I’ll start with public school. Here are my reasons why you should send your kids to public school.
1. Resources – Public schools by far have the best funding and because of that they can offer many programs, specialists, and academic help for your kids that you could not get at a private school or provide yourself.
2. Social setting – Unless you start your own business you will work for and with people who are different than you. Learning how to interact, deal and lead people different than you is an invaluable life skill. One I feel that is difficult to learn if you are homeschooled.
3. Our public schools need Gospel Centered kids – You can read through the bible and see how God loves cities I think it breaks God’s hearts if we withdraw from our culture and create a counter culture, just as much if not more than it breaks his heart to see us be absorbed by our culture. We as parents have a responsibility to teach our kids how to demonstrate the Gospel. If our kids are surrounded by kids or family member who believe the same thing they do all the time they never are given space to doubt. When kids do not doubt they do not believe. We have made the mistake of trying to raise moral kids in a immoral culture our goal needs to be to infuse our culture with the gospel that will never happen if he hide in the hills or if we embrace culture with a cheap moralistic faith.
4. Brave vs. Safe – I want my kids to learn to cope with situations that are difficult while they live at home. Situations will come up and I want to teach my kids how to deal with those situations from a gospel perspective when they are young. I have seen to many kids grow up unable to cope because they were surrounded in a cocoon of like mindedness known as Christian school. They graduated when to college and left their faith because they were cut from their cocoon by an atheistic professor because their parents never let their wings grow. As a parent our natural instinct is to protect that is part of our job but more than protect we need to empower. I for the longest time I used to tell my boys to be safe I NEVER do that anymore, I tell them to make wise choices because I want my boys to make a difference not to just be safe.
Interesting post! A friend of mine posted it on FB and it is something my wife and I have been thinking a lot about… I am curious, did you attend a Christian school growing up?
I attended Christian schools but mostly public school.
Nothing like taking on the doozies…
I work at a church that runs a Christian school with attendance over 1,000…yet I send my kids to the great public school in our neighborhood.
No decision is better than the other, but the decision to send our kids (and involve our family in) to the public school is ours alone.
Great post. We have already decided to home-school our children for a number of reasons. None of the reasons include the immoral indoctrination of our children or a desire to protect them from being taught against what we believe. My wife was home-schooled through all 12 grades and went on to college to be successful graduating Summa Kum Laude. She has had little to no problems with social interaction and no crisis of faith that could have been prevented by surrounding herself with "the culture" earlier in life.
I was homeschooled, private schooled… and public schooled. I hated all of it… but I'm a better person because of my experiences in PUBLIC SCHOOL! It makes no sense to over shelter your kids only to drop them into the real world head first at 18.
I can only speak about my situation on this topic. As a father living in the 51st ranked state for education, Nevada CANNOT compete with the funding that the private schools here get. The curriculum is far better at the private level and the teachers have the backing of the administration and the parents because the parents hold the purse strings. My son is now on the high honor role even though he started 5th grade 1 year's worth of curriculum behind (because the public schools have lower standards.) I would sell my house and move into a cardboard box before I sent him back to public school in Nevada. Oh, and the State is about to cut school funding another unprecedented amount.
Robert
Interesting post! A friend of mine posted it on FB and it is something my wife and I have been thinking a lot about… I am curious, did you attend a Christian school growing up?
I attended Christian schools but mostly public school.
Nothing like taking on the doozies…
I work at a church that runs a Christian school with attendance over 1,000…yet I send my kids to the great public school in our neighborhood.
No decision is better than the other, but the decision to send our kids (and involve our family in) to the public school is ours alone.
Great post. We have already decided to home-school our children for a number of reasons. None of the reasons include the immoral indoctrination of our children or a desire to protect them from being taught against what we believe. My wife was home-schooled through all 12 grades and went on to college to be successful graduating Summa Kum Laude. She has had little to no problems with social interaction and no crisis of faith that could have been prevented by surrounding herself with "the culture" earlier in life.
