Passing along a great article, that I thought you might like:)
Forming a Biblical View of Education
How can Christian parents determine the best educational choice for their children? It's interesting to ask. "What immediately follows the greatest commandment in the Old Testament?" Well, verses 6 and 7 of Deut. 6 read as follows: "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."
Immediately following the commandment to love God is the commandment to teach our children. This gives us an important insight on the priority that God places on our duties as parents to impress God's commands on our children's hearts.
And God doesn't just issue a generalized command to teach our children. He specifies the instructional methodology he expects us to use. He tells us to teach our children when we sit at home, when we walk along the road, when we lie down, and when we get up. There is a presumption about the nature of the parent-child relationship embedded in this methodology. God expects that parents would spend substantial time with their children during the course of the day.
Mom and Dad can you really send you children off to school for 8 hours each day and still obey the intent of this passage? It's something each parent must decide carefully in light of the precise direction in God's Word.
Have you ever considered what impact the great commission might have on your decision concerning the education of your children? In Matthew 28 beginning in verse 18, "…Jesus came to [his disciples] and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…'"
How does Christ expect us to make disciples of all nations? As usual, God gives us an example. God expected Abraham to disciple his son Issac, who was to disciple his son Jacob, who was to disciple his 12 sons. A discipled family was to become discipled tribes, and 12 discipled tribes were to become a discipled nation.
How then does this relate to education? Your children will become the disciples of the person with whom they spend the majority of their time and from whom they receive instruction. If they spend the majority of their time with their peers, they will become disciples of their peers. We call it peer pressure. Should we be surprised when a substantial number of children from solid, believing, Christian homes reject their parents' faith and embrace the life styles and philosophy of the people by whom they have been discipled?
What will be the legacy for your family and this nation as a result of the choices you make for the education of your children? It's one of the most important choices any parent will ever make. One of the most common arguments for sending one's child to a public school is the notion that Christians need to be salt and light. There is no question that Christian adults need to be involved in public schools as teachers, school board members and interested citizens. Our legitimate concerns as taxpayers causes us to desire excellence from public schools, but should we send our children?
To answer that question we should consider more than the generalized commands to be salt and light. We're told in Proverbs 2:6, "For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." Even when public schools have good Christian teachers, the rulings of the Supreme Court make it impossible for any public school to teach the knowledge and wisdom that comes from the Lord. I'm not suggesting that we can or should turn public schools into Christian institutions. But while the legal and political debates rage on these issues, parents must decide what to do with their own children right now. How can we follow the Scripture which directs us to seek that knowledge and wisdom founded on God?
Hundreds of thousands of parents are finding that home schooling makes it possible to teach godly wisdom and knowledge in a manner that no court can ever prohibit. Christian parents do not have easy choices when it comes to their children's education. Let's consider together some of the principles found in the Word of God that guide a parent's decision about their child's education. Let's begin with Romans 1:28-31 which says:
"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless."
We all have to recognize that public schools have not retained the knowledge of God, and this is a far bigger issue than opening prayer or Bible reading. Romans 1 says that any system that excludes the knowledge of God inevitably leads to both wickedness and to hatred of God. Can a system which excludes the knowledge of God really be right for your child? Can we really ignore the warning of Romans 1 and expect our own children to be exempt from the consequences? Mom and dad—you have to decide.
Government wants to be all things to all people, but Christians are beginning to understand the importance of returning the functions of our society to the right institution.
Take welfare for example. We recognize that government has done an abysmal job in providing needed help to the poor. Both the taxpayers and those receiving welfare are better off when welfare is handled by families and the church. We need to ask ourselves a similar question about education, "To what institution does God give the responsibility for educating our children?"
The answer to that question is the same in both the Old and New Testaments. In Proverbs 1:8 it says, "Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching." And in Ephesians 6:4 we're told, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; … bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."
The government is never commanded by Scripture to teach children. All the commands in Scripture concerning the teaching of children are directed to parents. Home schooling has had higher academic results than either public or private schools, and the spiritual and moral results make it clear that home schooling is indeed excellent.