The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

Where to school and why?

As if there is not enough intramural controversy among the Reformed, a few blogs have raised the question of homeschool vs. Christian schools vs. public schools, and in most cases the strawmen are being lashed at the expense of the homeschooling familes.

I am not sure why it is that some Christians, especially it seems Reformed Christians, get their noses so out of joint about homeschooling. I doubt it really is a response to intemperate remarks by some fervent homeschool advocates as Tim Challies suggest. Are there militant homeschoolers who castigate public school parents? Oh yes, but they do so generally because they sincerely believe that what God has commanded us to do regarding the education of our kids is best carried out in homeschooling. Some I am sure do so in arrogance and pride, I am a better Christian parent than thou, sending thine progeny to yonder Babylon known as public school. But for the most part, those I know who are homeschoolers do so out of a sense of duty as Christians to raise our children up in the knowledge and fear of the Lord first and foremost, and believe that the right way to do that is in the home.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I went to public school. My wife went to public school. We turned out OK, although I would say that was in spite of, not because of, our public school experience. Our kids attended public school until the last few years. My oldest sister is a public school teacher at the high school I and all of my siblings attended.

Now on to the offending blog post…

Tim Challies is generally a guy I appreciate, a sound Reformed theological guy, with a decent sense of humor (for a Canadian). But recently he wrote a blog entry on education, specifically homeschooling, that I took umbrage at and given who I am and to what family I belong, I cannot permit a slight, intentional or not, to go unanswered.

Challies addresses four points about homeschooling that he suggests are “potential” dangers of homeschooling.

The church division argument

“it can breed division in the church either through what is said or through how it is said (and in the case of Kim's article, I'd suggest both). Homeschooling can be and too often is a negative and divisive force in the church. Please hear me when I say that this is not always the case. But I feel that homeschoolers need to be very careful with this issue. I have written before about how a greater ideology lies behind the decision to homeschool and I stand by that belief. In far too many cases that ideology leads to division. Homeschoolers can take what is clearly a disputable matter and elevate it to the status of something far greater. This always leads to disunity!”

This is a real one, but it runs both ways. Our choices of education for our children reveal pretty deep seated beliefs, and people get heated when they are told they are doing a poor job raising their kids. But it seems disingenuous to say that issues like this are always the fault of homeschoolers, beating up on poor innocent public school parents. In my experience, it is far more often the case that the public school parents look askance at homeschoolers, and while I have never questioned a public school parent unsolicited, I have been given more than my fair share of unasked for and unwanted opinions about our choice to homeschool our kids. It strikes me as unlikely that I am the only one who has suffered the indignation of being grilled about homeschooling by a public school parent. I have never suggested from my pulpit that it is wrong to send kids to public school, but I have heard it suggested from a pulpit that it was wrong to homeschool. Who causes more dissension? Notice that Tim says it is exclusively the homeschoolers who must "be careful". There is probably room for blame on both sides. But to use homeschoolers as a fall guy for church division is unfair. Churches face division over all sorts of issues, some trivial and some not. This is not a trivial issue and Challies is painting an inaccurate picture of the offending parties.

The superiority complex argument

“A second danger, which is related to the first, is in the possibility of feeling a sense of superiority over those who choose to put their children in public schools or a sense of superiority in the education homeschooled children will receive. I have addressed in the past the fact that, for my family and for countless others, the choice to put our children in public school is made on the basis of biblical conviction.”

This is basically the same argument, but now not only do we cause division but we are smug about it. Now the strawman wears a smirk. Again, as a homeschooler and as one who knows other homeschoolers, I have found us to be a generally humble lot, because little is more humbling than trying to keep seven kids in line, getting chores done along with school and not killing one another.

As a side note, Tim says that his is a “biblical conviction” to send his kids to public school, but he makes this claim without a lick of Scripture. Scripture speaks often of the need to raise up children properly in the fear of the Lord, with the parent as the teacher, but one will look in vain for a Scripture that argues for a public school education.

The fortress mentality argument

“A third great danger is that it may breed fear of what is outside and security in what is inside. Sometimes explicitly but more commonly implicitly, children can be taught that worldliness is a force that exists outside of themselves and something they can be sheltered from. Defenses of homeschooling are absolutely filled with this viewpoint. They are taught to fear what the world can do to them and how it may corrupt them.”

Uh Tim, there is plenty of ugliness in the world, and if I am to be condemned for seeking to shelter my kids rather than throwing them to the wolves, so be it. If you don’t read the news and see just how ugly the world can be, you are deluding yourself.

One of the things I have found is that homeschooling our kids, along with ditching the TV and cable, is that our kids are allowed to grow up at their pace, not the forced pace of pop culture. It amazes me to see the difference between my soon to be 14 year old daughter and other girls her age. My daughter is still a little girl, and acts like one. Many 14 year olds at our local public school act like Paris Hilton. That may be an unfair statement, or come across as a superiority complex (see point two above) but it is true. Why force feed our children adulthood, when they have so much childhood yet to live?

