By Jeff Keaton
As I have been traveling around the country meeting with new schools and individuals who are interested in RENEWANATION, I have been asking a simple question: “What is the main difference between a Christian school and a public or non-Christian school?”
The answers have been interesting. I’ve been asking this question because the responses to it will determine whether or not we should be investing so much time, energy and resources into this unbelievable effort to offer every child a Christian worldview education. Over the last few years I have heard some version of the following answers given.
The main difference between a Christian school and a public school is:
• Christian schools are safer than public schools. Statistically there is no doubt that Christian schools have much less violence than public schools, however, is this really the main difference?
• Christian schools do not have all the “bad kids.” The belief here is that Christian students should be kept away from students from non-Christian homes and by doing so the Christian students are not corrupted. Again, this point has some key truth in it, even though there are some real flaws behind this concept. But, is the real difference between public and Christian schools found in the belief that Christian schools have good children and public schools have bad? By the way, there are many really great kids in public school and not all kids in Christian schools are angels.
• Christian schools have smaller class sizes and, therefore, the students receive more individualized attention and care. This may be true in many cases, but is it the main difference between Christian and public schools?
• Christian school students tend to test higher than public school students in national testing. The argument here is that the main difference is academics. Again, in many cases, private Christian school students do test higher, but is this really the main difference?
• The teachers in Christian schools tend to love their students more because they see their work as a ministry and not just a job. In many cases this is true, but many public school teachers also love their students and see it as a calling or ministry, so is this really the main difference?
All of these answers have some truth in them but I do not believe any of them are really the main difference between a Christian and public school.
Most of these differences could be solved in the public school system. We can make public schools safer. If the public schools wanted, they could begin to enforce their rules — and even tighten those rules — to weed out a lot of the nonsense that takes place in their schools.
With enough commitment and money they could decrease their class sizes and provide better individualized care for each student. With hard work they could improve — and in many places already have improved — their academic performance. If they were to take a stand against their unions they could greatly improve their teachers’ performances.
So, if the above mentioned issues are not the main difference, what is?
It’s really pretty simple, yet absolutely fundamental: The main difference between public schools and Christian schools is the worldview they are teaching.
In public schools throughout America, our children are being taught a comprehensive view of the world (worldview) that leaves God completely out of the picture. Public school curricula is not neutral towards God and Christianity; it is, in many cases, hostile towards both. In public schools all over America our children for 13 years are not allowed to hear a teacher talk about a loving God. After sitting under the smartest people they know for all these years, and never hearing the truth about God and the world He created, a child’s heart and mind are prepared to “not believe.” Is it any wonder that atheism is on the rise in America and that our Christian value system is rapidly disappearing? What we teach our children matters!
Not only are public school students not allowed to hear the truth about God, their minds are being filled with lies. They are told that all of us are here by pure chance. They are told that there is no absolute right and wrong and that we will not be held accountable for our actions by a higher power. It is strongly implied — if not declared — that the Bible is not true. I’m fully aware that not every public school teacher is teaching the worst that secularism and naturalism has to offer, and that many Christian public school teachers are doing their best to teach around these lies. But those who want to teach truth are prohibited from doing that in so many ways. The bottom line is this: When you take the truth of God away and replace it with the lie of atheism, you destroy a child’s future in this world and in the next.
Many Christian parents sit idly by, assuming that somehow their child will not be affected by the godlessness of the public school they attend. However, the direction of our culture tells us that the “humanists” are winning the battle. No, they’re not getting every child to believe their lies, but they are getting way too many. Even one child who no longer believes the truth of the Bible is an eternal tragedy.
On the other hand, students in Christian schools or those who are homeschooled with a Christian worldview, are being told the truth about God and the world He created. The Biblical principles this great country was founded upon are taught every day in a thousand different ways. Children are taught that they have intrinsic value and purpose in life because they have been created in the image of God Himself. Students are challenged to fulfill their God-given purpose and potential. In Christian schools students are told that following Jesus’ example and becoming servants to others is the greatest way to live. In Christian schools the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes are taught and modeled by teachers who believe them to be absolute truth. The end product of teaching a Christian worldview is vastly different from the product of a secular non-Christian worldview.
So why should we invest so much time, energy and financial resources in making a tuition-free, Christian worldview education available to the masses?
Because what we teach our children matters!
We must forever stop pretending that lending our children’s minds to secular indoctrination for 13 years will not negatively affect them. This indoctrination has fundamentally changed America from a nation based upon a Judeo-Christian worldview to the godless nation we live in today.
The only way America can regain what has been lost is to train new generations of children to think from a Judeo-Christian perspective. That is exactly what RENEWANATION is all about. We are daring to believe that God has chosen to do the impossible and we believe that this great endeavor will result in a changed nation.
Will you dare to believe with us?
Volume 2 Issue 1 - The Renewanation Review
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