misplaced Authority
By placing their
children in the public school system, parents basically relinquish their
authority to teachers, coaches, counselors, administrators, and local and state
board members. State laws virtually say, “Moms and dads, drop your kids
off at the front door and let the ‘experts’ decide how and what they will
learn.” Scarier still is the statistic that about half of all parents
cannot even name their child’s teacher, making one wonder if they even know
what their child is actually learning in school.[5] We saw the public
schools boldly take away parent’s fundamental rights when the United States
Court of Appeals for the Ninth District ruled “no fundamental rights of
parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to
their children.”[6] There are similar cases going on right now in several
other parts of the country, so this is really just the beginning.
4. Family Fragmentation
Students spend an average of 1,100 hours a year in
public school. This does not include commutes, extended care hours,
after-school commitments, and the ever-increasing burden of homework and
tutoring programs. Very little time is left for meaningful family
interaction. Sadly enough, once those unhealthy appetites for peer
relationships have developed, parents and siblings learn to get along without
each other. God has designed the family for the purpose of nurturing and
training our children, a model that cannot be replaced with inferior
alternatives.
5. Peer Dependency
A
child left with other kids for a minimum of five days a week, 180 days a year,
will learn to accept and do whatever is necessary in order to gain approval by
his peer group. He will learn how to talk, how to dress, how to act, what
music to listen to, and which TV shows and movies to watch, and he will get a
steady dose of pop culture. It’s interesting that one of the main red
flags raised by homeschool skeptics is socialization. The Bible has already forewarned us about
what happens to “a companion of fools.” (Proverbs 13:20b)
6. Bad Company
First Corinthians
15:33a warns us to not be deceived, telling us that bad company corrupts good
morals. Yet parents foolishly accept the norm of grouping 25-30 children
in a classroom for the majority of the day, spanning twelve or more years
of their lives, and expect their children to rise above the folly. Add to
this formula the natural inability in young children to be confined to a desk
for hours, followed by all the angst that accompanies the raging-hormone
years. It’s no wonder schools are rampant with poor attitudes, low
self-esteem, hostility toward teachers, vandalism, bullying, drug use, gun
threats, fear and chaos. While it would be nice to think that the ‘good
kids’ are being salt and light, in most cases, good morals are grossly compromised.
7. Propagating Promiscuity
The Heritage Foundation reports, “Every day, 8,000
teenagers in the United States become infected by a sexually transmitted
disease.”[7] Armed with condoms and explicit classroom demonstrations
brought to you by Planned Parenthood, it’s no surprise that the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention recommends the HPV vaccine for 11- and
12-year-old girls. A recent study shows that the Church is not immune
either; our children in youth groups are experimenting with sex just as much as
those outside the church.[8] Sadly, today’s youth, along with their many
parents, have forgotten the adage: “If you play with fire your are going to get
burned.” (See Proverbs 6:27)
8. Bye-bye Bible
The public schools of today have succeeded in removing
the Bible and are becoming more and
more openly hostile toward Christianity while maintaining a politically correct
stance toward other world religions and cults. Just recently, a boy who
dressed up as Jesus for Halloween was sent home by the principal because his
costume was deemed “too offensive.” The poor handful of kids who attempt
to make a difference for the Kingdom are often ridiculed and told to be happy
that they can, at the very least, go outside and hold hands around a flag pole
once a year to pray.
9. Perishing Generation
Public schools are one of the leading reasons the next
generation is falling away from a solid Biblical worldview and a faith-based
life. Studies show that because of the intensive secular humanistic indoctrination
occurring in the public schools, it is approximated that over 80-percent of
children from Christian homes are walking away from the Church by the time they
reach college age.[9] Most Christians in the United States, including
many pastors and prominent leaders, are asleep at the wheel on this cold, hard
reality. Thankfully, some have already
woken up. One notable pastor, Scott Brown, wrote, “If current trends in
the belief systems and practices of the younger generation continue, in ten
years, church attendance will be half the size it is today.”[10]
10.
Scripturally Unsound
My
final point may be the most controversial, but the fact is that public education is
causing millions of children to stumble in their walk with our Lord.[11] Can we not logically
conclude that it is unbiblical for us to send our children there? Bold
words, some may say -- I would say they’re rather Biblical. Please open
up your Bible and read Matthew 18:1-6, 1 Corinthians 8 (focusing on verses 11-13), and finally Romans 14:13-23 (focusing on verses 13
and 21). Do you see it? The Bible
is making the following facts clear to see: 1. Believers are no longer under
the law, 2. Believers do have freedom in Christ, and 3. A believer’s freedom
(liberty) in Christ must never be used as a license to sin and/or cause another
weaker believer to stumble/sin.
Notice
how the Bible speaks of the
“weak.” Don’t our developing children fall in the category of “the
weak”? Are they not still very much in their growing stages -- growing
not only physically and emotionally, but in their faith, knowledge, and
understanding of our Lord God? Since it is obvious that such a high
percentage of kids are abandoning the faith in their later years, why would we
want to keep them in a place that is clearly causing serious harm to their
minds, bodies and souls?
Remove
Your Children From Public Schools
Please keep in mind that
today, approximately 85-percent of Christian parents send their children to
public schools for their ‘education.’ Parents, we need to
turn our hearts toward our children now and lovingly labor to see Christ formed
in them. Yes, it is hard work, but doing the right thing usually requires
more effort, including moving out of our comfort zones.
The
Church in centuries past rightly understood the importance of training up the
next generation. The great seventeenth-century theologian and pastor,
Jonathan Edwards, wrote the following commentary on Galatians 4:19: “Here is an example to parents, showing how they
ought to labor and cry to God for the spiritual good of their children.
You see how Christ labored and strove and cried to God for the salvation of His
spiritual children; and will not you earnestly seek and cry to God for your
natural children?”[12]
If
you truly care about your children’s spiritual good, then please remove them
from your local public school. Christ-centered, parent-directed,
home-based education works. Soli Deo Gloria!
Endnotes:
1. Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s
Sermon Notes (Peabody, MA, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. 1997), 139.
2. www.americaspromise.org/PrintAPB.aspx?ID=10662
3. http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/goodsheet/goodsheet005education.html
4. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120400730.html
5. Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., 2004-2005, Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling
(
6. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47195
7. www.heritage.org/Research/features/issues/issuesarea/Abstinence.cfm
8. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072601846.html
9. www.sbcannualmeeting.net/sbc02/newsroom/newspage.asp?ID=261
10. www.visionforumministries.org/issues/uniting_church_and_family/the_greatest_untapped_evangeli.aspx
11. www.dexios.info/culture_trends/pdf
12. Jonathan Edwards, Sermons of Jonathan Edwards (Peabody, MA, Hendrickson
Publishers, Inc. 2005), 314.
David d’Escoto is a teaching elder, has served
in various ministry leadership roles, from teaching catechism, marriage workshops,
men’s groups, and administrative positions. He and his bride of 19 years,
Kim, co-authored The Little Book
of Big Reasons to Homeschool
(Broadman & Holman) and its companion Bible study and co-hosted the radio program Homeschooling for Life from 2007-2008, archived at their website.
They have homeschooled their five children for over ten years and are passionate
about spreading the homeschool vision, encouraging families to train up their
children for God’s glory. Sign up for their newsletter or inquire about
speaking engagements at www.dexios.info. This article first appeared in The
Old Schoolhouse Magazine 2008-2009 Winter issue. For more information on The Old Schoolhouse Magazine visit their website at http://www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com or call
1-888-718-4663.
