Why Christians Should Send Their Kids to Public Schools
I consistently hear Christians discuss the virtues of homeschooling, and many view it as the most Biblical educational option, with Christian schools falling close behind. Consequently, when I hear public schooling mentioned in Christian circles, it is many times regarded with fear, negativity, and seen as a necessary evil for those who cannot afford a "better" option. Rarely do I hear public schools discussed in a positive light amongst Christians, which I feel is unfortunate. So here are my reasons why I believe public schools are best for me, my kids, and Christians in general.
Salt & Light Opportunities
While it has become cliché to refer to your own backyard as a mission field, it's a truth worth revisiting. You don't have to travel to another country to show the love of Jesus to others, you can simply walk up the street. When Christian kids attend public schools, they have daily opportunities to show kindness and love to kids from all walks of life. We live in a very diverse neighborhood with kids that come from million dollar homes to kids whose families are on welfare. All of these kids go to our neighborhood school, and my children have been able to befriend kids from all walks of life and religions. They've also learned that not all kids are brought up with the same morals and values we teach in our home, and they're able to share their beliefs with their friends at school.
Encounter the Real World with Mom & Dad
One of the biggest problems I have with homeschooling is that it's not a true representation of the real world. Staying home with your family and interacting with other homeschool families that share your beliefs does not show kids a true cross-section of the types of people they'll encounter in their adult lives when they finally do leave home. But when kids go to public school, they're faced daily with kids who are brought up in all kinds of homes with all types of belief systems. While many parents are scared that their kids will embrace other values or negative behavior, I see it as an opportunity to teach my kids about what they'll encounter in the world and how to appropriately deal with what they see and hear as Christians. I would much rather give my children the tools they need to interact with others while they're living and growing under my roof than shelter them until they're eighteen and then unleash them into a world they know very little about and have not experienced. By sending my kids to public school now, they'll have already practiced living with others, so they'll be ready for those interactions when they leave home, having already talked it out many times with Mom and Dad.
Diverse Enrichment
While I realize that many homeschool groups exist to give homeschoolers opportunities outside their classes, I have yet to see the opportunities match those that many public schools have to offer without costing a lot of money to replicate. Because public schools are funded by the taxpayers, they oftentimes have a lot of various learning opportunities for students. From theatrical productions to sports teams, from art classes to clubs and other enrichment opportunities, public schools simply offer more ways to learn and grow than any homeschooling group could. And all of these things are led and taught by professionals in these fields, whereas parents who homeschool can't possibly be experts in every subject, which is a huge disadvantage to students.
Learn How to Interact with Various Opinions
One of the biggest drawbacks I see with homeschooling and Christian schools is that there is one majority of opinion and little else is represented. While the Church itself is diverse and denominations vary on their opinions about God and the Bible, there's still an undercurrent of "us" (Christians) against "them" (the world). But in public schools, all opinions and viewpoints are represented, and Christian kids can not only learn how to respectfully disagree and learn from others, they also have daily opportunities to share their faith and learn what it means to come alongside others in ministry and friendship. I know that I learned a great deal about people in general by attending public school, and those experiences have equipped me to be a good friend and neighbor in my diverse neighborhood as an adult. I may not agree with other parents and teachers about various subjects, but I know how to still befriend them and show them love while holding true to my beliefs because I practiced it for twelve years within the public school system.
Overall, I believe that public schools should be a first choice for Christian families instead of a last resort. If more Christian kids were encouraged to live out their faith in this way, then the church would be stronger and the world would be a better place as more Christians were trained up living out the great commission, beginning in their early years.
Published by Susan Ott
Susan Ott is a freelance writer and editor who has written for Yahoo!, Pampers, Time Warner, Tide, AT&T and more. She is also a former English Teacher, wife and mother of four. View profile
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9 Comments
Post a Comment....by the way, my husband retired almost two years ago from public school administration. His desire was to be "salt and light" in a very needy envrironment and to encourage our children in that mission as well.
