Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 02/21/07 11:01:39 AM |
Age 45, FL |
I'm a mom of 4 who homeschooled for a total of 14 years. My husband and I sought God each each year for our schooling choices for each child and followed His lead. A couple of those years we placed children in private Christian school. We found that while it was a relatively safe environment, our children saw a lot of fruitless religion in kids and teachers who were not choosing to model their lives in Christ. It was confusing for them and very hard for us to explain in a fashion so that our kids would not be judgemental. We trust that there was a reason and that God orders our steps. He directed us to return to homeschool. We were able to provide a top notch academic education and to instill a love for learning(who has more invested in their best interests than their parents?)and to guide them spiritually on a daily basis. When they were older, at the Lord's leading, we placed them in public high school. They all made straight A's and won the hearts and respect of their unbelieving teachers and are leading many of their classmates to the Lord. They have strong relationships with Jesus. The key is to know Christ and love like Christ.
They grew strong in their foundations at home during the early years so they were able to stand strong with their parents' support through high school. Because of what was instilled in them at home, they are ABLE to walk righteous and be loving witnesses to their teachers and classmates. The key is to seek GOD for each individual child and your choices. He knows what's best for each of us.
|
Re: Re: Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/31/06 06:18:30 PM |
Age 17, MN |
During my high school years I have had over ten students ask me questions about my faith. If that is not some form of witnessing, then what is?
A friend of mine who's been on two major missions trips through Royal Servants to Ireland and Isreal has prayed with at least eight students who right there WITHIN OUR SCHOOL WALLS accepted Christ! I've witnessed this and have taken part in it.
Maybe this is just my school in a very rare case. But please, PRAISE God for the work he is doing and is doing in my school...this isn't just some stupid Bible-hugger safety net. It's sooo much more.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/31/06 04:46:43 PM |
Age 14, AR |
I AM ONE OF THOSE KIDS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. I am 14, and in a public school in the ninth grade. From kindergarten up until my eighth grade year I went to a christian school, and as a result, I know and believe so much more than many christian kids in public schools. Not to sound egotistical, but when you are taught in Bible class every day all your life, you learn. I also learned how hypocritical people can be. I learned how to deal with people who call themselves believers, but don't act like Christ.
Up until about 7th grade, christian school was great. I learned alot, but the older I got, I realized that there was one big clique. Do the church thing, don't cuss, help out with functions, do the right thing...that was how they operated. If you followed al the 'rules' you got in the club.
People dealt with the outside behavior, but they weren't real on the inside.
So tell me, is christian school good or bad?
I think it instilled great principals and teachings into me as a young child instead of letting a group of liberals mold my mind.
But I think there is a point where we have to leave and go to the mission field. WHEN WE ARE READY.
For me, it was ninth grade that I left for public school. and it was perfect timing. Somewhere we have to leave the classroom, and enter the lab, but not when our minds are still easily molded by the world around us.
This is from my own experience, and I pray that parents care to read this and take it into mind, without dismissing my words simply because I am a teenager.
-Laurelyn Ramoly
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/30/06 05:07:25 PM |
Age 49, IA |
The question of public v. Christian education (at home or in a Christian school) in not one of personal opinion, but, "What does the Bible teach us?" I have been reading the Bible for 40-some years and have read through it several times. I have never found ANY SCRIPTURE which instructs - or even suggests - that we place our children under secular teaching or in a "spiritually challenging" environment to strengthen their faith. It is not in there! That argument itself is not from a biblical worldview. Deut 6 commands us to "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up..." How can we respond, "but not in school!"
Regarding our children as being missional,
Jesus told us that "a student will become like his teacher." Luke 6:40. The adults set the worldview, not the students. In regards to our children's education, the questions is not, "What did Jesus do (at age 30)?" but rather, "How was Jesus educated (as a child)?" I don't believe that Joseph and Mary sent him to the local Roman school. (And if anyone could have stood up to secular teaching, it was Jesus!)
