Why I Choose a Christian School for My Children

“Why spend a lot of money every year to send your kids to a Christian school when you could send them to the public school for free?” Here’s the way I answer this question. There are eight important reasons.

REASON #1: God commands me to diligently teach His Word to my children. 

"You shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul . . . and you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up."  Deuteronomy 11:18-19

Even without this Divine mandate, they are my children, given to me by God, and I am very jealous of my God-given right to educate them. The state wants to educate my children but the state no longer knows God or God’s Word and therefore has neither the ability not the right to educate my children.

If, as I believe it to be, the Bible is the written revelation of God to mankind, there is no textbook and no subject matter more relevant to my children’s lives or more important for them to learn. God is the Creator, Sustainer and Director of the universe. This fact makes God and His Word extremely relevant to every school subject and to every area of life. Since God exists, it is obvious that learning about Him and how He affects every area of life is the primary duty and priority of education. Learning to see the world as God portrays it is true education. Any other education is nonsense.

"I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount.  Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt... I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth." Martin Luther

REASON #2: Christian education is the only TRUTHFUL education.

"Thy Word is truth." John 17:17
"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God!'" Psalm 14:1

Education ought to be truthful. Any ‘education’ that deliberately “edits” God, His Word, Jesus Christ and Christianity out of its textbooks and subject matter, or in any other way “doctors” the facts of any subject to suit its own agenda, is not a truthful education. It is a false education. An “edited”, politically correct, “rewritten” curriculum is not what I want for my children. It is not the truth and neither encourages nor enables critical thinking skills. Such an ‘education’ is a misnomer, a mis-education, a false education; in fact, it is a wicked indoctrination deliberately seeking to mislead innocent children.

When my children learn history, I want them to learn the historical, verifiable truth that our country was founded by God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians and was founded upon the precepts of God’s Word. All of history is the record of God’s dealings with man and man’s dealings with God. How can anyone hope to have a proper understanding of history while leaving God out?

When my children learn science, I want them to learn the truth that “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Science is the discovery, accumulation and correlation of the laws governing our world gleaned from studying God’s creation. How can anyone hope to have a proper understanding of science while leaving the Creator out?

When they learn to read, I want them to learn the truth that the Bible is the Word of God and is the greatest, most beautiful book ever written. When my children memorize, I want them to memorize passages of Scripture that will be a help and encouragement to them for the rest of their lives. When they learn songs, I want them to learn uplifting songs of praise to the Lord. There is, in fact, no subject that is not a lens through which to see God more clearly. I appreciate the fact that every class in the Christian school is geared to help my children see their Creator more clearly and love Him more dearly.

"A truly Christian education is possible only when Christian education underlies not a part, but all of the curriculum of the school.  True learning and true piety go hand in hand, and Christianity embraces the whole of life. These are the great central convictions that underlie the Christian school." J. Gresham Machen

REASON #3:  The Christian School provides a safe, godly environment for my children.

"Don’t kid yourself: bad company corrupts good morals." I Corinthians 15:33

If for one reason or another I am unable to home school my children, I want to be sure that they are at a school where . . .
~They are taught and supervised by a loving, caring, Christian Staff.
~They are surrounded by a God-honoring atmosphere, a controlled encouraging environment.
~Only sincere, cooperative students are enrolled.
~Ungodliness and worldliness is prohibited. (Compare with many public schools where, instead, God and His Word are prohibited!)
~The peer pressure my children experience is much more apt to be beneficial and in line with my desires.

No doubt my children will be exposed to some bad company no matter where they go to school.  Sometimes they may even be the bad company.  But in a Christian environment, they’ll be much less likely to find themselves surrounded by destructive influences, and far more likely to find positive ones.  And I can relax in the knowledge that improper behavior will be dealt with promptly and properly.

Someone has said that teachers are a school’s heartbeat.  Its pulse.  Everyone agrees that they are among the most influential role models in children’s lives.  I want my children enrolled in a school where every one of their teachers is a loving, godly Christian.

"To commit children to the care of irreligious persons is to commit lambs to the superintendency of wolves." Timothy Dwight

REASON #4:  The Christian school supports my Christian values.

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

Every education is based on beliefs of one kind or another. Depending upon which school you choose for your children, they will either be guided in the truths of God’s Word, the Bible, or they will be misguided by a false belief system.

When we study the origin and history of modern public education, we find some alarming facts.  Its founders were atheists whose contempt of Christianity is a matter of public record.  Its current agenda – the propagation of humanistic ideals that render God irrelevant or non-existent – can be easily seen throughout its curriculum.

The shocking reality is that our Supreme Court kicked God, His Word, and His Son out of the public school system more than 40 years ago.  A generation later, scientific naturalism and a host of other anti-biblical and anti-God values (including abortion and homosexuality, among others) are not only being taught in American classrooms, they’re being championed, and the many negative consequences of this anti-God ‘education’ can easily be seen in our nation today.

I decided a long time ago that if God isn’t welcome in the public school, it’s no place for my children. Any school that’s going to embrace my children is going to have to embrace . . .

