Letters on Schooling: Point-Counterpoint
Vol. XXIII, No. 2, February 2010
Introduction: Last August I received a thoughtful letter from a reader responding to an article in The Banner on education. The gentleman makes a number of good points, but in my view also misses the crucial issue. His letter is reproduced below, followed by my response. In his letter I will occasionally insert a current comment in square brackets. TCP
Dear Baptist Banner Editor,
First, I must compliment your inspiring journal. It presents the conservative Christian viewpoint so desperately needed in our world, today.
This letter is in response to an article from some time back. (I apologize up front that I cannot find the article in question. This may have been in the only issue I've ever thrown out.) The article included the proclamation that: "If you send your children to a public school, you are sinning."…or very similar wording. I have pondered this pronouncement for some time, and I feel that I must respond.
As a born-again believer whose considered Spiritual gift is teaching, I take offense to the judgment that anyone would be committing a sin by sending a child to me! [The issue is not sending a child to a particular teacher, but subjecting them to the entire system.] I fully agree that the state of public education has deteriorated severely in this generation, and that certain specific cases might warrant removal of a child from public education, but I also believe that such considerations should be determined individually, by analysis of the relevant facts.
The author quotes many scripture references, not the least of which is Proverbs 22:6, which is rendered in the New Living Translation, "Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it." Solomon does NOT say, "Force your children down the right path!" The verse requires that children be made aware of BOTH paths, and taught by the parents which one to choose. No better teaching method can be found than by example and experience. (I could share many examples of young people rebelling against parents who sent them to Christian school, basically turning over the responsibility of parenting to the school, and not providing them any contact with the "real world".) [Parents should not send children to ANY school, but rather care enough about their children to homeschool them. If it is necessary to use a school, parents should carefully examine the school in advance to be sure it is truly Christian.]
Christian parents in my view are sinning by omission when they fail to discuss, from a sound Biblical perspective, worldly encounters on a daily basis with their children. Mark Kelly reported in the April issue of Banner survey results, which show that 48% of evangelical Christians "fail to consider their own religious faith among the most important influences in their parenting." [Agree. TCP]
Am I naÏve to suggest that children can be exposed to the secular school environment without becoming indoctrinated by the sinful worldview? No. Not if they are adequately prepared by parents and church family to meet the world with the full armor of God. Remember, "Greater is He who is in you than is in the world."
I can support this stance with personal observations as a high school chemistry teacher where most of my students have already endured over ten years of public education, including the full complement of Darwinism, atheism, and "gender-neutralism". [Notice the language chosen by this supporter of government schools: “endured ... the full complement of Darwinism, atheism, and ‘gender-neutralism’”.] Student responses to my research paper on cosmology run four to one in favor of an intelligently designed universe. Many students included personal testimonies of their faith in their position. One student wrote… "there has never been a doubt in my mind that the world we live in was formed by the Holy Spirit himself. I do not deny that many tangible things can be explained using scientific law and numbers, but what about the intangible things? Emotions, coincidences, thoughts, and dreams, these things cannot be explained using equations. I believe that God created the earth we live on as the Bible tells us…I don't believe he controls every step we take in this life: he gave us minds to think independently. But, I do believe that his presence is evident in every sunrise and sunset and that we all possess some kind of connection to him."
I was moved by the depth of this young lady's faith, aware as I was of her recent tragic loss of a close friend to suicide! Is it "sinful" to expose her unbelieving classmates to her testimony? I think not! Her parents, and those of students with similar testimonies, obviously take their Christian parenting responsibilities seriously.
Does scripture provide any examples of parents teaching their young children God's way and then releasing them in God's hands to a worldly education? Moses and Daniel are first to come to mind, two of the most celebrated men of God in the Old Testament. Oh, but they were "chosen of God" for His specific purposes, right? Well, Revelation 17:14, Ephesians 1:11, and 1 Corinthians 1:27 tell us very plainly that WE are His chosen. So, why don't we act like it?
Should we remove all Christian students from public schools, simply because some Christian parents are not fulfilling their responsibilities to prepare them for life? [NO, remove children from government schools because the entire school system is anti-Christian.] Let's obey God's commands, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, and trust Him to provide us with fruitful service to His kingdom. (Psalm 11:1 - 12:8) Read it!
In "A Case for Christian elementary and secondary schools" (June/July 2009 Banner), Dr. Chapman says that…"the primary responsibility for raising children is charged to the parents", and…"The focus (of the church) should not be to abandon public schools, but"…"to come alongside parents in training up a child in the way he should go." My question is, if the church is to help parents, why not encourage families to become more active in the church to better prepare them for Christ's service in the world, rather than investing in Christian schools to effectively remove them from the world? {Agreed that many families should become more active in the church. But this is not Satan’s world but God’s. Forcing your children into false schools does not prepare them for God’s “real” worid.]
Also, as good stewards we should recognize that, like it or not, we have already "rendered unto Caesar" our taxes to pay for public schools. Today's reality is that most families have barely enough income for essentials, and to require them to pay tuition, and to use their tithes and offerings for investments in new buildings seems wasteful of God's resources. In trying to fulfill the perceived "parental responsibility" of sending their children to Christian school, many parents would react by taking on another job to pay tuition, further tiring them out, and actually reducing the personal time spent with their children.
The compelling reason that our society is in such depravity is because God's people have historically withdrawn from the conflict into our secure four walls. I'm afraid that this movement to remove all Christian students from our public schools will only serve to exacerbate the situation, leaving teachers and unbelieving students no interaction with Christian influence at all. How is this furthering God's kingdom?
