For the past couple months, we have looked at a number of different arguments, both negatively against public schooling (and to a large extent, Christian schools) and positively for homeschooling. Am I saying that homeschooling does not have problems? Absolutely not! In fact, most of these reasons can be applied to a poorly structured homeschool. But to a biblically based, dynamic homeschool, these reasons provide major benefit against the public schools.
I must stress what I did not talk about. I spent extremely little time on content. What I did talk about regarding content was the Christian base. People can debate over whether or not Common Core is good for schools. People can debate over whether or not the teaching of evolution and an old earth is good. People fight to get intelligent design taught in schools as though that is justification for putting our children into schools. It is not. What is absolutely not debatable is whether or not Christ is exalted in the standard public school program. He is not. Thanks to Madelyn Murray O’Hair and the United States Supreme Court (Engel v. Vitale and Abington School District v. Schempp), school prayer and Bible reading has been outlawed since 1963. Some will try to dodge the issue and say that students can pray (quietly) and read the Bible during class. That is not the issue. If the educators cannot educate children in religious matters, like modeling prayer and reading the Bible as inerrant, then the educators cannot properly educate. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline (Proverbs 1:7).
So how will you respond? What compels you to send your children to the public schools?
It is not because your children are to be a light in the schools, for it is not their job, and they are almost certainly ill-prepared for the task (Aside)
It is not the education, for their education is corrupt (Reason #1)
It is not because schools are time-efficient, because they are extremely inefficient (Reason #2)
It is not because they are bigger, because they fall harder (Reason #3)
It is not because it is free, because it isn’t (Reason #4)
It is not because they are flexible, because they aren’t (Reason #5)
It is not for the one-on-one interaction, because it simply isn’t present (Reason #6)
It is not to get away from remedial education, because it is present every year (Reason #7)
So why? Why do Christians pour their children into these places? Why are these parents surprised when, after giving them 10 times as much secular education as they do religious education, they find out their children are secular?
In almost every instance, these people put their children into the public schools because they simply haven’t thought about the issue. They grew up in the public schools, and most, if not all, of their friends grew up in the public schools. Their friends with older children put them in the public schools, and so when it comes time to decide how their children will be educated, the answer is clear. For many of them, private Christian schooling is simply too expensive for consideration. The idea of teaching them at home, or with a trusted homeschooling friend, simply doesn’t come up.
In the beginning I said that my target audience was not those whose kids are in high school. If anything, my audience is the high schoolers themselves. People who don’t yet have children, be they single or married. People who have young children. People who have only recently put their children in public schools. There is still time! When your child is 15, it is most likely too late. To those whose children are older, I’m sorry. I don’t mean that in a judging way. I truly feel sorrow because even for those students who do stay in the church, they are absolutely affected. I speak as one of them. After my mother became informed on the reasons we decided to homeschool, she actually apologized to me for putting me in the public schools. She can’t unmake that mistake, but she can (and has) supported us fully in homeschooling our children. Perhaps that is a book for her to write.
As I conclude this series, I must make one other thing clear: There is no absolute dichotomy here when it comes to salvation. It is certainly possible for a child to go through 12-13 years of public schooling and exit a Christian, perhaps even a fairly strong Christian. It is also possible for a child to be homeschooled through the most God-honoring, efficient, customized school program in existence, and exit without any love for God. There are Daniels in the public school, and Judases in the homeschools. But we can’t decide that public schooling is acceptable on the hope that our child will be a Daniel. We can’t write off homeschooling because of the chance that our child will be a Judas. Far and away the majority case is that you act as you have learned. Will you learn the Fear of the Lord? Or simply fear of man?
The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline. - Proverbs 1:7
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