Should Christian parents pull their kids out of public school?

Contrary to the widespread American public school tradition into which I was born in post-World War II America (and in which I was educated K–12), I believe Christian parents make a terrible mistake when they turn their children over to the state for education for the majority of the waking hours of the majority of the weeks and months of their formative years.

Needless to say, it would be inappropriate, not to mention illegal, for a public school to use public money to teach subjects from a Protestant, biblical and Baptist perspective.

Consequently, my wife and I decided before we were married in 1971 that when we were blessed with children, we would commit to educating them in Christian schools, even if we had to sacrifice saving for college to do it. God honored our commitment, and we were able to educate all three of our children K–12 in Christian schools, which also had the added blessing of being more ethnically diverse than the public schools in the districts where we lived.

The commitment to educate our children in Christian schools required financial sacrifice. We drove older cars, took less expensive vacations and dined in less expensive restaurants than many of our professional peers. Whatever the cost and sacrifice, it was worth it.

When my oldest daughter graduated from kindergarten, all the children recited from memory a Bible verse for every letter of the alphabet. The two I distinctly remember were "Even a child is known by his doing" for E and "Honor thy father and thy mother" for H. Then they all sang together, "I am a promise, I am a possibility, and I'm waiting to see what God is going to make of me." I turned to my wife and said, "That's the best $5,000 we ever spent!" She heartily agreed.

The Bible instructs us as parents to rear our children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4). In Deuteronomy 6, God instructs parents to teach "the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments" to our children (Deut. 6:1) and "teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deut. 6:7–9). The Hebrew word translated "teach" literally means "sharpen" and refers to sharpening a knife by rubbing it again and again on a hard stone.

I firmly believe all Christian parents should seriously consider putting their children in truly Christian schools or, alternatively, choosing the homeschool option. I further believe local churches should consider supporting a Christian school (perhaps in alliance with other churches) and providing financial aid to parents who need help making a Christian education possible for their children.

I would challenge churches to pray about whether God might want them to start pre-K through 12th grade Christian schools as a ministry outreach, with the understanding that Christianity will be taught in every subject.

Finally, I don't believe this means abandoning the public schools. As taxpayers and citizens, we have a responsibility to all the children in the community. We must do our best to make certain that every child in the community has the opportunity to attend a school that will truly educate them and help them develop their God-given skills to the fullest, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

Sadly, for too long Americans have allowed the talent of too many of our younger citizens to be squandered because they were born in economically or socially disadvantaged communities.

Yes, we have moral and spiritual obligations to our own children. However, we also have moral and spiritual obligations to all our neighbors' children. God loves them too, and we must do all we can in word and deed to make sure they know that God loves them — and that we do too. And God has a wonderful plan for their lives.

Such a commitment would do much to increase the impact of our evangelistic witness and would bless everyone in each of our communities.