~my God
~my doctrine
~godly character training
~Biblical goals and objectives for life
~Biblical Principles
~Biblical standards of behavior
~Biblical morals
~Biblical philosophies

I will settle for nothing less. Thankfully, not only can I rest in the knowledge that the Christian school embraces my values, but I can also rest in the confidence that my children will NOT be encouraged to embrace opposing values.

"The school that ignores God, teaches its pupils to ignore God; and this is not neutrality.  It is the worst form of antagonism, for it judges God to be unimportant and irrelevant in human affairs.  This is atheism." Gordon H. Clark

REASON #5:  The Christian school has a proven track record of academic excellence.

Despite their claims of excellence, our nation’s public schools are far less academically rigorous than they once were.  Lowering the academic standards raises the number of students who can successfully jump over the bar but leads to decreasing competitiveness worldwide. United States competency in math and science lags behind a host of other countries. Only 67 percent of all public school students entering ninth grade graduate with a regular diploma four years later.    And despite the vast amounts of government money being funneled into public education, our SAT scores continue to slip. 

Christian school students, on the other hand, score well above the national average in any kind of national standard test, as a rule. This means that graduation from a Christian school is far from an academic liability.  In fact, in the aftermath of 2002’s “No Child Left Behind” Act, college recruiters are more likely to view public school transcripts with a skeptical eye.  The best colleges are likely to pay your children more attention, not less, if they attended a Christian school.
 
The academic bar in the Christian school is typically much higher than that of the public school. Because Christian school students perform at a higher level in the classroom than their public school counterparts they are more likely to be better prepared to handle the rigors of higher education. 
 
"Christian education doesn’t cost as much as it pays."

REASON #6: The Christian school joins my home and my church in surrounding my children with the same values.

God expects me to plant and nurture His Word in the hearts and minds of my children.  This is best accomplished if the three key institutions that shape my children - the home, church and school - all agree and are teaching God’s truth with clarity, conviction and consistency.  Such a triple agreement surrounding the child prevents both confusion in the child’s mind and stress between the child and his parents.

Education takes a major slice of time out of children’s lives. Nearly half of many children’s waking hours are spent at school (including Before Care and Aftercare). It’s unthinkable that I would ever allot such a large portion of my children’s time to having them be indoctrinated against my values by staff, curriculum and peers. If they can’t spend all of their time under my direct supervision, I can, at least, ensure that they spend it under the supervision, and in the company, of those who I know are in support of my values.

Even the best public schools are prohibited by law from reinforcing the Christian values I teach at home.  They either compete against them or disregard them altogether creating the need for Christian parents to spend much time trying to bridge the philosophical gap between Christianity and humanism – a gap that doesn’t exist, and a job that doesn’t need to be done, when one’s children attend a Christian school. 
 
By entrusting my children to educators who share my values, my children and I have more time for ball games, bike rides and meaningful conversations.  Instead of debriefing my children, I can enjoy building my relationship with them.

And, my children, having been grounded in the truth of God’s Word day after day during their formative years – at school, at church, and at home – will be better-equipped to handle discrepant ideas upon graduation.  Whether in a secular university or in the work place, young adults with a solid biblical foundation are far less likely to fall victim to the subtle lies of our post-modern culture. 

"The United States system of popular education will be the most efficient instrument for the propagation of Atheism which the world has ever seen." A. A. Hodge

REASON #7: The Christian school provides a more intimate classroom experience.

Often, Christian schools have a lower student to teacher ratio. This results in more personal, quality attention per student, more opportunity for my children to participate in answering questions orally, more intimate involvement in class projects and activities.

There was a good reason why Jesus chose only twelve disciples (students). If, as seems evident, He felt that twelve was the optimum number of students for Him to disciple, twelve just may be the highest number of students any classroom should have!

REASON #8: The Christian school gives my children a clear presentation of the Gospel.

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." I John. 5:12
"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul. For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26

More important than anything else, I want my children to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Nothing strikes me as being so tragic as time and money spent to ensure that children are equipped for life while failing to equip them for eternity.

I must, at all costs, choose an education for my children which is most likely to result in their embracing the Biblical message that they are sinners, that their sin separates them from a Holy God, that Christ died to pay for their sins, that He offers forgiveness of their sins and eternal life to all who will receive Him as their Savior. "But as many as received Him, to them gave He authority to become the sons of God even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12

In Conclusion
None of this is meant to be a criticism of parents who place their children in public schools.  Nor is it an indictment against well-meaning public school educators.  But the facts remain that public schools are not allowed to give my children the education God demands in the Bible, much of public school curriculum has been “edited” so that it is no longer truthful, many public schools are no longer safe, they do not support my values, they have a poor academic track record, they are not in agreement with my home and my church, they are often over-crowded, they are prohibited from presenting the Gospel to my children .  So, the choice of schools for my children is an easy one for me to make. I quickly and emphatically choose the Christian school.

I believe that when God measures success, He places a soul-saving relationship with Him, a happy marriage, godly children, and a life based upon a sound understanding of Biblical truth far above an Ivy League education, a certain salary level, or a prestigious title.  And I believe that my children’s chances of having a successful life - by God’s standard - are far greater by my having placed them in a Christian school.

Mr. Allen Aardsma, upper elementary and Chemistry teacher at OHCS