Educating Children - Discussion of school options (Part 1)

The government run school system has become central to
our society in regards to educating children. As we plan the education of
our children, it has come to my attention that many people in the Church feel
responsible Bible believing parents should not send their children into the
public school system. A multitude of arguments exist, but the base of each
is that our government schools do not teach from a kingdom worldview and
actually reject that worldview at its core. Over the next few days (or
weeks depending on time), I'm going to write on this topic. My main
purpose is to organize my thoughts on this topic, but hopefully someone else may
benefit from my writings.

The State of Our Nation and Its Affect on Public Schools

An argument often made against the public school system is the humanistic values that are guiding it. I've often looked at this argument and found it hard to believe that the people setting curriculum and performing other administrative duties in the public school system are purposely pushing their ideas hoping to make our society more humanistic. After hearing this many times, I think I finally get it.

Humans are fallen and totally unable to do anything good in the flesh (Romans 8:8 "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.") and since this is true, we cannot do the one thing that we were created to do, which is to bring glory to God (I Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or uwhatever you do, do all to the glory of God. "). So, to the humanist mind, which is in direct opposition to Christ, the glory is directed toward man. Fallen man considers himself as the most important object in the universe. All things exist to bring man enjoyment.

Christians understand that all things exist to magnify God's power and grace. Humanists believe all things on earth are meant to be used for to make man's life better. So, the problem with public schools is not that every single person in the system is pushing humanist ideas, but rather that a large majority of people making the rules are grounded in humanistic thinking to various degrees. Other non humanistic thinking people involved in the government system support this worldview out of ignorance or denial. A self esteem program at a local high school seems like a good idea on the surface. The problem is that the school cannot teach children to look to God for their self-esteem. We are strong people because we lean on God for all things, and no government entity will ever teach this.

Ultimately, a government school system run by a government that continually pushes against Christian values and supports humanistic thinking cannot raise children properly. On the contrary it can make it very difficult for parents to break the incorrect teaching in a child. The people leading our school system honestly think they are working to build strong people ready to lead our nation in the next generation. The truth is that the core values of this government school system actually removes all possibility of creating strong Christian leaders; therefore Christian parents should seriously consider the consequences of putting their children into the hands of this system.