Researcher George Barna cites statistics that over 90% of self-identified evangelical Christians do not have a biblical worldview. Not only are parents saturated with the world, many are subjecting our children to worldly teaching. A few hours of church activities each weeks is a difficult match for 35-40 hours/week (more with extra-curricular activities) of teaching, repetition, and testing from a different worldview. It is a myth that secular schools can teach "neutral subjects." All education is taught from someone's worldview. We have provided our 3 children with a Christian education and I currently work in a Christian school. Our children are not sheltered from the world and have plenty of missionary opportunities! I wouldn't send my teenager to war without going to military training, and I wouldn't send my children into adulthood without Christian education. Neither of those situations can guaranteed a perfect result, but training certainly increases the odds of a positive outcome!
|
Re: Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/30/06 08:34:29 AM |
Age 36, FL |
Please read the debate again. Tony Jones is the one for sending our Christian children to government run institutions where they can be thouroughly brainwashed by secular adults who are the ones in charge - our children have absolutely no say concerning what they will be taught. Quiet franky, we as parents have no voice in the curriculum being chosen - unless you HOMESCHOOL or go PRIVATE. Even Christian teachers in the government run institutions (PUBLIC SCHOOL) are being gagged where teaching anything biblical is concerned. Sean McDowell is the one with a God-given, biblically sound understanding in this debate.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/30/06 12:23:03 AM |
Age 56, SK |
I never sent my children into public school to be a missionary; I sent them to learn how to read, write, and work with numbers. I became heavily involved in our school as PTA president. When I went in to the school to make an announcement and heard a seventh grade teacher (she was considered one of the best in the school) say, "Take off your walkmans for the message from the PTA", I became alarmed. When I later heard that my son's grade 5 teacher allowed the playing of hard rock music during MATH time probably to keep order, I was cosiderably alarmed. I realized I would be teaching my boys at home all evening because they would never get an academic education in public school. That, along with the ability to choose the curriculum, were our reasons for home schooling our three boys.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/29/06 02:41:16 PM |
Age 34, GA |
There is so much put out there for our children and in the public schools how much of a say do we have in what they learn. When I home school my three ages 5, 7, and 9. I know what they are getting and it is the bible in all subjects. If they were in public how much bible would they be teaching none. They would get nothing but the world ways as in evolution and what about purity not in the public setting. So as far as I can see do we want our little ones who are just learning to be exposed to so much of the world right away or slowly and with each step tell them why it is so wrong that the world is the way it is.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/29/06 10:07:19 AM |
Age 49, FL |
The real issue is the foundation of any school that you send your children to. The public school has thrown God out of the system and therefore has to replace Him with something. (There is such a thing as light and darkness, truth and a lie.) If the foundation is no longer truth, what are they teaching our children? Are we Americans sacrificing our children on the altar of baal because we're afraid to take a stand on the realities of the condition of our public school system?
Isn't the secondary issue the fact that we are not willing to inconvenience our lifestlyes to make sure that our children are brought up in the fear and admonition of the Lord and the public school is "free and convenient"? Just do the research and compare the statistics of public school kids vs christian/homeschool kids and their faith....Why would any Christian parent gamble with their children's faith? Why risk public school?
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/29/06 08:44:18 AM |
Age 46, IL |
I agree, Sean. I am homeschooling 3 teens and 1 preteen, and it's hard enough keeping their eyes in the spiritual world as it is. I can't imagine how to do it with them at ANY school!
One little complaint: why do you say, "IRONICALLY home schooling may be most Biblical." Why ironically?? How about an adverb like fortunately, or thankfully, or something like that?
