from The Earnest Contender, Winter 2010

By Jeremy Bickelhaupt


“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  The preceding verse is what we in the English language call an imperative sentence.  An imperative sentence gives a command or states a request.  The subject of an imperative sentence is always an understood you.  The command is implied to you.  Thankfully, this verse does not read, “Nations, train up a child…” implying that the government train our children; however, today’s parents act as though this is how it is read.  God did not constitute the government to educate your kids, He chose you, the parent.

Home-schooling should be the first choice for Christian families.  Unfortunately, we live in a society where both parents are forced to work to support our lavish lifestyles.  Children, their spirituality, and their educations have been sacrificed and deemed collateral damage for our choice to earn an extra paycheck. 

Thankfully, God has ordained the church to help the parent train up children.  The Christian school is a much-needed commodity today, but also a commodity many Christians refuse to utilize for whatever reason.

The purpose of the Christian school is to provide an environment that will reinforce morals and standards while achieving academic excellence to those unable to fulfill the Biblical command to educate the child themselves.  So, if that is the purpose of a Christian school, why do Christian parents fight so hard against the idea of Christian education?  Why wouldn’t a parent want the protection and security and uprightness that Christian schools offer?

Excuse one: My child’s social development might be hindered.  There is a greater chance that children who attend public schools will be more socially hindered than those attending Christian schools.  The reason for this is because publicly educated kids are classified, peer-pressured, and negatively influenced as opposed to kids attending Christian schools, who are positively edified and encouraged on a consistent basis by their peers and teachers.  There are so many ways in today’s society to socialize your children.  The public school should be the last choice for socialization, while the church should be the first.

Excuse two: Public schools aren’t that bad.  Having attended public school, I can tell you that they are worse than bad.  Just ten years ago, I was there.  Let me just list a few of the things that I endured as a Christian in the public high school.  I viewed inappropriate movies like Schindler’s List, Das Boat, Romeo and Juliet (each containing nudity and explicit sexual scenes), Austin Powers, and many more.  I had teachers who swore in class (my German teacher taught us all the cuss words first, because that’s what he wanted to know first when he first began studying the language.)  “Safe sex” was the politically correct thing to teach and the administration went as far as to pass out condoms after prom.  Perhaps the most vulgar and disturbing conversations took place in the locker rooms (especially after swim class with girls).  Since becoming a father, there is no way I would send my little girl to a school where the boys would think about her in such a vulgar manner.  During my sophomore year, drug dogs were brought in to raid lockers.  I experienced a bomb threat during my senior year.  The list continues.

Excuse three:  I went to public school, and I turned out just fine.  Fine is a relative term.  How much better could you have been if you were exempt from having to endure all the atrocities I listed in excuse number two?  Don’t settle for “fine.”  How much better than “fine” would you have been if you had not been subjected to all these negative influences?  Would your Christian walk be stronger?  Would you have a closer walk with the Lord?  Would you take stronger stands against immorality?  The truth is that your over-exposure to these improper behaviors has numbed your sense of what’s right and wrong, so you view it as “not that bad.”  Let’s remember, God is not relative. 

Excuse four:  I can’t afford private schooling.  OCCA’s tuition cost is well below the average fee of local daycare facilities.  Besides that, if you are truly interested in seeing your child enroll in a Christian school, it is very unlikely that a Christian school will prevent your child from attending due to financial hardships.  These schools work with families to make the education affordable and feasible.  Remember, a Christian school’s focus is not money; it’s your child.  Besides, the Treasurer of the Christian school owns it all and does not need your money to see that the school has the finances to operate.

Excuse five:  I want my child to be involved in sports and other extra-curricular activities.  Christian schools do offer sports, but is that what life is all about?  Currently our school has partnered with Temple Christian Academy (Fremont) and Harvest Baptist Academy (Clyde) to offer several sports, but we always encourage academics and spirituality first.  Sports can be a great tool to teach sportsmanship and healthy competition, but shouldn’t the focus of a school be academics?  It should sicken the taxpayer to see a large, successful athletic program while, at the same time, see the school system achieve a less than excellent academic status.  A Christian must prioritize.  Perhaps if more Christians would support their local church and its Christian school, then maybe there would be enough students and resources to hire on staff to teach other extra-curriculars like music, band, drama, and sports.

Excuse six:  Others may misjudge me if I send my child to private school.  Yes, there are those who look at parents who privately educate their children as being haughty and better than the average family.  They associate private education with upper class people, yet this is seldom the case.   In most cases, parents of Christian school children struggle and sacrifice for their children’s education because they want the best possible environment for them.  Outsiders may also associate private educators as being religious radicals who brainwash children.  Not so.  In fact, the secular philosophies and teachers in the public realm do more brainwashing.  In regards to being judged, let’s consider the source:  God or man.

Excuse seven:  Christian schools can’t measure up to their public counterparts; they are inferior.  Academically, most Christian schools, if administered properly, surpass the public schools.  Smaller classrooms result in more one-on-one attention.   There is more accountability to parents from the staff and teachers.  Research shows that Christian school students learn more in grades K-5 than public school children in grades K-8.  If tuition were not a factor in private education, secular parents would flock to the doors of Christian schools in order to enroll their children in the academically superior environment they have to offer.  Spiritually, there is no contest; public schools are inferior.  They instill very little, if any, moral or spiritual character in their students.  Who can’t measure up to whom? 

Excuse eight:  I already pay for public education, so I will send my child where I send my money.   We are unfortunate to be living in a time when we are forced as citizens to support the failing, immoral, government education system through taxation.  The bottom line is this:  you’re taxed to pay for a lot of products and services that you don’t support.  For example, just because I pay taxes to support the Welfare system doesn’t mean I am forced to agree with it.  In fact, I would not apply for Welfare regardless of the hardships life may throw at me, because I hold myself to a higher standard of “if a man doesn’t work, neither should he eat.”   Take a stand for your child’s education, even if that means a little taxation without representation.

Excuse nine:  I want my child to shine the light of Christ in the public schools.  Truthfully, one would think that one small light would stand out brightly in the dark confines of the public school, but in reality, this is very rarely the case.  The old adage says, “One bad apple spoils the bushel.”  Well, how much quicker will one good apple spoil if the whole bushel is rotten?  This excuse doesn’t even make sense for children under grade eight.  They, for the most part, are the ones impressionable, not the ones to make an impression.  Likewise, most high school-aged students will blend in with their environment, hoping no one will think of them as “that strange Christian kid.”  I know; I’ve been there.  As much as I knew of the Bible, and to much of my regret, I did very little let my light for Christ shine.

I’ve argued against nine common excuses Christians give for embracing public education.  The list of excuses could go on and on.   No doubt, there will be people who read this and roll their eyes in skepticism, but those rolling eyes will one day become tearful ones as they see a new, more wicked generation approach with their child defiantly leading the way.  My purpose in writing this is not to offend; rather, it  is to open the Christian parent’s eyes to an alternative to public education.  I plead with Christians to embrace the Word of God.  It commands you to train your own child.  If the primary option of home schooling is not workable, then let the Christian school help.  It is imperative that you obey God’s command to train up your children!