Salt & Light?

Recently I became aware that there are some in our church that are adamantly against homeschooling because they feel strongly that Christian parents should send their children to the public school in order to be salt and light there. They believe that homeschooling is the wrong thing to do and have been very vocal about their opinion that our conviction (and other's convictions in our community) to homeschool our children is wrong.

I've been thinking about that a lot and asking God to give me some insight and reassurance about what we are doing. I just wanted to share some thoughts with you. So, this is just me unloading a little.

If a parent sends their children to Public School in order for their children to be salt and light, how are they preparing that child to do work that many adults find daunting? Some thoughts:

A child gets sent to school starting at age 5 or 6.

They spend 8 - 10 hours at school each day (if we count riding the bus and any after school activities). Sometimes more if they are teens.

After school, they spend 2 - 4 hours on school related homework (depending upon their grade).

If the parents work, they don't even see their child again until after 5 p.m. (maybe later depending upon the job).

This leaves the parents about 1 hour per day of time with their child. Hopefully they spend it around the dinner table or interacting in some way and not watching TV.

Usually this hour is spent in asking such things as: How was school today? Did you get your homework done? Do you need help with homework? Where are you going? When will you be back? When is the next school event? etc. I venture to suggest that this hour is NOT spent in the Word of God or talking about spiritual things.

However, there may be some time in passing or in occasional conversations that the parent is able to impart some important values or talk about spiritual matters. Let's say that that time might be 2 hours per week.

Then, if the child goes to Wed. night church, Sunday morning Sunday School and then Church; they get about 3 hours of spiritual training -- by the pastor or youth leader, NOT the parents.

So, in total, this means that the opportunity for spiritual training during the week for that child might be:

5 hours per week by 4 different adults (assuming that the child has 2 parents and we count the youth leader and pastor)

However:

They spend 40 - 50 hours per week at school where God is not even a part of the curriculum or teaching. In fact, the curriculum and teaching go AGAINST the Word of God most of the time.

They spend another 10 - 20 hours per week doing other school related homework or activities; most of which is secular humanist and anti-God in nature.

They have 8 - 16 (depending on grade) other adults who are mandated NOT to talk or teach about God or His Word at all in the school unless the child brings up the subject. In addition, many times these teachers are NOT Christians and will actively teach secular humanist and anti-God views in the classroom.

In addition, they have the influence of their peers, who are often NOT Christians (or if they are Christians, they are in the same boat) and are constantly pressuring the child to do things that are immoral -- whether that is lying, not completing assignments or having sex and doing drugs.

In conclusion:

On the Spiritual Training side of a Public Schooled child we have:
4 adults and 5 hours per week.

On the Secular Humanist, anti-God training side of a Public Schooled child we have: 8 - 16 adults and 40 - 50 hours per week.

A child has to be super human in order to counteract the influence of school and be any kind of salt and light at all. How many adults could stand up under this pressure? Many cannot and do not.

If any child is to be salt and light in any public school, his parents must be PURPOSEFUL and CONSISTENT in training him spiritually. In my mind, this would take many more hours than 1 or 2 per day. I would venture to say that many Christian parents do not even have a daily devotion with their families let alone purposefully train their children to evangelize or influence their school.

In light of the above, the statistics about Christian kids leaving the church after high school or college make total sense. So, in my opinion, to say that Christian kids should be sent to public school in order to be salt and light there is a totally ridiculous, irresponsible, and unreasonable expectation.

Also, consider:

20 years ago we knew about 4 VDs; today we have identified 26, 4 of which are fatal.

20 years ago homosexuality was a taboo subject that most teachers avoided; today kindergartners are being taught about Tommy and his 2 mommies or Sally and her 2 daddies and teens are being approached during lunch by members of the Gay Rights community offering to counsel them on their sexuality issues.

20 years ago students got suspended if they had a fight during school recess; today policemen are hired to protect teachers from their students, metal detectors are being used to detect weapons before kids enter the front doors and bomb threats are common place -- not to mention incidents like Columbine.

20 years ago if a student got drunk it was a bit of a scandal; today kids are considered "nerds" or "gay" if they don't have sex before their senior year, get drunk or high with their buddies on the weekends and "smoking pot" is fashionable.

20 years ago if a student back-talked a teacher or showed disrespect in the classroom, they were disciplined; today teachers and coaches don't think twice before cussing out a student or team member, foul language and disrespect in the classroom are commonplace and many students and teachers don't have any respect for the authority placed over them.

The Word of God tells parents that we are to raise our children in "the nurture and admonition of the Lord". If we send them into that kind of environment, are we being obedient?

If a relationship with the Lord and godly character are the most important things in my child's education, we would be irresponsible Christian parents if we allowed the influence of the public school to be more than our own influence over our children for the Lord. May God continue to bless our efforts to instill these two important "subjects" into our children through homeschooling.

Based on the above and on my conversations with Terence (when he is around and I can talk to him), I regret allowing him to go to Van Horn High. However, he really wants to stick it out and he is trying to make a difference with several of his friends. Please be in prayer for him. The LEAST of his challenges is academics.