they mature, they should be eased
into understanding the different
“In the public system, your student
points of view they will encounter
and the temptations they will
The two most significant factors to
will be daily influenced by people
need to resist. By the time they
a student’s academic success have
who either do not want or are not
reach
their later high school years,
been well researched and docu-
permitted to live as if God were
students should be exposed to just
mented: parental involvement
even
relevant
at
all.”
about every false teaching they
and caring teachers. Most Chris-
will ever encounter on a college
tian education environments
campus and beyond.
only partner with supportive and
As parents, we are called to be
involved parents. Caring teach-
in the world but not of it. When we stand on the truth, we
ers are often second to none as they daily seek to disciple
have no fear of falsehoods. For example, in the school I led,
students in partnership with parents. These two factors alone
we
taught a literal six-day interpretation of Creation based
are quantifiably proven to raise academic results. As long as
on the Genesis account. However, as our students matured,
a Christian education environment insists on quality from
they learned of the different viewpoints within Christianity
its teachers, your students will be well-positioned to succeed.
as well as the macro-evolutionary ideas that clearly contra-
MYTH 6: My children will trust what I teach them
dict both Scripture and sound science.
MYTH 5: My student will not
perform as well in a Christian
school as in a public school.
instead of what the public school teaches them.
The most important lesson you will teach your child by
sending them to a school where God is irrelevant is that—
God is irrelevant. Although most Christian parents would
never dream of sending a child to a school that would force
them to publicly confess that God is dead, the public system
accomplishes the same objective. By teaching students they
can learn all they need for life apart from any thought of
God, He might as well be dead. And they learn it all with
your approval. Nothing is neutral. “He who is not with Me
is against Me” (Luke 11:23). “The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is
insight” (Prov. 9:10).
MYTH 7: My children will be isolated in a bubble in
a Christian school. They won’t be ready for the real
world.
First, public school is not the real world. It is a forced learning
environment from which God is excluded. That description
does not fit a biblical definition of how the world really is.
Second, students are like a young plant in a greenhouse.
When it is younger, it must be protected, fed, and carefully
cultivated. As it grows more mature, it can be exposed for
seasons of time to the outside elements, although still under
careful observation. Only when it has reached maturity is it
able to enter the outside world and thrive.
Likewise, students in a Christian education environment
are protected quite a bit when they are younger. However, as
30
MYTH 8: My child is a gifted athlete and needs to
attend a public school to get noticed.
Sports scouts find talent wherever it may be. The list is long
of professional athletes who attended Christian schools. Our
school had graduated one professional basketball player by
the time I had left.
But we as parents must always remember to keep first
things first. Nowhere in Scripture will you find a call to play
sports professionally. We do find a call to do all that we do
with all our might. Thus, a full athletic program with many
options for students can be a good thing, but should not be
the main thing.
We give it 100% to please Christ. We play to win. However,
sports are not, nor should they be, the most important thing
at any school. We must refuse to follow the culture around
us that seems at times to worship sports. We must intention-
ally choose to prioritize our focus based on the Worship of
God. We play for Him—the One who laid His life down for
us. “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world,
but lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)
Bill Blankschaen is a writer, speaker, blogger at Patheos, co-
author of You Will Be Made to Care and author of A Story
Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life.
Connect at FaithWalkers.com and @BillintheBlank on Twitter.