7 Reasons Not to Let the Government Educate Your Child - Introduction

It is fascinating how quickly new things become tradition.  One of the quickest, most widespread of these is the American Public School system.  There was once a time when education occurred primarily in the home, or in the church.  It was not until the 18-19th centuries that a "public school" divorced from a religious body gained any traction.  Even then, these were disjointed, isolated schools, outside of the oversight of the government (except where laws are concerned, of course).  The next one hundred years, from about 1850-1950, saw massive change in education.  At the beginning of the period, two states had mandatory laws requiring parents send children to state schools.  By 1950, every state required formal education. (To be clear, this formal education could be either public or private schooling.  Only homeschooling was illegal.)

Thankfully, things have changed, again quickly.  Since 1997, it is now legal in all 50 states to homeschool.  However, it remains in the public mind that, unless you can afford expensive private schooling, your only option is to send your kids to the government, where they will educate your kids for "free" (we'll talk about those quotes later in the series).

Over the next seven Fridays, my goal is to go beyond merely endorsing homeschooling.  I want to make the claim that we should not allow the government to educate our children.  I'm not saying to supplement public school with youth groups and Sunday schools.  I'm saying pull the kids out of public school entirely. Like most homeschooling parents, I grew up in the public schools, and even being lost I could see something of the cesspool I attended (partly for this reason I did not even attend my high school graduation out of protest against the school).  It was not until years later after Jesus bought me that I realized just how horrible these places are.  We should not send our children there.

A few notes about this series.  

      First, the seven topics are listed in no particular order, with the exception of the first one. The first one is in a class all by itself, and so I will speak of it first.  With the remainder, while I attempted some loose thematic arrangement, I didn't feel the need to put great effort in its ordering.

      Second, let me say that about the first one:  if the only reason I had to disallow my children from going to public school was this first reason, I would do it anyway.  I am making a cumulative argument here, but the first reason is all I need to homeschool.  The rest is just gravy.

      Third, if I only had reasons two through seven, they would cumulatively be enough for me to homeschool.  While none of these reasons are strong enough, together they make a major case against public schooling.  It should also be noted that reasons two through seven, unlike the first, are secular arguments.  In other words, while the unchurched could care less about the first (and more important reason), all the rest of them apply even to them.

      Fourth, while the first reason does not apply to a good Christian private school, the rest of them, to one degree or another, do.  For this I would say that while sending your children to a Christian school is certainly acceptable, I still maintain homeschooling to be the preferred option. 

        Fifth, most anti-government education from a Christian perspective tends to focus on three things: Evolution in the science class, Common Core, and Sex Education.  These are all important topics, but I will not be focusing on these.  While they may have place in our discussion, all too often the response from Christians gives off the idea that if only we just change the schools by getting rid of Common Core, getting rid of Sex Ed, and teaching Creationism instead of Evolution, then we'd be happy to send our kids to these schools.  For me and my house, that simply is not the case.  Therefore, these topics will not be focused on.

        I hope this series is helpful.  It would be helpful for me to state my audience.  My audience is not primarily parents whose children are already in high school.  My audience is not primarily parents whose children are in school at all.  The group I'm thinking of as I write this are those whose children are too young to go to school, or those couples who don't have children yet.  Even those who are single, and the idea of having children in school seems like so very far off.  You are my audience because you have time.  You have the time to sincerely research these matters, and make an informed decision about the particulars of your children's education.  I pray that you will make good use of it, for it is fleeting.