Review: The Harsh Truth about Public Schools

reviewed by T. C. Pinckney                                                                  Vol. XVIII, No. 2, February 2005

Most of us educate our children based on unthinking assumptions rather than a prayerful examination of biblical commands and a thorough understanding of exactly what goes on in government schools. We neglect to consider the full meaning of Ephesians 6:4 to bring up our children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Yet, if we realize that raising and educating our children is one of the very few things we can do in this life that we will not be able to do in heaven, that this life is our only opportunity in this regard, we would take this responsibility much more seriously. Indeed, not only our obedience but also our children’s eternal destiny may well depend on this decision.

Bruce Shortt’s book, The Harsh Truth about Public Schools, is certainly one of the, if not the, best books addressing this issue. It is easily read; it is written for laymen. Still, it is probably the most thoroughly documented book I have read. Every piece of data, every quotation is footnoted. You don’t have to read the footnotes, but if you want to validate something Bruce says, the source citation is readily at hand. Many authors present logical arguments, but when you really examine them, they turn out to be based merely on feelings, preconceptions, or “just so” stories. Not so with The Harsh Truth.

Some reader is sure to think, “Well, the schools in New York and California may be actively anti-Christian, but ours here in ....... (fill in the blank) are different.” Don’t count on it.

During a quick flip through just two chapters I jotted down 22 states plus the District of Columbia where Bruce documents problems of anti-Christian school acts, and/or pro-another religion programs, and/or crime & violence in school, and/or in-school sexual activity, and/or school employees sexually harassing or abusing students, and/or drugging students (especially boys) to make them quietly compliant. The 22 states are scattered across the country: AL, AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MA, MI, MO, NC, NV, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, SC, TX, UT, VA, WA. Notice that at least eight of these states are so-called Bible-belt states!

Okay, so we have problems in the schools. Can’t we reform them? Short answer: No. For Christians the fundamental problem is that government schools are officially secular; that is, omitting God. To rely on such an institution to educate our children is, simply, sinful ... directly contradictory to God’s commands to parents.

However, even from a strictly pragmatic perspective, there are overwhelming reasons why school reform will not work. (See chapter five.) Basically it is because the groups which control the schools are interested in ever-increasing funding and do not quail at lying and breaking laws to put on a good front to parents and the public, and to enjoy ever-increasing amounts of tax dollars, regardless of the impact on children. Please note that this attitude is certainly NOT true of all classroom teachers, by any means. But classroom teachers do not write textbooks, do not select the short list of texts for use in school, do not design the curricula, do not make policy decisions, and they do risk losing their jobs if vocal in pointing out problems.

In chapter seven Bruce addresses the twelve most common objections parents raise about withdrawing their children from government schools and either homeschooling them or sending them to truly Christian schools. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

Chapter eight deals with Christian schools and homeschooling. Parents considering these alternatives will be especially grateful for the sources of information cited. Of particular interest to Southern Baptists is the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools which can be found online at www.sbacs.org, though eleven other sources are also cited.

Likewise, Bruce lists 15 sources of information about homeschooling and eight informative books.

Let me close with the following quotation from The Harsh Truth. It is by R. L. Dabney, a well known preacher, theologian, and soldier over a hundred years ago.

“The education of children for God is the most important business done on earth. It is the one business for which the earth exists. To it all politics, all war, all literature, all money-making, ought to be subordinated; and every parent especially ought to feel every hour of the day, that, next to making his own calling and election sure, this is the end for which he is kept alive by God – this is his task on earth.”

[Publisher: Chalcedon Foundation, Vallecito, CA, 2004, 365 pp., ISBN 1-891375-23-7. For individual copies order from www.chalcedonstore.com . For bulk orders: chorders@]goldrush.com or call 209-736-4365.]