The False Security of the “Good School” — Expository Parenting Ministries

What makes a good school? Is it the zip code? Your realtor will tell you so. Is it the size? Parents in small rural areas will enthusiastically say, “Yes!” Is it the teachers who go to church? Is it because they say the Pledge of Allegiance? Is it because it’s private? Is it because the teacher loves her students so much? Please don’t tell me it’s the football team. What is it that really makes a good school?

As a lifelong homeschooler, I am repeatedly told about the good schools in a person’s life. Maybe the teachers are Christians (I’m glad to hear it!), it’s a small town, or they have great test scores.

But are these enough? Are these the only standards that Christian parents settle for in the upbringing of their children?

In scripture, fathers are instructed to bring their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). Parents are admonished to teach the scriptures to their children constantly (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). We are all encouraged to get wisdom when we get knowledge (Proverbs 1).

In considering whether our children attend a “good school,” dear parents, we must look deeper.

How many hours does your child spend each day at school? Each week? Each school year?
Do you know the worldview of all of your child’s teachers?
Does the science curriculum include both creation and evolution? Does it mention the Christian faith of a majority of historical scientists?
Do history lessons include biblical history?
Do you know for certain that your family’s worldview is taught on matters of race, sexuality, and family?
Do you have intimate knowledge of your child’s peers, the children they spend their free moments with at school? Do you know what their friends watch on the internet?

If you have calculated the number of hours your child spends at his or her school, and you cannot answer the rest of the questions with any certainty, it should make you question the notion of a “good school.”

“Not My School”

Many confident parents will respond to news reports of shocking statistics with, “This doesn’t happen at our school.” Again, what do you know?

Gone are the days of just worrying about a “sex ed” class in middle school, or opting out of evolutionary theory for a day or a week. As any honest teacher will tell you, a laundry list of Marxist ideology permeates the school day. From the superintendent down to the teacher’s aides, from the classroom to the bathroom, from the hallway to the playground, it’s everywhere. Just look at a handful of examples here:

I could go on for hours with these reports. They are in every state. They are not always in a book that your kids bring home. They don’t all happen on a worksheet, or even in the classroom. They may very likely be in your “good school” right now, but if it’s not on the official lesson plan, you won’t know.

Educating the Mind, but not Touching the Soul

Martin Luther, in his first formal treatment of the topic of schools, “To the Christian Nobility,” said:

I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution that does not unceasingly pursue the study of God’s word becomes corrupt…. I greatly fear that the universities, unless they teach the Holy Scriptures diligently and impress them on the young students, are wide gates to hell. (1520)

And here we are, the beneficiaries of Luther’s bold reforms, letting the Holy Scriptures get cast aside in favor of a very secular education.

Wise men in other centuries agreed with him.

Gordon Clark said,

Obviously the schools are not Christian. Just as obviously they are not neutral. The Scriptures say that the fear of the Lord is the chief part of knowledge; but the schools, by omitting all reference to God, give the pupils the notion that knowledge can be had apart from God. They teach in effect that God has no control of history, that there is no plan of events that God is working out, that God does not foreordain whatsoever comes to pass. (1946)[1]

President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed,

To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.

America’s founders knew the importance of a Christian education. They understood that a nation of moral and religious people would be the solid foundation upon which America would securely rest.

These founders were the descendants of Puritans, for the most part. The Puritans were serious about the hearts and minds of their children. So serious, in fact, that the original group uprooted their lives for the wilderness of America. William Bradford wrote, in Of Plymouth Plantation, a list of reasons for this journey. Among those reasons:

But still more lamentable, and of all sorrows most heavy to be borne, was that many of the children, influenced by these [difficult physical] conditions, and the great licentiousness of the young people of the country, and the many temptations of the city, were led by evil example into dangerous courses, getting the reins off their necks and leaving their parents. Some became soldiers, others embarked upon voyages by sea and others upon worse courses tending to dissoluteness and the danger of their souls, to the great grief of the parents and the dishonour of God. So they saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and become corrupt.

So, in their desire to raise their children away from such dangers, they picked up everything and braved a six-week ocean voyage, wilderness, Indians, and the great unknown. They had very little knowledge of this new world, its weather, terrain, people, vegetation, or possibilities. But it was worth it to them to protect their children and save their souls.

A good school is one where the whole child is educated. Clay and Sally Clarkson wisely point out in their excellent book, Educating the Wholehearted Child,

God did not somehow forget to mention school in the Bible; it simply wasn’t needed. There are only three divinely established institutions–family (referred to as the home or household in Scripture), government, and the church–and the home is the only institution designed and provided by God in Scripture for training children.[2]

“And here we are, the beneficiaries of Luther’s bold reforms, letting the Holy Scriptures get cast aside in favor of a very secular education.”

Parents, Take It Back

“Man may construct his works by irregular and uncertain rules; but God has made an unerring law for his whole creation, and made it, too, in respect to the physical system, upon principles, which, as far as we know, can never be understood, without the aid of mathematics.” (McGuffey's Fourth Reader, 1848)

Yes, there was a time in America where schoolbooks like the one above existed. Generations of students had a complete education, full of the counsel of God. Those were “good schools.” But this is no longer the case. You will not find anything close to the above text in any public school lesson in America. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Can you still claim to have a “good school?” Are you willing to examine the facts and determine what really happens on a day-to-day basis in your school? Can you, with biblical conviction, continue to send your children to that school?

It’s time for us to follow the daring example of our Puritan forefathers and take back the education and discipleship of our children. May we no longer lower our standards to the world’s, but instead raise them to God’s.

References:

[1] Gordon Clark, A Christian Philosophy of Education (Jefferson, MD: The Trinity Foundation, 1988), 73.

[2] Clay Clarkson and Sally Clarkson, Educating the WholeHearted Child, 3rd ed. (Monument, CO: Apologia Press, 2011), 13.