Debunking the 8 Most Popular
Myths about Christian Education
By Bill Blankschaen
I
T WOULD BE SINFUL FOR ME to send my children to a
public school in America. I’m not saying it would be sinful
for you to do so, but I could not do it with a clean conscience.
Therefore, to do so would be sinful for me. My parents took
great pains to ensure I received a distinctly Christian educa-
tion, and I am doing the same for my children.
Over my dozen years in Christian education, I inter-
viewed a lot of parents and students. And I do mean a lot. I
got to hear just about everything during that time. I heard
every excuse a Christian parent could offer for NOT giving
their children a distinctly Christian education.
I pleaded with parents not to put their children in secular,
government-run schools. I helped pick up the pieces after
years of their kids attending public schools. And I heard
eight popular reasons from Christian parents trying to
explain why they were choosing to send their children to
those schools. Over the years, I responded to them all. So I
thought it might be helpful to write about them in the hopes
that some parents may be weighing the value of a Christian
education.
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MYTH 1: My child can be a light in a public school.
Isn’t that what Jesus called us to be?
He may have called you to be a light, but nowhere does he
call your child to the task of cultural transformation. His
instruction about letting the light shine was to his adult
disciples whom he had specifically chosen and empowered
for the task before them.
As long as we are quoting Jesus, he also said that anyone
who harms a child should have a millstone hung around
his neck and be tossed into the sea. He clearly understood
children should be protected from any and all who may
harm them, physically or spiritually. Yet, many parents send
their untrained children into a worldview battlefield every
day, unprepared and unable to withstand the daily assault
on their faith.
Scriptures teach that there is time for training—when we
are children—and time to be what we have been trained to
be—when we are mature. “Train up a child in the way he
should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it”
(Prov. 22:6).