The so-called "statistics" given by Curtis Pixler are extremely suspicious. These numbers are interesting....very similar to a prescription drug that is said to correct a health issue. It is so wonderful until 10 years or so later, they find that the drug actually had more negative side effects than anticipated and actually caused more harm than good. When it comes to educating our children, the statistics are uncertain due to the FACT that each homeschool family does not have the same standard. The FACT also remains that simply stating numbers and percentages without giving the actual data and method in which one came to a conclusion is a farse. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Susan Ott's article and have heard my husband repeat many of her excellent points for 30 plus years. We reared three children in the Missouri Public School system, moving to different schools as we had to relocate for my husband's job. They each had good teachers and not-so-good teachers, but we, the parents, were involved in the education of our children, relying on our almighty, sovereign God to put a hedge about them and direct us to know what to say when issues of diversity in beliefs came up. Our children grew up with the mindset that they were not to look down their nose at anyone, and grew to be known among their peers as the ones who took up for the underdogs. Praise God for this life lesson that is given to us through the public schools!
It is up to the parent to make this decision. You need to take into account your local public school, some schools better and safer than others. Then think about your child, are they followers or leaders? Are they strong Christians, at 5 when they start attending school? I think it's a year to year decision, accessing your situation each year. We have made our home a Christ centered home, however, when our children are at a non-Christ centered school situation from 8-2:30 every weekday that is a big chunk of their little lives. I think whatever is going on there, which we as parents we will never know everything, they are learning things we don't want them to know just yet. Their teachers are a big influence, some years the teacher may be good, other years bad or very liberal. I went to public schools and I did fall away for a while as a Christian and will never know what my life might have been knowing Christ the entire time. I had a very secular way of learning thin
I simply disagree with the article. I was not homeschooled but currently homeschool our children. The numbers don't lie:
*88% of those in public schools drop out of church before their 2nd year in college as opposed to 4%. It is PRETTY CLEAR that sending our kids to the public schools are not helping them but hurting them.
*The very best subject in our public schools show that kids score around the 50 percentile. Homeschoolers score around 86 percentile.
*The average ACT score for homeschoolers is 5-8 points higher.
"I was almost brought to tears by your article. I have spent almost 30 minutes trying to find some articles in support of Christian parents public schooling their children and until your artcile I was unsuccessful. You expressed exactly the way I was feeling. I am sick of hearing that I am a bad Christian because I choose to teach my children to be a good Christian while living in the world not hiding away from it." Heather, you just stated exactly what I've gone through. My issue now is feeling alone in my "community". I am praying for a niche. Thank you so much for this article, Susan.
It's your decision as a parent. (Thank God we have that freedom!) Ultimately, it's you who will have to stand before God and give an account of the choices you make, and it's your children's souls at stake no matter which way you choose. I know good parents who choose many different options for education; some chose different options for their different children.
You're welcome, Heather. I'm so glad you were encouraged; it's why I wrote this article. Blessings to you as you pursue your goals while doing what's best for your family. I suspect there are many more out there who feel this way--maybe they'll comment, too!
Finishing my previous comment:
...that the public schools will somehow turn our children evil. I decided to follow what God was telling me and have never regretted my decision since. I just get so weary of hearing the homeschooling propaganda and feeling like I don't have a voice. So thank you for putting into words what a lot of us are feeling!
I was almost brought to tears by your article. I have spent almost 30 minutes trying to find some articles in support of Christian parents public schooling their children and until your artcile I was unsuccessful. You expressed exactly the way I was feeling. I am sick of hearing that I am a bad Christian because I choose to teach my children to be a good Christian while living in the world not hiding away from it. I have been a SAHM for 10 years and recently started attending school school for Broadcast captioning (now that all my children are school age) so that I can provide captioning services for the hearing impaired at worship services. I have been called by God to do this. If I had chosen to homeschool my children, following God's calling for me would not be possible. I prayed about this (something my homeschooling friends assume I forgot) and felt that God would not want me to abandon His calling for me simply beacuse the current consenses among Christian parents is that the