Like you, I’ve continued learning long after my formal schooling was finished. One of the things I’ve learned a lot about is education itself. Some of what I’ve learned about it has been startling.

I attended K-12 public schools, followed by Christian college and then a few seminary courses. I’ve been blessed by the godly education of a Christian family and great churches. I’ve been a homeschool teacher and tried to be a supportive parent as my children were educated in a Christian high school. I’ve been an elder and helped to consider how the church is an educator.

For the past six years I’ve served on the school board of our local Reformed, Christian school, the past three years as board president. Perhaps that has been the biggest eye-opener of all, as I interact with parents and educators and hear about their vision, challenges, and goals.

I have seen a lot that encourages me, but also a lot that alarms me. What causes that alarm?

1) The level of anti-Christian bias within public education is more heinous and pervasive than I had thought.

2) Those who seek Christian education for their children, regardless of how they choose to do that, are under ever-greater pressure.

3) Many parents make education decisions for their children under immediate and circumstantial pressures, often without much support from church, family, and friends.

If you are not under the pressures of the moment, step back and consider with me for a moment: What is the best, eternal purpose for education? What are the ultimate goals? Where and how do we provide the environment for that to take place?

J. G. Vos covers much of that ground in his excellent pamphlet What Is Christian Education? that is printed in this issue. Some Christians say that schooling, while utilizing Christians where possible, does not need to be Christian schooling. However, consider that the RP Testimony says, “There can be no true education without a knowledge of God and His dealings with man, as revealed in the Scriptures” (24:29). We know that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10) and that “in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:2-3).

We also know that education is not neutral. From the late 1800s in the U.S. there have been anti-Christian leaders seeking to influence, and succeeding in influencing, public education. That’s true in Canada as well. “Education is always taught from a particular perspective. In Canada, in our public schools, that perspective is clearly anti-Christian” (Michael Wagner, Reformed Perspective, Apr. 2012).

How do the Scriptures view education, and educators? Some of you are wiser and more scholarly than I and may shed more light on this. As I read the Scriptures, I see us being taught that education is to occur within the context of God’s people, by God’s people and for God’s people. The duty of education is given to the parents (see Deut. 6:5-7; Ps. 78:1-8) and, beyond that, to the church. The Bible views educators, in fact, like fathers (Cornelius Van Dam, Clarion, June 28, 2013).

Does this mean it is wrong for any Christian parent to send his/her child to a public school? The fact is that educational options vary widely from town to town, state to state. Decisions about education are to be made by the parents, in godly consultation with others. The RP Testimony allows for public education (see excerpt below). And, without question, we are to support Christian teachers and administrators in their schools, and we are to fulfill our baptism vows to help educate all our church’s children in the ways of the Lord, regardless of where they spend their weekdays between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Teachers and administrators like Kyle Reed (p. 6) should have our full support.

However, it is dangerously shortsighted to think that an army of 5-year-olds from Christian households is going to convert the public school community and change the minds of public educators. One never sends one’s smallest, youngest, weakest, most impressionable “soldiers” into any battle, especially with the awareness that some of their training will be given by the enemy. Some Christians have espoused this sort of educational evangelism for over 125 years, a view that was again advocated in a major Christian magazine last year. The anti-Christian educators have gained all the ground in that battle, causing a lot of young people from God’s camp to be casualties of war.

You need to pay close attention to the outside influences on your children, whether you send your children to public schools, private schools, Christian schools, cyber schools, or even home schools. Know what they have access to, how they are spending time, with whom they are spending time. If you don’t have access to that information, you should question your choice of school.

And we as parents must be the Deuteronomy 6 kind of people, making the sacrifice of our own desires in order to spend quality and quantity time with our children. Church members need to take seriously their vows to support these families, setting an example in life and even setting church budgets to help with education. While parents have more educational options than ever, all of them require wisdom and judgment. It may be that some parents would make different educational choices if their congregations were proclaiming and supporting the best options in their local area.

—Drew Gordon