Should Christians Send Their Children to Public Schools?
by Ron Williams (Founder of Hephzipah House for Girls)

In a world in which Biblical Christian faith is only being tolerated, we ought not to be surprised that our public schools have become bastions of progressive thought, paganism and secularism. If there would happen to be a Christian teacher in a public school, they have been effectively ‘muzzled’ by law, and therefore prevented from expressing their faith to their very needy students.

In this environment, which is so hostile to Christianity, I am grieved that there are still Christian parents sending their children to public schools, and therefore being actively exposed and indoctrinated in pagain and secular thought. Christian parents would be wise to count the cost of sending their child into such a spiritually-hostile environment. We ought not to be surprised that after twelve years of this active indoctrination and outright mocking of Christian faith and values, a child will probably graduate, and often reject the faith of his or her parents.

Whereas there may be an occasional high school student that would have the grit and character of a Biblical Daniel or David, most do not. Most young people from Christian families in such a hostile and pagan environment will have their soul significantly harmed by that environment. One must remember that they are still in the plastic, formative years, and are impressionable as they are bing constantly inundated by anti-Christian thought and secular philosophies. Althought parents may save money by sending their child into the public school system, the true cost is not measure in dollars and cents. Multitudes of youngsters, having been exposed to such saturation of cynicism and pagain values, will start to question what their parents believe. They, in fact, end up rejecting the faith taught them by their pastor and parents in favor of what all of their peers accept: a pagan, hedonistic way of life.

There are some Christian leaders who actually advocate sending our children into the public schools to be a witness and testimony. I would respectfully disagree. Most children are not prepared to take on such a herculean task! We train missionaries to go into cross-cultural situations for no less than twelve years in Christian school and then an additional four to seven years of post-graduate training in order for them to succeed in a pagan environment on the mission field. How can we logically expect an immature, frightened and intimidated youngster to survive in such a harsh and pagan environment, much less be willing to ‘stand alone’ in that environment before they are emotionally and spiritually prepared to do so?

It is still legal to teach our children our Christian faith and values in our homes and in Godly Christian schools. Prior to the 1970s, it was a daunting challenge to find school districts in which this was legal and accepted, but now, there is a plethora of Christian curicula available either for home instruction or in a Godly Christian school environment. There is a financial cost to do so, but this is a sound investment and a wise sacrifice when on considers that our children’s lives and testimonies are at stake.

While Bible believers are being ‘tolerated’ by our pagan and secular culture, that is rapidly giving way to outright persecution. Orthodox Judaism has experienced this type of persecution and rejection for millennia. How did they maintain their identity and values? They did so by providing their children with private and home education that emphasized the values that they thought precious. Bible Believers must do the same, and we can find support for doing so in the scriptures.

A teenager comes under incalculable and enormous peer pressure and peer dependence in those impressionable years. How else can one explain a teenager looking absolutely bizarre with body-piercings, spiked hair, certain clothing worn in a certain way, certain words and phrases being used? This aberrant behavior can only be explained by the effect of peer pressure on that child’s heart and mind. This being the case, and it is, it would be profoundly difficult for a Christian to say he is protecting his child against evil influences by sending them into the Godless public school system!