I have a confession to make.  I have been so conditioned (brainwashed if you like) by the ‘system’ that my thoughts about education went something like this:

1. You need to send your children to the local school.
2. When you do, they learn good and useful things to help in their future.
3. Meeting lots of other youngsters helps the children to develop and mature socially.
4. State Schools are the best qualified institutions for teaching your children.
5. Learning can effectively occur in a morally neutral place – like an ordinary state school.  They can learn Christianity at home and at church.
6. The State provides these institutions free of charge.  Unless you are rich, it is good value to make use of them.
7. If you can find state education that is Christian in its’ approach, that’s a bonus thrown in.
8. As parents we can help shape things by seeing teachers, working with them and by becoming a parent-governor.

I have thought these things for some years.  But in recent years, I have been forced to question these a**umptions.

In part, it was when I became a school governor and realised how few really important decisions we were ever able to make and how many were already made for us by the government.

In part it was when an Indian family we knew had to send their daughter back to India to complete her education because her education was so sub-standard in the UK.  The irony is that the Indian education system is based on the British system of 2 generations ago.

In part, it was when our daughter (aged 13) was shown a 15-rated, highly sexually suggestive video along with the rest of her cla** for end of term entertainment.

In part, it was when I found out that the DfES (i.e. the Government) was urging primary schools to provide reading books for primary school children that promoted homosexuality.  An example is “Daddy’s New Friend”, a book for 4 year olds which features two men cuddling and later getting into bed together.

In part, it was when I saw my older 2 daughters gradually distance themselves from us and from Christianity during their time at secondary school.

In part, it was when I saw how open to abuse and cheating the GCSE exam system has become.  When I suspected that one of my daughters’ teachers was cheating by amending the students’ work, the school investigated it.  The Head of Department cleared her of charges, but openly admitted to me that cheating was now easy – both for staff and students.

I promise I could go on, and mention many other things too.

The thing that finally did it for me was reading an American book by Bruce Shortt, entitled “The Harsh Truth About Public Schools”.  It is a devastating critique of the State School system in the USA and believe me, there are many parallels in the UK.  The book, about the American Public School (i.e. State funded) system, shows how the system in inherently anti-Christian and sympathetic towards belief systems strongly opposed to Christianity.  The result is that only 15% of Christian children educated in the Government system clearly reject moral relativism, compared to 75% who attend private Christian schools.

http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-N.-Shortt/e/B001K7Y3DM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

I have now changed my mind!!!  Let me tell you now how I see Education, shall I?

1. They are our children, not the State’s.
2. We are entrusted with them for a time, by the Lord.  It is our primary responsibility to ensure they are educated with Christian standards.  “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4).
3. We can do this in two possible ways.  First, we can educate them ourselves, at home.  Second, we can entrust them to others, such as a school.  But in doing so, we need to make sure they are being taught the way we would want them, as Christians, to be taught.
4. Education is not morally neutral.  There are moral beliefs inherent in our education system that are opposed to Christianity.
5. The kids spend 30 hours a week at school.  They spend 2 hours at church.  Perhaps another hour or 2 at youth club.  The latter is not enough to cancel out the former!!!
6. When we send them to a secular state school, we have by default decided to entrust our children to unbelievers to teach them.  You have been warned!
7. Few Children are strong enough to discern false teaching or to withstand moral teaching that opposes Christianity or to resist temptation when pressurised by other children to succumb.
8. The last few generations have been characterised by a ma**ive collapse in moral standards.  Our children are being subjected to a barrage of temptation.  A secular education does not equip them to withstand this.  In fact, at times it does the exact opposite.

Some scriptures:

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?  What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?  What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (2Corinthians 6:14-16)

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.  But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.  (Matthew 18:5-6)

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  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. (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

Someone is going to accuse my wife and me of being blaming the system for shortcomings in our own parenting.  I won't spend much time in self defence.  All I will say is that our oldest 2 daughters have learned behaviour that they were not taught at home, and that we had a much stronger bond with them before sending them to State School than we do now.

Our youngest daughter, who is extremely bright is being failed by her school and put in a low ability group.  We are going to try home educating her for the next year or 2 at least (can't afford to end her to the nearest Christian school).

Any thoughts or experiences that may help?

I know I did what I could so my kids wouldn't have to go to public school, but money, time and availability of resources.  I try not to give advice, but any public school for me was the choice of last resort. 

Too bad, we used to have the best schools...just another thing we used to be good at...

My parents put my brother and I in a denominational school from 4th - 7th grade (for me), and then back into public schools.  At the time (I'm in my low 40s), public schools were better for computer education.  My public high school was known nationwide for it.

There are pros and cons to both.  How's that for a diplomatic answer? :) 

I'm glad you are well.  Keep us posted...if u dont mind...

Quote: Originally posted by grumpy58 on July 23 2009

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Junior colleges are doing the work our Jr. High school used to do - dumb them down with global warming, evolution and sex-education instead of the 3-Rs. Tragic - thank you teacher's unions and liberal politicians. You dems do love your monopolies don't you?

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I was amazed to find out about the grip teachers' unions have over education in the US.  Maybe even more than here.  I didn't think trades unions had that much power over your side of the water, but they do in the area of education.

The stste education system is possibly more varied here than in the US.

Over here we have a very small number of strongly Christian schools which are state-funded.  They are extremely popular with parents.  One in our region is in an unfashionable industrial town, is oversubscribed 3-4 times per place, does not select on academic ability and yet they get some of the best exam results and inspection reports in the country.

In spite of this they are hated by the education establishment and regularly get slated in the left-wing press.  This is partly because they teach children the theory of evolution (in line with the National Curriculum) but teach that it is only a theory and that as a school they don't subscribe to it.  Creationism is scorned here in the UK.

Some areas also still have a system of academic selection - Grammar schools taking the brightest kids at age 11.  Again this is an extremely unpopular system with Labour and Liberal politicians, but because they are so popular with parents they stay open.  And areas with Grammar schools get overall much better results across the board.