In lieu, lamely, of a proper response on the ‘education’ thread, can I direct you towards this article:
Where you can try swapping in the idea of “being educated in schools run by non-Christians” and see if the principle still holds.
ninetysix and ten
mostly traditional scottish presbyterianism
ninetysix and ten 
Dear Catherine,
You are not seriously insulting our intelligence by trying to say that a bus driver or teacher (or indeed a school) are in the same league with regards to the kind of influence they can have over our children?
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No, I wasn’t thinking about the influence thing, more the idea that there is a uniquely Christian way of going about everyday life. Christian bus drivers, Christian doctors, Christian checkout assistants, Christian teachers – nice when you get them, but you don’t need to be a Christian to be a good [whatever].
(Sorry for the slow reply, been away all weekend.)
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I enjoyed Darryls’ article. But I think the parallel breaks down for teachers most of all. Is bus driving only action (speach and movement) or is it also content (route) and even aim (delivering passengers). Is teaching only action (speach and movement) or is it content too and do I not expect teachers to have an aim; to influence for example my child’s writing or reading. I do not expect anything uniquely Christian in the action, content and aim of bus driving, but I may of a teacher when it comes to content and aim; that will be subject dependant.
Does a good maths teacher using an engaging style, and retaining a child’s respect remain a good maths teacher when she/he teaches that the pythagorus theorem is wrong? Does a good primary teacher using an engaging style, and retaining a child’s respect remain a good teacher at the point when she/he teaches that no religion is true? Would a Christian primary teacher remain good at the point they teach that Jesus Christ is the Truth? Could an athiest teach that fact? Absolutely, but only if those that run the schools directed them to do so. Of course then you’d expect those running the schools to be Christians.And who really runs the schools?
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TI think it a ridiculous comparison between bus-driving and education. Bus-driving is more like going to the doctor, buying groceries, or some other business. Yes, there are differences but these are inconsequential in the development of a child’s open, blank-slate mind.
I compare it to swimming in the ocean. Can Christians swim in the Australian or South African parts of oceans where sharks live? Of course they can and do! But when we swim in the ocean we must remember the dangers — sharks, currents, etc. Homeschoolers have decided to ‘swim in lakes’ instead. The experiences of the ocean can be wonderful, of course, but we feel that for us, if we train our kids to swim in lakes, they will still learn how to swim, even in the ocean. Swimming skill is swimming skill, even if a lake-swimmer doesn’t know how to surf.
Good people are all over. There are excellent teachers who are other religions. There are certainly many of these that are educationally better teachers than most Christian ones. It is, however, undeniable that, excepting very few exceptional cases, the teachers and other children in schools will have MORE effect on your child than a parent does — especially between the ages of 12 and 18. This is especially true because fetters of religion will be seen as such when the rest of the world looks free, especially to the unconverted Christian-raised child.
However, Christian parents who choose to send their kids to school do not need to fear. If they have given their children over to Christ’s protection, I believe He will protect. Whatever is not done in faith is sin — no matter how you school.
The parent who trusts their child to be immune to the effects of non-Christian education because of their own skill as parent will be sorely disappointed as the home-schooling parent who believes the homeschool is going to protect them from the world.
Humility must be had.
The state-school parent and the home-school parent who will succeed will be the ones who have complete, humble dependence and trust in the Lord and have prayerful, watchful, protection over their children. I believe they are equally likely to succeed — spiritually and educationally. God can make the home-schooled child do well in life, despite having a mother and father of no education. God can make a child bombarded with secularism both at home and at school to be raised to be a godly man or woman. It is up to Him and we should be very careful when we think we know best for other people’s families.
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Oops! Not that the possibility of a homeschool child financially succeeding is the same as that of an state-school unbeliever being converted. Definitely not.
The former is more likely to happen because of God’s Covenant with the believer.
“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”
Psalm 37.25
Also we should remember that both state and home- schooled kids will become professionals and ‘proletariats’. God has work everywhere for His people (present and future) and one is not better than another.
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One thought: I used to be a public schoolteacher (as a believer in the Lord Jesus). I taught school for twelve years. I do remember some years back (about fifty years ago, to be exact) when the doctrine of ‘in loco parentis’ was taught – namely, that the schools stand in the place of the parents during school hours, and as such, have a duty to instruct the children in morals.
A bus driver doesn’t have that responsibility. A schoolteacher, however, does. It is because the schools are now abrogating that responsibility that we are seeing a worldwide decline in morals.
But the question for the Christian parent is: do I want a non-Christian parenting my child seven hours a day? If the person is a moral person….maybe. But the choice of schoolteacher for my child is a far different one than ‘who will drive me to work.’
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