Public Education: Our children are the most important trust the LORD has placed in our hands, and it is vital that we honor that sacred responsibility in every area of their lives. Few decisions weigh more heavily than where they will receive instruction, for every day their hearts and minds are being shaped by what they are taught. To suppose that public schools are “neutral” is a deadly delusion, for within those walls the wisdom of man is enthroned, and the Word of God is cast aside. And if we even toy with the idea of surrendering our children to the state for their education, what does that reveal about our so-called “faith”? Do we actually believe the gospel we profess, or are we content to let Caesar disciple our sons and daughters in the creed of unbelief?
How can we say we are nurturing them in the fear of the Lord while deliberately placing them under instructors that hate Christ, and who have no regard for the Scriptures. Such who use their position to mock the gospel and normalize sin, as they seek to replace God’s Word with the wicked philosophies of men? Such a duplicity is contrary to the faith, and borders on hypocrisy, as its bitter fruit is seen in the countless children who grow up to despise the Christ their parents only honored with their lips.
When the children of Israel learned the ways of the Canaanites, they quickly bowed to their gods. Judges 3:5-7. The psalmist laments that they were “mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.” Psalm 106:35. The Lord had warned them, “for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods, so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.” Deuteronomy 7:4. The lesson seems unmistakable, immerse children in the world’s system, and most will bow to its idols and embrace its values, trading the truth of God for the lies of the age. Why then should we expect a different outcome when our own sons and daughters are daily catechized in a system that exalts man and excludes Christ?
Again, let me emphasize this undeniable fact that public schools are not neutral ground. They are temples of secular humanism, catechizing the next generation in the religion of the state. When Christian parents place their children under such instruction, they are not merely “educating” them; they are delivering them to the very enemy of Christ. Is it then any wonder that multitudes grow up fluent in the world’s language, captivated by its spirit, and hardened against the truth of God? The daily lessons, pledges, and celebrations all reinforce the creed of secular humanism. Man is autonomous, truth is relative, morality is self-defined, and God is irrelevant.
Step into the modern classroom with eyes open, and it becomes unmistakably clear that education has been replaced with secular indoctrination. Children are no longer simply taught skills; they are trained to think, act, and believe according to the dictates of secular humanism. Parents are cast as threats, while children are treated as wards of the state, to be molded and shielded from the “harmful” influence of their parents’ convictions. The outcome is tragically predictable, young men and women shaped by the world’s philosophy, who see little need for Christ and willingly exchange the truth of God for the lies of the age.
One of the most common objections raised against homeschooling is the supposed need for children to be “socialized.” Socialized into what? Socialized to think, talk, and act like the rest of the world? To absorb its corrupt values, chase its idols, and normalize its sins? If success is measured by how well a child can blend into a culture that rejects Christ, then public schools stand second to none in turning out model citizens of unbelief. Children are trained to think as the world thinks, to prize what the world prizes, and to scoff at what God declares is good. To send children into the public school system in order that they might “fit in” is to desire for them the very thing Scripture warns against. Romans 12:2. What good is it to be “socialized” if in the process their souls are secularized?
Consider how directly opposed to Christ the world’s teachings are, yet these are fed daily to children in the classroom. They no longer teach you how to think, but what to think. At one time they were devoted to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, but now they have become centers of indoctrination, essentially catechizing children according to the spirit of the age. Transgender ideology is pushed with militant zeal, evolutionary myths are paraded about as unquestionable truth, and sex education, stripped of purity and holiness, normalizes fornication, redefines marriage, and celebrates what God condemns throughout the Scriptures. This is not unbiased or harmless learning but wholesale indoctrination in a worldview crafted in defiance of the living God. The result is the systematic training of children to despise Christ, to scoff at His Word, and to embrace the very lies that lead to destruction.
Even reading, writing, and arithmetic, though in their place important, in light of eternity fade into nothing. What matters is not whether Johnny can read, but whether his name is found in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 20:15. That sobering reality should outweigh every earthly concern. Believers are told to raise their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” Ephesians 6:4, and how can this be accomplished by sending them away to be tutored in unbelief? How can we fulfill God’s command while placing them daily under those who deny His Word and scorn His Son?
Hear the clarity of Scripture in Ezra’s rebuke, words that speak as powerfully to us today as they did then. “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this, for we have forsaken thy commandments which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, the land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever.”
In closing, I am not suggesting that every parent who sends their children to public schools does so out of a lack of love or care for them. Far from it, most do so with the very best of intentions. But what I am urging is that we weigh our choices in the light of God’s Word. Love must be governed by truth. The real question is whether our decisions as parents spring from Scripture or from mere convenience, from eternal priorities or temporal comforts. Surely, we all want the best for our children, but here is the searching issue, what do we count as ‘best’? Do our priorities mirror the fleeting concerns of the world, or do they spring from the eternal truth of God? The question is not whether we love our children, but whether we love them enough to lead them in the way of Christ, with Scripture as their guide. MPJ