There’s a certain kind of homeschooler who will bang the drum against Tim Bayly for saying public schooling is fine when what Tim Bayly actually said was that there are some circumstances in which government schools might be the best option in a particular time and place with a particular child.
This is how some individuals have described the position I took in some of my prior posts in this series. So now, please allow me to contradict them as they have me.
Government schooling ain’t fine. As I’ve said many times in many ways through the years, I do not approve of government schools. Government should not be in the business of education. Nevertheless, there are times and places when this or that child might best be served both educationally and spiritually by being educated in a government school.
Those two statements are not mutually exclusive. Don’t be simplistic in your thinking or decision-making.
Here are two other statements I’ve made that leave certain people howling:
Statement 1: It is wrong for women to exercise authority over men because Adam was created first, then Eve.
Statement 2: I would cast my vote for certain women in certain places at certain times to be president of the United States.
Here’s another couplet:
Statement 1: It is wrong for a nation to be led by a man with an orange parrot on his head.
Statement 2: I would vote for a man with an orange parrot on his head if he was running for president opposite a woman who loved the slaughter of unborn children.
By now, readers should be getting the gist of this exercise.
Two of my grandchildren are in a government school right now and have been for the past two and a half years. A couple weeks ago, I joined about 500 other parents and grandparents at their Christmas program and I can testify that the program was Christian through and through.
Some government educations are less government educations than other government educations.
Except to ideologues and the simpleminded.
On the other hand, it’s also worth noting that many of the Christian parents who send their children to government schools shouldn’t do so. They have not given the instruction and discipline and love that are necessary for their child not to be corrupted, there.
Another thing worth noting is that many of the Christian parents who homeschool shouldn’t do so. They are lazy and emotionally manipulative, and their children will take the first opportunity that presents itself to escape their clutches.
Another thing worth noting is that many of the Christian parents who send their children to Christian schools shouldn’t do so. They want a safe option for their precious children, but the school their children attend is inhabited by moralists, legalists, and hypocrites, and their children will learn, falsely, that all Christians are hypocrites since their own parents at home in their leadership and character do not counter the school’s narrative.
Which is to say that God has given children natural sovereigns named “father” and “mother,” and although we can provide counsel to those sovereigns, in the end, the father (first) and also the mother will give an account to God for how they educate their children.
So trust God, ask for His wisdom, and follow His sure leading. They are your children. They are not your Christian guru’s children.
But when the older fathers and mothers of your church question your judgment, and do so personally based upon their knowledge of you and your children, listen carefully. Be humble and teachable.