Keep up the good work--but watch those adverbs! I'm watching them! :)
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/28/06 08:06:21 PM |
Age 36, FL |
I agree 100% with Sean. I will state up front that we are a homeschooling family in our third year. However, we have experience with the current public school institution as our older daughter attended public school through the 5th grade - which we greatly regret - our younger daughter only attended public school for Kindergarten. What is most disturbing to me is the lack of concern on the part of other Christian parents for their own children. I have heard numerous Christian parents state that they just don't like spending that much time with their kids - this in response to our homeschooling. Lack of parenting is where the heart of the problem lies - many parents are very selfish and refuse to spend the time it takes to raise their children in the way God instructs us. In response to Tony's suggestion of parents volunteering in the child's classroom, not all school districts allow this access. The school district we currently live in has a strict policy of parental volunteerism in your own child's classroom be limited to "parties or special occassions only." When I questioned this policy, I was told that they'd had some very bad experiences with parents in the classroom where academics and grading were concerned. My response was, the grading of papers is the teachers responsiblity not the parents - and later experience, NOT OTHER STUDENTS either. Yes, my daughter and other students checked classmates tests at the direction of the teacher. Public school is a LAST RESORT in our experience.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/28/06 10:25:44 AM |
Age 42, GA |
Sean,
Sean - Thank you for your defense of caring and nurturing children. I would like to add what Psalm 1:1-3 states: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." It appears that God already gave us a stern warning about the public schools and Christian parents need to better obey this teaching. Furthermore, why is it so that when Christian students are sent to the governmental schools as "salt and light" that the opposite occurs and the child from the Christian home turns out being corrupted by overwhelming sinfulness?
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/28/06 09:22:21 AM |
Age 44, NC |
Sean and anyone else listening! Don't buy this. To even accuse Christian parents being afraid of their child hearing a swear word on the bus tells me just how out of touch Sean is. I am in year 21 of a career in public and Christian schools. True, kids often don't share their faith in the schools but in my experience,those kids who do speak up are often bullied by the adults teaching them. The curriculum is openly humanistic. Christian students often have to suffer through being belittled by those adults, and therefore their peers, if they dare to express any disagreement to the curriculum. The social agenda that the kids are pressured to accept most often most often openly contradicts, marginalizes and even openly opposes what Christian parents are teaching in the home. Leaving them confused and powerless, wondering what is really true. Can any worldview to which a child is exposed for 35 hours a week not have an influence on him?
Parents-this gentleman is simply in error on this one. Why not instead give our children a school experience that helps solidify their faith so their lives can truly have a relevent influence on their world?
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/28/06 01:13:30 AM |
Age 32, BC |
OK, I've taken the bait to toss in my 2 bits. Sean, I understand your position and concerns for children in public schools. However, I think your view is flawed because you assume that the only reason they go there is to be missionaries. While they may be missionaries, my primary concern is that their faith is tested along the way so that they will grow and mature, being able to resist the incredible temptations that will come at them upon graduation. If their first contact with the real world is after high school, the results could be disastrous! I have heard of cases like this where a Christian child stays in private school and then graduates and falls prety to the world and never turns back. I am the father of 3, and I am sending ALL my children to public school and I have no qualms about it. Why? Because I'm going to answer all their questions by God's grace. Remember, when we are weak, then we are strong, primarily because we will depend upon God and not ourselves or our own strength. Another point is that the Bible doesn't command me to teach my children English, Math, French, etc. though I certainly do some of this -- rather, the Bible commands me to train up my children in the way of the Lord, to teach them the way they should go and feed them with the Word of God. I believe public/private school is an issue of Christian liberty, so no one should judge another for where they send their children. Do what you think is best, but I plead with you... DO NOT leave the spiritual training of your children up to someone else no matter where they get their general education. And don't be afraid to allow them to be tested. It can be healthy if you are there to answer their questions and train them as you have been commanded to do. --Ryan Schatz
|
Re: Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/27/06 11:44:50 PM |
Age 24, WA |
Amen. I wasn't a Christian in HS, but can tell you of several that lost their faith in those treacherous unbiblical walls. My husband was one of them. He has come back to the Lord, but many suffered on that Altar of Baal. We are now homeschooling our kids in an attempt to give them a solid biblical worldview and testimony before they are thrown into this immoral world. However, that has in no way affected my passion for the lost, and it has allowed us to have more time and opportunities to minister to families around us from every walk of life and every school setting. Tony's arguement is bad logic.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/27/06 05:19:02 PM |
Age 71, AR |
Two points:
1. Baring special circumstances like continual travel or special qualifications of the parents to teach, a student will be exposed to no information through private school or homeschooling that could not be given them supplementaly. Any parent who wishes to deliver certain knowledge to a child can do so as a supplement to the public school education.
