Posted on 10/20/2006 1:24:53 PM PDT by achilles2000
If you like sexually transmitted diseases, shootings and high teen pregnancy rates, by all means, send your children to public schools. That's the word from a leader in the fast-growing movement within the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention for parents to pull their children from those schools in favor of homeschooling.
Pastor Wiley Drake
The program is called Exit Strategy and Pastor Wiley Drake, whose home state of California has done some things especially offensive to Christians this year, is a leading promoter.
In an interview with WND, he said that those problems and others are prevalent in public schools, and some Christian leaders even have said it could be considered child abuse just to register children in such a facility....
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
In other words, the Anglican Church to which George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Alexander Hamilton belonged was theologically more akin to the Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and Congregationalist churches to which most of the non-Anglican Founding Fathers belonged.
There is a copious amount of research on home education out there. As a matter of fact, there is an organization whose reason for existence is to compile and conduct research about home education. Here's a link to NHERI:
http://www.nheri.org/
The most compelling research I've seen to date is the Rudner study from the late 90's. That's the one that was commissioned by HSLDA. Here's a link to the actual study:
http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/
For what it's worth, I think the academic objectivity on home education research is becoming questionable. Anytime you get into a politically controversial area or one where the research has obvious economic implications for those conducting the research, you have to stand back and look at the research with something of a jaundiced eye.
From my own perspective, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence out there to suggest that academically speaking, most home educated children are flying past their peers who attend the government schools.
What makes it possible today is technology - dvds, satellite, internet, mp3 - and coops and retirees. As a youngster I always envied the kids at the local Catholic school. We knew they were ahead of us, and I hated it...;-)
Roger Moran is on the Executive Committee, Voddie Baucham just planted a church, but wasn't a pastor in 2005, and Shortt is a layman. Wiley Drake, of course, is a pastor. Thanks!
"One additional thing you should be aware of is that many public schools are now telling dropouts to say that they are leaving to homeschool so that the schools can maintain the illusion of a lower dropout rate than they in fact have."
I've heard the term "pushout" used to describe these children. Unfortunately, this behavior is not widely known about or publicized. Thus government school administrators who "pushout" troublesome children are not yet receiving the double heapings of scorn they deserve for doing so.
"That's not to say that ALL public schools are that way. Some are decent. Parents must decide on a case-by-case basis."
What you say is true. I'd argue that the truly horrible and terrifying government schools are a minority. But I'd also go on to point out that the vast bulk of government schools merely rise to the level of mediocrity. If parents view mediocrity in their children's education as being acceptable, then the government schools should definitely be considered as an option.
On the other hand, there are parents who are looking to the future and noting that the quality of their children's education will be an even more important factor in determining their children's future success than it has been in the past. Those parents aren't quite so enamored with the idea of mediocrity. For them, the reasonable course of action is to find a quality private school, or to home educate.
This is not to say that there aren't a few government schools out there that provide outstanding results. There are the occasional magnet schools and schools for the gifted that do an outstanding job. But here's the rub: those schools are few and far between, and chances are your child isn't going to be so fortunate as to be able to attend one.
Good summary.
"I am excited and thrilled that the Baptists are talking about using their existing buildings to start Baptist schools and pull as many kids out of the public schools as possible."
Ditto. Our Baptist bretheren have the right idea. Making it work will of course be a challenge, but I think that the models for success are out there. Where there's a will, there's usually a way.
I wouldn't be surprised if new Baptist schools were to center on a model that blended parochial education and home education, with a healthy amount of internet and satellite education tossed in the mix.
The possibilities are thrilling. I hope and pray that the SBC steps up to the plate on this. Even if they don't do so officially, the debate will push individual congregations toward doing so anyway.
This quote was a keeper: "First, Christian parents are obligated to provide their children with a Christ-centered education. Anyone who thinks that a few hours of youth group and church will have more influence on a child's faith and worldview than 40 to 50 hours a week of public school classes, activities, and homework is simply not being honest with himself."
"Do you really think a Democrat Party majority, which is propped up by the NEA and the FTA is going to just let people NOT go to public school?"
Well, I happen to be a Democrat, and I do think the Democrats will just let people not go to government school. Not because the leadership of the Democratic party necessarily wants that to happen, but because they really have no choice if parents don't want to use the government schools.