This letter is not meant to offend well-intentioned Christians. I simply feel that the other side needs to be heard.
To God be the glory.
Dear Mr. ,,,
Thank you for your thoughtful concern. I have considered your points and reviewedThe Baptist Banner "Articles from Past Issues" files back to August 2006. Let me offer the following thoughts:
1. Since you are deeply interested in schooling, let me suggest you review the articles in schooling topic in "Articles from Past Issues" on The Baptist Banner website. There are many articles, some just a couple of sentences, some a page or two, but almost every one is still pertinent today.
2. Re the issue of it being a sin for parents to send their children to government schools: Please note that individual teachers may well be sound Christians (and I'm sure many are). But parents are not simply sending their children to a particular teacher; they are placing their children in a very large, complex system in which the teacher, while most visible and the person most directly in contact with the child, also has probably the least impact on what is taught, what books are chosen for texts, and what goals the schools are designed to achieve. Moreover, each year the child has a different teacher whom the parents cannot select.
From the initial establishment of the first state school system in Massachusetts in the 1830s, the intentional, though not public, objective has been to get children away from the influence of their parents and the church at as early an age as possible. (Read Is Public Education Necessary? by Samuel L. Blumenfield, The Paradigm Company, 1985.) And this goal has stayed the same ever since. While I disagree strenuously with that objective, I must admire the persistence and determination and success with which its proponents have pursued it.
3. The issue of whether to know the right path or both paths. This takes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Satan's temptation to Eve was, "... ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Satan's ancient but still current lie is that we should know both ways and then make up our own minds. But God never commands us to know good and evil, only good. We are not to make up our own minds. We are to submit ourselves joyfully to God's authority, to the perfect standards He has set. He knows what is best for us; we do not.
And in Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." There is nothing said, nothing implied that a child must be forced in any way. Homeschooling allows for a child to proceed at his own pace, emphasizing subjects that interest him and are in accord with his natural talents. God has given us free will because one who freely chooses to accept Jesus glorifies God. God could have created us without free will, as robots, automatons, all of which would do exactly what He proclaims ... but there is no glory to God through slavery, only through voluntary acceptance of Him as Lord and Master.
4. Then there is the issue of "providing them any contact with the 'real world.'"
First, not all "Christian schools" are really Christian. Before parents opt for a Christian school, they should talk to the principal and the teachers, and talk in depth, not just a pleasant, superficial chat. And they should read the textbooks to decide whether the school teaches from a biblical perspective or a worldly one.
Second, the "real world" is not what our senses discern. This material world is like chaff which the wind will blow away, and the years of this life are like the dew which sparkles at first light but soon dries up and disappears. Rather, the real real world is that which God promises: either eternity in His presence, or eternity completely separated from Him.
Yes, we should teach our children how to function effectively in this temporary, material world (I agree with your sentence "Christian parents in my view are sinning by omission when they fail to discuss, from a sound Biblical perspective, worldly encouters on a daily basis with their children."), but infinitely more important is to teach them about the heavenly home waiting for each of us. Parents should teach both.
Re possible naivete, some children can survive the public school years with their faith intact, but only a small minority do so. Repeated studies have shown that between 70% and 88% (depending on the study) of church-going children who attended public schools leave the church permanently within two years of graduating from highschool, (and thus being out from under their parents' control).
Third, your sentence, "Should we remove all Christian students from public schools simply because some Christian parents are not fulfilling their responsibilities to prepare them for life?" You raise a valid point: some Christian parents are failing. But that is not the reason to remove God's children from government schools.
The reasons to remove Christian students from government schools are: (1) Basically, the motivation for government schools is to destroy Christianity and to make automatons obedient to the government of each new generation. (2) Schools place children in a totally false environment, where for 12 years they associate almost exclusively with age peers. Nowhere else in life is this so. This is false socialization. Check an encyclopedia for "socialization". The definition is something very close to "The passing of moral standards from one generation to the next." (3) The United States was established as democracy in which each citizen exercises his independent initiative, is rewarded according to the value of his work, and votes independently for the government representatives of his choice. Governemnt schools teach children to do as they are told, to obey, not to think and act independently.
Fourth, you refer to parents paying the added costs of home or Christian schooling as "seems wasteful of God's resources." By far the most valuable resource God blesses us with is our children. To subject them to the humanistic immorality, government knows best indoctrination, socialism in medicine and industry, and the pagan sexual practices being indoctrinated in government schools is not just a waste of our greatest resource, it is a major, major sin.
I agree that "God's people" have often withdrawn from worldly conflict and hunkered down within the church. But we need to train up the next generation of Christian soldiers in Christ-centered education. We do not send ten-year-olds into armed combat. Neither should we send ten-year-olds into the anti-Christian spiritual warfare being waged in government schools.
I believe a major reason for the predominance of government schools is that Americans have come to regard them as the norm. That's just the way it has been done. It's what we have been used to."I went to a government school, and I turned out okay." (As a matter of fact my wife and I both went to government schools as did our three children. However, our twelve grandchildren all are homeschooled.) Did I turn out okay? How do I know what I might have become had I been homeschooled? How do I know how many souls may spend eternity in hell because I didn't witness as I could have? As a government-schooled individual, how do I even know what "okay" is?
Again, thank you for your interest and comments. I pray the above is helpful or at least thought provoking.
All glory to Jesus,
T. C. Pinckney
editor