Homeschooling vs Public School; Neutral Education Debate
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There is no such thing as “neutral education”
I’m going to be very frank here; the world is lying to you. The world wants you to believe that public school education is neutral. But we must ask ourselves, “what does the world define as ‘neutral’” ? Usually this means that there is no hint of Christianity in their lessons. Okay, we can work with that. But then, what is present? In the absence of God, we get secular humanism (Secular Humanism, is defined as a religious worldview based on atheism, naturalism, evolution, and ethical relativism). This is the religion of the world.
You can’t have neutral education. There is always a god. It’s either the God of the Bible, or it’s the god of this world, but you can’t have both. Public schools choose secular humanism, quite obviously. Sometimes, you even get statism thrown in there for fun. As a student of public schools, and a former teacher, I was raised in, trained in, and educated in that environment for 16 years. Then, I taught it to my students for another 8 years. You can try, as a Christian teacher, to get around it, but most of the time it’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole; it doesn’t work. Christianity and secular humanism are at odds with each other. You have to teach one or the other, but you can’t teach both.
Public School vs Homeschool; the neutral education myth
You Have a Choice; Public school vs Homeschool
As parents, we’re blessed with the choice of education for our children. Our kids have to be educated, but we get to decide by whom and where. Will it be the state, private school, or homeschool? Public school vs homeschool is a huge debate in the Christian world. I can tell you, as a former teacher, I wouldn’t put my kids in public school. I’ve never regretted the decision.
Many times, I get private messages from professing Christians asking me for secular or neutral curriculum. I have no such suggestions. As a Christian family, we don’t use curriculum that comes from a secular worldview. Why? Are we trying to brainwash our kids? Not necessarily.
“Your children will go to public school and they will be trained for somewhere around 15,000 hours in ungodly secular thought. And then they’ll go to Sunday school and they’ll color a picture of Noah’s ark. And you think that’s going to stand against the lies that they are being told?”
I always get a laugh when someone says we’re “brainwashing our kids”.
Food for thought; your kids will be brainwashed in something. It’s not possible to be neutral. The question is “brainwashed with what?”. Will your kids be brainwashed with leftist ideology, secular humanism, or statism? Or will they be trained in the Word of God?
The book of Deuteronomy states, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” - Deuteronomy 6:7
However, if our children are gone for 8 hours from us learning secular ideology, how do we put this into practice? Our job as Christian parents is made infinitely harder.
As homeschooling parents, we are privileged to give our children an education through a Biblical worldview. Everything we give our kids comes from that same worldview. They won’t have one worldview at school, and one at home. This creates chaos and confusion for Christian kids. All of our materials align with with Christ and the Word.
Look at the source; Education is Political
Don’t just take my word for it, look at the source. They admit that education is secular. From the horses’ mouth, The National Education Association, says “Education is Political': Neutrality in the Classroom Shortchanges Students”. There you have it. They openly admit to training your children in their politics in the classroom, and more than that, they excuse it away and call it a good thing.
Read the article here.
R.C. Sproul, the late (and great) theologian wrote an article on this before his passing that I highly recommend to all Christian parents. He writes, “All education is religious—it will either instill values that align with the truth of God or create a worldview that subverts it. Do you see that? There can’t be neutrality. If I try to give an educational position whereby children are instructed in terms of a basic life and worldview without respect to God, then they are, in fact, being inculcated with a secularism, a kind of humanism, which has a religious commitment, ultimately—a religious commitment that is anti the Christian faith, because it’s manifestly impossible to approach education without certain ultimate presuppositions as to the relationship of the world and God”.
But, this doesn’t happen at my school! We have Christian teachers!
I hear this multiple times a week. I get it, I really do. I was one of those “Christian teachers”. I was also under the constant threat of losing my job if I didn’t teach the state mandated curriculum, or if I spoke about my faith (and this was 15-20 years ago). There’s not much Christian teachers can do unless they are teaching in a Christian school. Even if they believe Christ is the messiah, it’s not like they can say it or disciple your kids. They’d lose their jobs for that.
”Okay, but our school isn’t woke yet”
You sure? Really sure?
We thought the same thing back in 2015-2016. Our kids attended a small town public school, on a US military base (where it’s abnormal to be anything but “conservative”), and yet…it was there. We saw it and experienced it first hand at our “it wouldn’t happen in our school” school.
It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”. If it’s not in your school yet, it’s either because you haven’t found it yet, or you' haven’t looked hard enough. It’s there, in varying degrees, in all schools.
It doesn’t matter if your child’s teacher is a Christian. I was a Christian teacher, too. But I can’t teach Christ in a government school. In fact, I could lose my job if I do, and I could lose my job if I didn’t teach the mandated curriculum. So again, it doesn’t matter if your child’s teacher this year is a Christian. This may differ in a Christian school, but in this article, I’m specifically addressing public schools (although many private Christian schools have been infiltrated with woke, leftist ideology).
Public School vs Homeschooling; Statistics to Drive it Home
I wasn’t fully convinced until I saw the statistics years ago. These days, the number of Christian kids leaving the faith is even higher than it was when I first pulled my kids out of public school. When you look at public school vs. homeschooling, and the number of Christian kids leaving the faith in public schools, it really is alarming.
As of 2022, kids raised in church have a 70% chance of walking away from their Christian upbringing. Seventy percent. That’s a HUGE number. However, church kids in a homeschooling environment have a 90% chance of having a strong Christian faith.
Here’s a study for reference. And another one.
Clearly, there is so much at stake here. We’re talking about our children’s souls.
Until next time,
Soli Deo Gloria,
Mandy
Now, Watch this Youtube video from my Homeschooling channel!