Every state in the country allows for home education. Some regulate it fairly extensively, but every state allows it. And the number of home educators and their supporters is just too large at this point to be able to simply throw up the barricades. And private schools are of course legal in all 50 states as well.
And then there is the aspect of home education and private education that you're not going to see talked about much on a conservative website. Some of those on the political left (including teachers) send their own children to private schools. And some are home educating their children, too. Hard to believe as it might be to, there are some left secularists out there who think that the government schools are too conservative. And they want nothing to do with it.
- GK Chesterton, "Heretics", chapter 2
I agree with you, but I'll continue to maintain that academics is not what gets Christian parents upset. It is the promotion of the anti-God agenda that first gets their attention.
"I am excited and thrilled that the Baptists are talking about using their existing buildings to start Baptist schools and pull as many kids out of the public schools as possible. But I wonder how they can affordably do it without a cadre of teachers..."
If they are committed to doing this, I think they can. SBC members donate huge amounts of money for missions via Lottie Moon, etc. Educating their children properly should be no less of a mission, and is no less important.
The SBC church in our town does have a school, and the kids consistently score much higher on testing than their "equals" in public school. It's not a fancy place, but the teachers are no less dedicated than the nuns you mention and the kids learn. Also, the parents know that if a cucumber makes an appearance there, it's just for lunch and not a visual aid in sex ed class.
"It is the promotion of the anti-God agenda that first gets their attention."
Absolutely. People don't normally make important and expensive decisions based on just one factor. The anti-God agenda certainly gets Christian parents attention. But once they look into home education, I think it's the academics that works to seal the deal.
Going against the tide takes some level of courage and initiative. Having multiple good reasons for doing so helps.
"Welcoming purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive, and emergent doctrines that tear folk away from Scripture in favor of pleasing man.
"That is not true."
Sure it is - Kerry Shook, Raick Warren, Erwin McManus and others are SBC pastors who spoek at the pastors seminar during the SBC convention this past summer.
Just like Moses wished that every Israelite would be a prophet, so I wish every Christian denomination had its own parochial schools. (And provided co-op support for their own homeschoolers.)
Got that right!
God bless the church-school Baptists!!
That time may come sooner than people think. It is getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that the government school system is now little more than a seething cauldron of moral, intellectual, and spiritual pathologies.
I know of many very successful homeschool families. I see benefits to homeschooling. I have four that are going or have gone through a very small public school. No system is perfect but I believe my children are proving that they have gotten a very good education. I believe family expectations have more to do with success regardless of school size, private or homeschool.
I have one question. So very many of the homeschool families look different than anyone else. It seems like they want to be "set apart". They dress like it is 1980. There have always been eras where some fashions are too revealing. You can find modest clothes that are currently in style. I don't understand why they look so dowdy. Mind you, not the ones in my church family, but it seems like a lot. Their clothes, long straight hair, no makeup or adornment....they almost look cultish. Has anyone else noticed and can you tell my why they seem stuck in bygone days?
You are right, worldview is of more concern than academics. Certainly, church and youth group are not enough to direct youth,especially when the other youth are not raised to be the type of people you want your child to be.
While it seems superficially plausible to say that some government schools are "different", and it is true in some superficial ways (facilities, etc.), the fact is that the system is so centralized and regulated that the schools can't be different in any meaningful sense. The courts have forced a dogmatic secularism on the schools (in practice it is really translated in an ABC (Anything But Christianity) policy by school bureaucrats). The federal and state governments have taken over the curricula, largely through "accountability" testing. The political/ideological perspective is largely uniform through the influence of NEA and, especially, the schools of education. While there are variations within the system, they only run the gamut from execrable to bad with nice buildings and more presentable teachers and administrators. Dr. John Hoven illustrated this well for the Board of Governors of the NAEP in his 2001 testimony. If, for example, every 8th grader in a school scored "advanced" on the math NAEP (which is much harder than the state accountability tests), the students would be performing at an average 5th grade level in Singapore. No government school exists anywhere in the US in which all the students in the 8th grade or any other grade all score "advanced" on the NAEP in any subject. There is nothing wrong with our children's native abilities, but the government schools are preparing them to be hewers of wood and drawers of water in the 21st Century. The government school tares in our churches are collaborating in the destruction of our children.
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