by Paul A. Kienel
The Christian school movement is the fastest growing
educational movement in America today. The U.S.NEWS AND WORLD REPORT
and CHRISTIAN LIFE magazines have referred to the rapid proliferation
of Christian elementary and secondary schools as the "Boom in
Protestant Schools" and "The Christian School Explosion." Christian
schools are currently being established across the United States at
the rate of two new schools a day.
In California we average one new Chrsitian
school each week. Obviously parents by the thousands have
opted to send their youngsters to Christian schools as opposed to
secular public schools. As a parent who sends my children to
Christian schools and speaks to thousands of parents on the radio and
on tour, permit me to share ten reasons why you should send your
children to Christian schools:
ONE: You are accountable to God for what your children are
taught in school. Proverbs 22:6 is a direct command to parents. It
says, "Train up a child in the way he should go..." What your
children are taught in school should be a direct extension of your
parental views. The teachers under whom your children are taught these home
should be the kind of teachers you would personally hire if your
children were being educated in your home.
TWO: Christian schools offer a better level of instruction.
There is no question about it. The test scores over a long period of
years are conclusive. The annual Stanford Achievement Test
administered to first through eighth grade Christian school students
in the western states shows these students to be seven to nineteen
months ahead of the national norm in reading, and seven to thirteen
months ahead of the national norm in all subject areas.
THREE: The Bible does not teach that children should be
exposed to all kinds of sin. We are to train "up" a child, not point
him downward. Children do not grow spiritually stronger in a
negative non-Christian environment.
Students do not become stronger Christians by
being taught non-Christian thinking, but by being
taught Christian thinking, and there is no such person as a "neutral"
school teacher who neither advances nor inhibits religion. School
represents 16% of your child's time. It is prime time, a training
time, and Christian school education represents a positive Bible-
centered form of instruction that will build a child up in the faith-
-not tear him down. Proverbs 19:27 says, "Cease, my son, to hear the
instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge."
FOUR: The Christian school is right for your child because
the Christian school has not cut itself off from the most important
book in the world--the Bible. Without the Bible, education is
nothing more than the blind leading the blind. Standards for
morality must be taken from Scripture alone, not from situations as
often taught in secular schools. As Theodore Roosevelt stated, "To
train a man in mind and not in morals is to train a menace to
society."
FIVE: The Christian school provides an opportunity for your
child to witness for Christ. This surprises some people because they
assume all students in a Christian school are Christians. In most
cases a majority are Christian; however, in every Christian school
there are always some students who need the Savior. Christian
students are trained and encouraged to reach these youngsters for
Jesus Christ. Witnessing in a Christian school has the support of
parents, students, teachers, administration and the school board.
Presenting Christ as Savior is not illegal in a Christian school.
SIX: Christian school educators teach all subject matter from
a Christian context. They put the Bible at the center of the
curriculum and ask students to evaluate all they see in the world
through the eyes of God. To quote Dr. Roy Zuck,
The secular vs. Christian school issue is really a question
of whether a child will learn to view life from man's perspective or
God's perspective. From man's viewpoint, history is purposeless;
from God's viewpoint, history has meaning. From man's viewpoint,
science is the laws of "nature" at work; from God's viewpoint,
science is the outworking of His laws.
In a Christian school, a student is exposed to the centrality of God
in all of life. In public education, a student is legally
"sheltered" from this important dimension of education.
SEVEN:Christian schools support the family as the number one
institution of society. Christian school educators train students to
respect their parents. These educators agree with the early American
patriot, Noah Webster, who said, "All government originates in
families, and if neglected there, it will hardly exist in society."
EIGHT: "The atheists have, for all practical purposes, taken
over public education in this country." Shocking words, yes, but they
were spoken by a prominent public school educator, Dr.
W.P.Schofstall, former Arizona State Superintendent of Schools.
Paradoxically, many public school personnel openly support Christian
school education.
As a matter of fact, the largest group of parents who
send their children to Christian schools are public school
teachers and principals. I conducted a nationwide survey among these
public school educators. The following statement is typical of the
responses I received:
"I prefer to send my children to a Christian school because
Christ is central to all information taught and caught. The public
school is basically humanistic and materialistic in its approach to
life and the fundamental questions of human existence and purpose.
The Christian school holds a unique position with the home and the
church."
NINE: Christian school educators maintain discipline in the
classroom and on the playground. Without a reasonable standard of
discipline, the process of education is severely hampered. "For whom
the Lord loves, He disciplines..." the Bible teaches. And it is
within that context of love that discipline is carried out in a
Christian school. This important feature of education is rapidly
disappearing from the public school education. According to the
recent GALLUP POLL OF PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARDS EDUCATION,
Lack of discipline in the public schools again heads the list
of problems cited most often by survey respondents. Discipline has,
in fact, been named the number one problem of the schools in seven of
the last eight years. New evidence of its importance comes from the
special survey of high school juniors and seniors. An even higher
percentage of this group names discipline as the leading problem
faced by the public school.
TEN: "We believe that our children are gifts of the Lord. We
are responsible to train them according to His Word not only at home
and in church, but in school as well." This statement was made by a
parent in response to a question on an application form for
enrollment of his children at Delaware County Christian School in
Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
More and more parents, especially Christian parents, are
coming to the conclusion that secular public education and most of
its teachers and principals no longer represent their personal
parental views. These parents are exercising their freedom of choice
and sending their children to Christian schools and colleges.
Article reprinted from AllonGOD.com, the complete christian resource site with more than 5000 webpages.
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