by Deborah Wuehler, Senior Editor of The Old Schoolhouse
Looking at all the mini-socialists coming out of our public education systems, it makes you wonder what happened to teaching the three R’s rather than these postmodern ideologies proven to be harmful to our livelihoods and that threaten the foundations of our great country. Who was supposed to be teaching them moral character and self-government? How did they skip the lessons of the Golden Rule based on the Bible? Where were the teachers that looked ahead toward a free society and taught based on what made it free in the beginning?
Just a few generations ago, teachers taught the Ten Commandments, the Pledge of Allegiance, correct non-revised history, and such great scientific, mathematic, and language arts educational content by the fifth grade, that most high schoolers today would have no clue about. They would definitely not be smarter than a fifth-grader from just a couple hundred years ago.
Today, public and some private classroom education is not only not neutral, it is definitely not apolitical, and definitely is amoral. School campuses are full of administrators pushing the teaching of one-sided, depraved, and political philosophies. Sex education has become more important than subtraction. Environmentalism is more important than simple equations. Secularism is held as the standard of science. Left-wing political activism is held up above language arts. Tolerance and diversity stand in the place of morality. Instead of teaching the children to read and to reason, they have pushed their relative cultural propaganda. And the results are seen in the unrest of the present day.
Going back in time, it was the parents who had control over the schools, and education was not mandated by the government. That is when education flourished. That is when teachers answered to parents and not principals. How do we go back to those times, and who is supposed to be teaching these children?
Enter the homeschool family. This is exactly where parents have taken back their God-given right to educate their own children according to their own convictions, and it has been done with excellence for over fifty years now. The basics of Bible, math, history, science, language arts, foreign language, music, art, sports, creativity, and civic involvement have been promoted and upheld and the results have been far better than the failing government education system. (See all the research at www.NHERI.org.)
Parents know what is best for their children. They don’t need a government nanny teaching them every little thing the vile culture deems appropriate at any given time. Parents know how to nurture and train their children to be good citizens, logical thinkers, able to research on their own, understand self-government, and the highest standards of loving God and loving your neighbor.
Who is supposed to run with the children the race from this world to the next while passing the baton of what is most important to the next generation? Parents. We realize we do not belong to this world. God’s kingdom is the ultimate home where we belong. We are passing through while leaving a legacy of faith to our children and our children’s children who will not only know how to run, but how to persevere, how to rise victorious, how to overcome, and endure to the end.
This whole idea of education begins when they are born. Parents nurture and train them from babyhood. Then they are still nurturing and training them through their preschool, elementary, middle and high school years, while ending as a strong family unit racing together towards a common goal of keeping the faith. Families run the race of faith while praying to add to the number of runners: calling in the unsaved (along with our children), and encouraging the weary, helping those who have fallen, offering living water to the thirsty, and pointing to Jesus Who has gone before us.
The first mention in the Bible of what we would now call education is in direct relation to how God chose Abraham because He saw Abraham teaching his own children:
“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment” (Genesis 18:19).
Henry M. Morris, PhD, says of this verse:
Note that nothing is said concerning degrees or diplomas, sciences or humanities, school buildings or textbooks. It does tell us that God’s highest priority in the training of the young is that they learn to “keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment.” Such instruction is the responsibility of the home—not the government or some education association. 1
Many of you have seen that now is the time to pull those children out of the darkness of government public education and into the light of a Biblically based home education. Well done. You have chosen the best education possible for your children as you raise them in the ways of the Lord and the Word of the Lord.
Dr. Morris goes on to say,
Most importantly, all instruction in every subject, should be governed by Biblical criteria, for “all Scripture … is profitable … for instruction … That the man of God may be perfect [i.e., “fully prepared”] (2 Timothy 3:16–17) for the work God wants him to do.2
Parents, you have been given all you need, and you are more than able to provide this kind of instruction for your children as you keep them Home. Where They Belong.
Endnotes:
1. Institute for Creation Research (ICR) Days of Praise “True Education” December 29, 2020.
2. ibid.
About Deborah
Deborah Wuehler is Senior Editor for TOS, wife to Richard, and has eight children ages 29 to 12. She writes for The Homeschool Minute (www.TheHomeschoolMinute.com) and appears on YouTube with Schoolhouse Devotions (bit.ly/2MrF8Sn), helping to point homeschool families to Christ as they keep their children Home. Where They Belong! You can contact Deb at [email protected].
Copyright 2021, The Old Schoolhouse®. Used with permission. All rights reserved by the Author. Originally appeared in the Spring 2021 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the trade publication for homeschool moms. Read The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com, or download the free reader apps at www.TOSApps.com for mobile devices. Read the STORY of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine and how it came to be.
I didn’t realize this was a political organization.
CHEA’s mission is to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ by promoting, protecting, and providing support for private Christian home education.
I am curious how many days the author has spent in a public school setting because I have worked in them for over fifteen years and have found them to be places that create opportunity for the most marginalized members of our society. They provide free food, health care, and child care for the most vulnerable individuals regardless of their ability to pay. Public school educators on average are more experienced and more qualified than private school educators. If more “Christians” invested in public schools then we would probably see even better outcomes for these institutions and those they serve- our neighbors.
This kind of message is ridiculous and I highly doubt that Christ would agree with it. Please do your own research before believing these lies that are built on a foundation of fear and ignorance.
I am curious how much time this author or any CHEA representatives or affiliates have spent in public schools to come to the conclusions above.
As a credentialed teacher I have spent over fifteen years in public schools in Los Angeles County and have found NONE of the above to be true. I have worked with god loving, Christian superintendents, principals, teachers, and families at EVERY one of the many charter and district schools I have had the privilege to partner with.
Public schools provide FREE food, clothing, health care, and child care to the most vulnerable children in our society. They provide them with a quality education regardless of their ability to pay or contribute in any way. When Jesus talked about taking care of orphans, he meant those in public schools. They are the primary organizations who provide services to homeless and foster children on a DAILY basis.
Public education is a place where the gospel is put into practice every day although it is not always done flawlessly.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do your own research and check the facts.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. We do have former public school teachers among our ranks whose experience has been different than yours.