2. A parent who fails to provide food, warmth, clothes, or other physical needs can be prosecuted. But no state has provision for prosecution of those who fail to provide access to the knowledge necessary to function in society, in the world whatever one's view of it. They should.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/27/06 04:33:35 PM |
Age 17, IN |
I went to a public school from 1st-7th grade, and was put into a private christian school in 8th grade (which I am currently attending as a junior in high school). In a public school I couldn't evangelize since I never really knew how to in the first place. I wasn't trained to through the church or by my parents. By going to a private school I have learned how to evangelize and have developed a christian worldview because of the hermeneutics and apologetics classes offered there. I couldn't have learned that by going to a public school. Besides that, not everyone that attends a private school is "christian". Just because you attend a private school doesn't mean you will not have the opportunity to be "missional". I'm not against public schools, but if a student is not being discipled at home or in the church, then I would recommend a private school.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/27/06 02:18:19 PM |
Age 53, OK |
PS
This issue also points us to the importance of rightly dividing the Word of Truth. If our eschatology errs we may find ourselves pursuing erroneous objectives; perhaps even in conflict with our Lord's work.
We will not "christianize" the nation by sending our children to public school.
The Church is not called to "Christianize" the U.S. or any other culture. We are to proclaim the gospel and make disciples of those who believe...in every nation, regardless of their governmental structure.
Scripture presents us with two types of nations: Israel and all other nations - the gentile nations.
America, regardless of it's heritage, is a gentile nation and when the times of the gentiles are fulfilled America will fall.
The advance of the Church in the world lies in the power of the Savior who declared that He will build His Church. It is not dependant on what believers do, or do not do.
The world is on a crash course of corruption and judgment. Perhaps America will see another revival such as in the days Jonathan Edwards; perhaps not.
But that is not the work of our children in public schools.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/27/06 01:34:14 PM |
Age 29, NV |
I'm in my fifth year of teaching the Christian faith at a private school, and my experience only highlites what the Scriptures already tell us. Bad company corrupts good character in deed, even in a Christian school. In an enviroment of less than 50 students we are finally arriving at the point where the boldness of the students' faith is being seen. The first four years of school were wonderful opportunities of sharing Christ in word and deed with 'christian' students that were too scared to vocalize their faith. Now it's year five, the tides are changing. For the first time our christian students are lovingly speaking out to those who don't yet know Him. This is the battle of peer pressure they faced with 50 students and supportive staff, I can't imagine the odds at the public school down the street with over 2,000 kids. Jesus' disciples weren't ready to be 'missional' until after three years with the King of Kings and Pentecost...they were grown men.
|
Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/27/06 01:34:02 PM |
Age 29, WA |
It all comes down to the specific child/family involved. Every child is different. Some can handle the peer pressure and stand up for what they believe in and even witness to other children. But then there are others who are more soft and tend to give in to the pressures around them. In my case I have my children in a Christian private school because the teachers were not meeting the needs of my son. Also, after my son being in public school for 3 years, after being in a Christian school the first 2 years, I noticed a decline in sprituality and dedication to God. I just knew in my heart that he needed to be in a Christian environment. At least for a while so he can build up those spiritual strengths and obtain a good foundation of biblical truth and light again. I can already see an improvement in his behavior. Maybe once those strengths are built up I will send my children back into public school to be salt and light to the other kids. But not till I know they can protect themselves.
|
Re: Re: Public vs. Private Schools
| Posted On: 10/27/06 01:06:57 PM |
Age 47, TN |
The gentleman that posted feedback from Mo. said that 98% of students that are homeschooled and that learn a Christian Worldview maintain their faith. Can you provide any detail on where to find more info about this study?
|
|
|
|
|
