No, you didn't. I was referring to something another poster said.
public schools
Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by SolaSaint, Dec 12, 2011.
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Having a public policy that breaks up the education monopoly would help churches provide better options for parents. -
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The area one is in will determine heavily whether or not the local public school is a safe place for children. When I lived in Kansas, there were a lot of public school students in my church, and they all were good, Godly teens. On the other hand, I have seen places where the Christian School teens were out of control.
I personally have decided that my children will not go to a public school. They will either be enrolled in a Christian school (with my involvement, to insure that nothing that I don't believe is being taught there), or they will be homeschooled, as both me and my wife have the ability to homeschool.
A problem with this "homeschool or nothing" mentality is that parents may or may not have the ability to teach their children. There are many good curriculi out there to assist in homeschooling. But the bottom line is, if you don't understand it, how can you teach it?
Other times, parents say that they are homeschooling their children, but the child isn't learning. I know of a family who's children did not learn to read until about the age of 8. The children had no learning disabilities. They just were not taught.
FAL made the statement that if a child goes astray in public school, then they never had the faith to begin with. Obviously. If I put my 4/5 year old in kindergarten, then they don't have the faith yet. And the indoctrination of what is taught in school will at the very least confuse them. Even the strongest teenager has still not had enough world experience to resist day in and day out bombardments of what they believe in, especially if they don't have a strong relationship with parents who can defend their stance(s).
As far as Christian school kids going bad, every case is different. But the ones I saw were when a Christian kid lived a sheltered life (not "in the world", as some put it) and didn't have a clue what they'd be facing when they got into the "real world". Then they got jobs and cars, and got a taste of fun (there is pleasure in sin for a season), and wondered why they weren't told about this stuff. They then went off the deep end.
Just my $.02. -
As well, I think every family who can remove their child from the public school should. However, family situations make this impossible to have a blanket and overarching reality for each and every family. -
I sent my two oldest girls to high school for 9th through 12th grades after being home schooled from early elementary through 8th grades. They both were mature, well grounded in their faith and ready for what they each needed in the public school. My oldest girl needed some outside accountability since she was not working well at home knowing that I still loved her even if she did poorly on her attention and getting work done. At school, she challenged herself more because she wanted to please the teachers. It also helped our relationship because I was now no longer always having to be the bad guy but instead was able to be her mom and allow her to begin learning how to work away from me. A side benefit was that we discovered her great talent in art and she went on to college on a scholarship to become an art teacher. She has just two more semesters before she graduates.
My second daughter went to high school because she excelled in all she did. She became proud and needed to see that she was not the top dog all the time. She learned humbleness at school and what came easy to her came even easier to others and she had others who were better than her. It was a good experience for her as well and she learned a lot at school that she couldn't learn at home including having private voice lessons with her choir and as such, she has become one of our main worship leaders at our small campus!
Both of my girls were able to minister to so many kids - because they had a great foundation from being home for the first years of their education and they were at the point of being mature in their faith and socially that they didn't get sucked into the bad stuff but instead were instrumental in bringing the Gospel to their school. They also were a witness in just their lives to the teachers and EVERY teacher loved them and knew that they were who they were because of Christ.
So I DO think there is a good reason to send our kids to public school. I don't think elementary or middle schools are the times to send them but high school is a definite option for our kids. I'm not sure what I'll do with these two younger ones but I am totally open to sending them to the public school if that is where God leads us. -
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I understand that some kids learn differently, and it may take longer. But a whole family (of 8 kids) not learning to read until ~8 is not normal.
Also, I know this family personally, and I know for a fact that they were slacking on teaching their kids. So, argue the evidence if you want, my original statement is still valid. -
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I know what you are trying to say about being in the world but not of it. But young children who are learning don't have the maturity to do that. Adrian Rogers once said "You can stick a white glove in a mud hole a hundred times and you will never get glovey mud, you will always get a muddy glove".
As for home schooling kids being "sheltered", well that is just silly. The old "Socialization" myth has been proven wrong a long time ago.
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