Question: Is There a Local Responsibility for Children -- According to the Bible?

[xzins]

Let's be up front about the ultimate responsibility for children -- it lies with parents. I don't want to give the impression that I disagree with that.

However, here's the issue.

We have a local opportunity to have our own village gain control of our local schools rather than have them run by the county seat which is about 25 miles away from us.

I personally think that local people will care more for their own children than will someone miles away.

My question is this: "Is local control of children MORE biblical than is regional control?"

I really solicit your opinions on this subject. What is your biblical basis? Do you have links to articles that discuss this issue?

Thanks

[xzins]

I solicit your biblical opinions on the above. Thanks. You all are the best bible review team that I've ever before seen anywhere.

[kjam22]

I'm not sure a local governmental authority is more BIBLICAL than a regional governmental authority. I think christian schools where Christ is taught...where parents are involved....where teachers and administrators are christians is more biblical.

But more to your question.... I believe that children are the responsibility of their parents. Not the community. Even one of the commandments is Children Obey Your Parents. I believe the Bible sets up clear lines of responsibility and lines of authority. Christ as the head of the church, the pastor as the head of the local group of believers. The husband as the head of the household. Etc Etc. I believe that children are under the authority of parents acording to scripture. And with authority comes responsibility.

[LiteKeeper]

Deuteronomy 6:7-9 give parents the mission of teaching and training their children. It seems to me the closer the seat of control is to the parents (i.e., local, rather that regional) the more the parents can be involved in directing the educational process. Food for thought.

[RnMomof7]

Thyis is a question that I ~think~ OP has some strong feelings on:>)

[RnMomof7]

Make that THIS ...sans typo

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for asking me!

The great theme from the Ten Commandments and throughout the Word is basically this:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. - Ephesians 6:1

And the flipside is that the parents, in particular the father, is held to account for his household, including the children. (e.g., I Timothy 3)

Therefore, IMHO, it just doesn't matter whether the school is home, private, public, charter, local rule, county, state or international. What does matter is that the father and mother raise the children in the Lord. So if the school is ever in conflict with that requirement, it is the parent's duty (esp. the father) to find an alternative.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

The article below was posted several years ago on FR. You may have seen it before, if so sorry, but I believe it is right on, and answers your question, IMO.

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.

Becky

[w_over_w]

Hey S, I'm doing some "head scratching" over your question. Perhaps it's the use of the word "control" of the children in your community. Do you mean control of funding, classroom reading material, hiring of teachers, etc., what? Obviously, a child's rearing begins in the home and "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Provs. 22:6)

Local communities have proven time and again to be more involved in schools and provide valuable feedback to those in authority. If those in authority are too removed to utilize information from local communities than it behooves you to keep it local. Are the county officials out of touch with your local issues? Are they unable to respond to local needs?

Home schooling has exploded in Kalif. due in part to the movement of God's Word and because of out of touch incompetent bureaucrats. Anyway, get back to me with some more insight and I'll check my resources this weekend.

OH! I almost forgot . . . pray! God bless brother.

[Revelation 911]

We have a local opportunity to have our own village gain control of our local schools rather than have them run by the county seat which is about 25 miles away from us.

25 miles is the next County around here - That said, I really hate to give government a reason to duplicate itself (as the taxes and infrastructure will no doubt sprout), but in this case I would urge it. Just keep a tight leash on the administrators (who are typically unaccountable in any manner)

Of course, homeskooling is preferred over everything.

[ShadowAce]

It seems to me the closer the seat of control is to the parents (i.e., local, rather that regional) the more the parents can be involved in directing the educational process.

This is my opinion as well. Regional controllers don't take into account the concerns of a few parents when they have a lot more families to deal with. However, local controllers only have to answer to those few parents when concerns are brought up.

This, to me, gives more control to the parents, where it belongs.

[w_over_w]

homeskooling

LOL! That's three things we have in common: born again Sons of God, potty mouths, and spelling. =^D

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Amen!:)

Becky

[Revelation 911]

eeeeegads! - you must be damned sexy too

[w_over_w]

eeeeegads! - you must be damned sexy too

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn.

[nobdysfool]

Local control would be preferrable, I think, because of accountability issues. In my experience, school administrators are some of the dumbest people around, for some strange reason. I can say this with some authority since both of may parents were schoolteachers. I am a product of public education (I don't say that proudly), and I figured out by my junior year in high school that I really, actually did know more than some of my teachers, based on common sense issues (common sense being one of the greatest things my parents ever taught me), and that I wasn't learning anything of lasting value. I learned more from my parents and extended family than I did at school.

I don't mean to sound as though I think I know it all, because I know that I don't know that much. I've had to deal with school administrators in business settings, and I can tell you that most of them I've dealt with have been as dumb as a bag of hammers! If you trust them to teach your children, you can't complain about what you get...

[Corin Stormhands]

My question is this: "Is local control of children MORE biblical than is regional control?"

I wouldn't consider any government control of children to be "biblical."

But I would say the local control is preferable.

[P-Marlowe]

Do you live in Sodom? If so, then Local control would not be preferable.

IMHO I think that if you can do it, you should Home school your kids. No matter how you slice a public school you are still going to have a public school with all the baggage that goes with it. Even a "Christian" school is going to be a place where there are a lot of negative influences. I have first hand knowledge of this.

Basically, when it comes down to the student body, the biggest difference between a private school and a public school is the "quality" of the drugs in their backpacks.

[maestro]

? Is There a Local Responsibility for Children -- According to the Bible?

Matthew 19:14
Mark 10:14
Luke 18:16

Maranatha!

[SoothingDave]

"Subsidiarity" is the concept, which teaches that decisions should be made on the lowest possible level that is practical.

Obviously, control of education from Washington is too far removed from the local level, and a schoolhouse on every block is too local.

The question becomes is the control in the County seat too far away to be responsive? Is the more local area too small to have the resources necessary?

I don't think there is a Biblical answer to this query. You need to use your judgment.

SD