Christian Education and Parenting

"Just being around godly people is insufficient...some of the most tragic stories in the Bible concern parental failure."  (Wilson, Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, pg. 72)

These words, present a challenging view to most modern parenting and most Christian approaches to education.  Somehow we took the epitaph, "Bad company corrupts good people" and inverted it to say, "Good company creates good people.  As parents we often think that our children will catch the faith by being around us, other church going believers, and by attending a Christian school.


We sincerely believe that given enough exposure to godly people, our children will themselves become godly, but as Douglas Wilson points out,

"To believe that children can be spiritually changed by their environment alone is behaviorism, not Christianity." (pg. 72)

Our children need more than just association with godly people, they need concrete learning and instruction.  They need to see their parents modeling the life of a devoted follower of Jesus Christ in word, action and thought.  They need prayer for the Holy Spirit to transform the heart of an unrepentant sinner (that is what our children are) into a heart of a repentant sinner, graciously thankful for all that God has done on their behalf.

Now the question must be asked as it relates to educating our Christian children: What kind of school can provide exposure to godly adults, concrete instruction in the knowledge needed to live in our world, daily interaction with parents where life is modeled and teachers who are committed to praying for the work of the Holy Spirit in their pupils lives?  Answering this question should be of utmost concern for every Christian parent, for we are shaping not just minds, but hearts and hands as well.  

I believe there are only two possible options, and that each of these options are on magnitude apart from one another.  Nevertheless, Christian schools are an option, although they fail to expose children to the daily interactions where they see how their parents live, work and use their time, and since this is one of the greatest means of passing on the faith, parents must seriously question if this is the best option.  The second option, and the more successful, is to homeschool your children.  This provides all the benefits needed for the best foundation for children.  It forces parents to critically reflect on the life they live, and therefore builds up our discipleship as parents.  Parents are always more interested in their children's success and so prayer will be more natural, the one downside is that many adults feel unequipped to teach their children.  Very well, but feelings are not reality, don't let society's constant preoccupation with specialization scare you.  Until 100 years ago most students acquired their basic education in the home and left to acquire their trade.  We can teach our children and where we have holes or feel lacking we can learn or find others to train our children in select subjects.

(I know that there are special circumstances and that every child and family is different, what I am writing while general in scope must be wrestled with in each family and for each child.  But we must never take the easy way out and abdicate our responsibilities as parents because society has created a norm.  We must wrestle with the issues."