Thoughts On Public Schooling: Should Christians Homeschool Their Children?

“The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.”

? Martin Luther King Jr.

Many an average American boy or girl will be raised up in the school rooms of public education. I would like to share some thoughts from great minds on education itself, public education, and wisdom. I'd also like to share my personal experiences in the public education system. Then I'll transition into possible solutions to these issues, cross referenced with personal need and the good of society at large.

I was brought up in a fairly average American home. My mother was a nurse, and my dad was a teacher for a local technical college. I was raised just beyond the suburbs, but close enough to the suburbs to bike around with my friends on sunny summer days. Never the less, autumn would always come and eventually we would hear the familiar squealing of the breaks of the public school bus coming to pick us up for a fresh round of indoctrination sessions.

It should be noted that the school district which I attended K-12 is considered one of the best in the United States. No joke. I recall knowing kids who had wealthy parents that rented a house for their kids in the area, just so they could go to the D.C.E. school district. I recall the drunken house parties at the rental house too. At the same time the Wausau, Wisconsin area is a reasonably conservative Christian area. That was generally reflected in the teachers. I wouldn't say I received an overly liberal blast of public education. But there are many who do.

Elementary school was in general quite a wonderful experience. There were some issues, but overall it was quite excellent. I was lucky though. The Riverside elementary school was a wonderful place to be at K-6th. Apparently other elementary schools in the area were much different.

The real nightmare I think comes for most kids in the 7th grade through 12th grade experience. I recall how the religious students were persecuted. There was a dual sort of persecution for those types. First they were targeted by teachers and the governing body of the institution. I don't think they did that out of cruelty. They do it because they are afraid of being sued by the Freedom from Religion Foundation or the ACLU. These organizations lose almost all of their court battles, but by always being there to sue, sue, sue, it forces public teachers and officials into a state of fear.

They don't want a controversy, they don't want a legal battle, they don't their school on the news. So the easiest way to keep the status quo is to quietly persecute the Christian students who want to practice their beliefs within the walls of the school. Christian students shouldn't submit to such persecutions, but should instead contact organizations like the Alliance Defending Freedom and Liberty Institute for free legal support.

Possibly worse is the culture of bullying and social climbing within the school population. I wasn't even religious really during those years, but I always made sure I never mentioned Jesus or Christian faith. The students who did were brutally mocked, often physically bullied, and forced to the "loser table" at lunch. I'm sure cultures at school can vary from public school district to public school district, but in my experience it was quite brutal. There were the popular kids with the nice clothes, and then there were the rest.

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of education have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty." -Albert Einstein

Dr. Einstein was right when he considered how public schools dispel education. As many of you know, I'm a writer. I even dare to say a good, and creative writer of fair skill. I hated English in high school. I hated it in junior high. I hated it in elementary school. In fact I hated history too, which I love now. I hated civics, which I enjoy studying now too. I hated all the subjects. Why? Because the majority of the time, I was being taught by an old, gruff tenured teacher, burnt out, who incited me toward hatred of the topic. Or in English class I was being forced to read the most boring, uninspiring gluck I could imagine, like "Of Mice and Men" and "Romeo and Juliet." Now these are certainly good works, but of absolutely no interest to a teenager.