The sheltered from sin argument

"A fourth danger is that it may insulate children from a world they must learn to live in. The greatest reason that my wife and I send our children to public school is that we feel this is where they can best learn how to exist as believers in an unbelieving world. It is our conviction that we could not as easily teach them this if we were to keep them at home."

Perhaps we should take our kids to crack houses or strip clubs, now boys see that is what sin looks like! That is a bit of hyperbole I know. See the socializing argument below. I would say that the best place to learn how to deal with a sinful world is to teach them God's Word, so that they learn how to discern truth, and recognize sin.

Two arguments that are implied by Tim and that I hear a lot are these…

The socializing argument

This argument goes something like this, usually in the form of this question: "Aren't you worried about your kids not getting enough socialization?" This is the silliest. What sort of socialization do kids get in public school? Let's be realistic about what happens on a daily basis in public schools. Brutal teasing. Forced conformity. A pack mentality. A constant diet of disrespect towards adults in general and parents in particular. A sexualized environment where kids are pressured by peers into risky sexual behavior an increaingly young ages. And on top of that, Tim and others like him assume that our kids never see the light of day (“What is that shiny orb in yonder firmament? It burns us precious!”) My kids see lots of other kids, play with other kids, interact with non-Christian kids in 4-H. This is true of virtually every homeschooler I know. Our kids interact with other kids and get “socialization”. The difference is that it occurs under our supervision, not some overwhelmed 23 year old public school teacher.

The “kids as missionaries” argument

The argument that our children are little missionaries to the heathen at school sounds chock full of Biblical truth, but the reality is somewhat different. Would we send a 17 year old son to Thailand as a missionary? Probably not. Tim’s kids may be more adept at witnessing than mine are, but I have a hard time believing that.

A few more points…..

In the beginning of his posting, Tim responds to a home school advocate named Kim C.

"Kim suddenly goes on the defensive for a moment, saying "I would love to hear about the 'negatives' of homeschooling…I will take up this challenge, though I will not speak of the "negatives" of homeschooling. "

Oddly, despite this assertion, Tim spends the entire post speaking of the “potential” negatives of homeschooling. Kim does a very able job of defending homeschooling on her blog here.

Tim also brings up the Deuteronomy 6 argument

Deuteronomy 6 is a hot button text as it applies to homeschooling...it is worth reading and pondering.

Does this Scripture explicitly command homeschooling? Not at all. The cultural context is so different that to say it does it silly. But does it make a strong case for us today that we should homeschool our kids? AB-SO-LUTE-LY! A text does not have to say "Thou shalt educate thy children in thy home and eschew the public schools" to recognize that if we send our kids to public schools, they are getting not a neutral view of Scripture but a hostile one.

Something else Tim wrote:

“At the very least we allow that education is a decision of conscience and that parents must make what can be a long and difficult decision. If you disagree with this, please turn to Scripture and defend this viewpoint. And do realize that such an understanding will necessarily be divisive within the church. If you can prove it from Scripture it will be necessary division. If you cannot, it is unnecessary and must be avoided.”

Notice the burden here. It is by inference directed at homeschool parents. If you think that sending our kids to public school is wrong, prove it from Scripture. What of proving that sending our kids to public schools is the right way to go from Scripture?

Do we tell our kids to listen to their teachers and then contradict them when they get home? "Well Johnny, Ms. Darwin said that we descended from apes, but that is not true. See the Bible says we are made in the image of God. But when the test comes around, make sure you parrott back the 'correct' answer so you don't get a poor grade."

If we are supposed to "undo" what the kids have learned at school and give them the proper Christian response, why not just skip the middle man and give them the Biblical truth first and foremost?

As a conservative, I also have to say that by and large our public schools are an abject failure. That is not an indictment of many fine public school teachers, but rather of the system and the NEA that seeks to create and protect as many union education positions as possible. In essence we are shackling our kids to a sinking ship in the hope that they will make it float.

In 2005 Dr. Albert Mohler wrote of the need for an "exit strategy" for Christians. His words resound with soberness and wisdom on this issue...

I believe that now is the time for responsible Southern Baptists to develop an exit strategy from the public schools. This strategy would affirm the basic and ultimate responsibility of Christian parents to take charge of the education of their own children. The strategy would also affirm the responsibility of churches to equip parents, support families, and offer alternatives. At the same time, this strategy must acknowledge that Southern Baptist churches, families, and parents do not yet see the same realities, the same threats, and the same challenges in every context. Sadly, this is almost certainly just a matter of time.

The day is not yet when Christians are uniform in this stance, but at some point the homosexual agenda, evolutionist, postmodern tolerance, hyper-sexualized nature of the public school system may accomplish what homeschool advocates have not: convincing Christian parents that the time for raising up our kids and educating them at home is now.