Home Schooling

Before I get into today’s lesson I want to say Happy Easter. I hope that you are enjoying celebrating the most significant event in the history of the earth, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Please forgive me for departing from the series on hyperdenominationalism but I felt that this issue is important enough to change the schedule. I've been thinking about this for two weeks now and actually began writing two weeks ago. I’ll resume the series in the next lesson.

As many of you may have heard a ruling was sent down from an appellate court in California that says that homeschooling is unconstitutional in that state. In their ruling they cite Article IX Section 1 of the California Constitution, which says, “A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.” The opinion claims that due to this clause homeschooling is unconstitutional. 

In the state of Tennessee legislators introduced a bill which would have essentially required that children be taught the same curriculum that is taught in the public schools. Fortunately due to public outcry this bill was defeated in committee, but similar things are likely to happen nationwide.

These things are a direct assault on the very foundation of what this country was founded upon. Our forefathers fought for freedom, but what this court has decided is not freedom. It goes against the very fabric of a free, moral society. It goes against the teaching that God has given. You see, God put parents, not the government, in charge of training children. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

So what are the forces that motivate such things? Let’s look a little closer. Is the problem that homeschool students are not doing as well as students in public schools? The answer to that is a clear NO. Homeschooled children excel in national tests and in college. Homeschooled students have also been shown to not have socialization problems as some have suggested. As a matter of fact they have a better likelihood of becoming civic leaders than their public school counterparts.

So if the homeschooled students are doing better than the public school students what are the objections? We’ll look at some of these objections here and see the danger. One objection is that homeschooling parents means reduced funding for public schools since school systems receive federal and state funding based on the number of students in attendance. The problem with this argument is that it should also mean decreased cost to the public school system. This, though, brings us to one of the real issues involved. One of the largest advocates against homeschooling over the years has been the teacher’s unions. You see, they have a vested interest in keeping children in the public schools, no matter how badly they’re failing.

I don’t think, though, that this is the primary objection to homeschooling. I doubt seriously that there would be significant objection to the homeschool movement if it weren’t for the fact that the vast majority of homeschool parents are professing Christians, and that many of those have chosen homeschooling for religious reasons.

If you were to look at the discussion about homeschooling on Wikipedia you would find that there are several items which are listed as objections that I would like to discuss here. Note that I have placed them in a different order than they’re listed in Wikipedia as the discussion flows more freely with this order.

1) Lack of socialization with peers of different ethnic and religious backgrounds: At face value this one may look legitimate, but notice the latter part of that. You see, those who hold this view believe that one religion is as good as another. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the only way to get to the Father (John 14:6). Throughout the Old Testament God instructed his people to avoid the idolatry of the people around them. So, then, as Christians we should not be concerned with our children being exposed to other religions.

2) That homeschool curricula often exclude critical subjects: This argument is primarily concerned with the teaching of evolution. Many homeschool curricula teach creationism, as does the Bible. Because a generation of people have been taught that evolution and an old age earth is fact they are not being taught how to critically examine the evidence. I would argue that public school curricula often exclude critical subjects, and there is an outrage at the very idea of including any part of those subjects. You see, humanists want to make man the center of the universe instead of God.

3) “That homeschool can potentially give students a very one-sided view of things, as their parents may, even unwittingly, block or diminish all points of view but their own in teaching. This may make students unable to think for themselves or to adapt to multiple points of view. He also argues that part of being a citizen is having something in common with fellow citizens, and homeschool diminishes that by reducing students' contact with peers”: This argument is pretty obvious. Those putting forth this argument want to teach our children how to think. They want to predispose our children against God. Besides this, this argument is bogus since homeschooled students typically are capable of thinking more critically than their public school counterparts.

4) Existence of parallel societies not fitting under the Progressive conception of citizenship and national community: Once again the purpose behind this argument is plain. By progressive these people really mean a society that is beyond what they believe is the “superstition” of religion. They don’t want our children being taught about God in school.

5) Fear of religious or social extremism: I saved this one for last because I think that it really gets to the heart of the problem. Those in opposition to homeschooling are afraid to have children taught that the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Those who oppose abortion are labeled extremists. Those who oppose homosexuality are called extremists.

So the real root of the problem is that there are those who want to take our children away from us and teach us that it’s OK to commit sin. They want to teach that if it feels good, do it, just make sure that you don’t reap the consequences. They want to teach that we’re nothing more than a meaningless blob of mass.

Satan is ultimately behind this movement. You see, Satan can thrive in a society that doesn’t understand that God created the earth. Satan can thrive in a society that doesn’t understand how this relates to original sin and it being passed down to us through Adam. Satan doesn’t want us to recognize sin as sin. He would rather that we justify ourselves. You see, if we justify ourselves there is no need in our own mind for God to justify us.

In closing I’d like to point out one other problem that I see rising. In the state of Tennessee the governor is pushing a program that would make pre-K mandatory. They want to get your child even earlier before you have the opportunity to “poison” him/her with the gospel, although they would never say it that way. It’s time that Christians take a stand and say, “No way are we going to allow the government to train our children.”

Yours in Christ,

Bro. John Rich