As a youth minister and a public school graduate my initial thought was that homeschool kids are weird and I don't want my kids to be that way. I figured my wife was a minority in the home-school world but I see now that it's all about whether or not the parents can do it "right."
Long story short, our biggest reason for deciding to home-school our children stems from the ridiculous amounts of wasted time our public school systems encourage. 6-8 hours of class time a day to do the work that could be done in a 3-4 hour day. Students are then sent home with up to four hours of homework daily creating a bunch of students being taught by their parents anyway. Not to mention the lack of attention given to students who struggle or even excel. If you're not a middle of the road student you suffer in public schools.
Again, thank you for your post. It was well thought out and I agree with most of it. My concern, however, is for the education of my child and I feel as if it can be done better in the home than at public school.
Mike
UPDATE: Someone on facebook commented that it's very circumstantial and I think that's the best point I've heard. Everyone's kids are different and you have to weigh your child, your availability and effectiveness to teach your kids against that of the school your kid(s) would attend. Every student I know that had a bad home-school experience was because of the lack of effectiveness of their parents as teachers.
Couldn't agree more in fact we are going to be talking about some of that stuff tomorrow!
My wife directed me to your post about why our kids should NOT go to public school. Love both posts. Way to start some conversation!
Thanks, hope to get people thinking and talking.
Great post. We have already decided to home-school our children for a number of reasons. None of the reasons include the immoral indoctrination of our children or a desire to protect them from being taught against what we believe. My wife was home-schooled through all 12 grades and went on to college to be successful graduating Summa Kum Laude. She has had little to no problems with social interaction and no crisis of faith that could have been prevented by surrounding herself with "the culture" earlier in life.
As a youth minister and a public school graduate my initial thought was that homeschool kids are weird and I don't want my kids to be that way. I figured my wife was a minority in the home-school world but I see now that it's all about whether or not the parents can do it "right."
Long story short, our biggest reason for deciding to home-school our children stems from the ridiculous amounts of wasted time our public school systems encourage. 6-8 hours of class time a day to do the work that could be done in a 3-4 hour day. Students are then sent home with up to four hours of homework daily creating a bunch of students being taught by their parents anyway. Not to mention the lack of attention given to students who struggle or even excel. If you're not a middle of the road student you suffer in public schools.
Again, thank you for your post. It was well thought out and I agree with most of it. My concern, however, is for the education of my child and I feel as if it can be done better in the home than at public school.
Mike
UPDATE: Someone on facebook commented that it's very circumstantial and I think that's the best point I've heard. Everyone's kids are different and you have to weigh your child, your availability and effectiveness to teach your kids against that of the school your kid(s) would attend. Every student I know that had a bad home-school experience was because of the lack of effectiveness of their parents as teachers.
Couldn't agree more in fact we are going to be talking about some of that stuff tomorrow!
My wife directed me to your post about why our kids should NOT go to public school. Love both posts. Way to start some conversation!
Thanks, hope to get people thinking and talking.
I was homeschooled, private schooled… and public schooled. I hated all of it… but I'm a better person because of my experiences in PUBLIC SCHOOL! It makes no sense to over shelter your kids only to drop them into the real world head first at 18.
I can only speak about my situation on this topic. As a father living in the 51st ranked state for education, Nevada CANNOT compete with the funding that the private schools here get. The curriculum is far better at the private level and the teachers have the backing of the administration and the parents because the parents hold the purse strings. My son is now on the high honor role even though he started 5th grade 1 year's worth of curriculum behind (because the public schools have lower standards.) I would sell my house and move into a cardboard box before I sent him back to public school in Nevada. Oh, and the State is about to cut school funding another unprecedented amount.
Robert
Great stuff guys. You are really bringing out some great points.
Great stuff guys. You are really bringing out some great points.
This is an interesting topic for discussion, and there are good points to be made on both sides. I attended Christian schools from preschool until I graduated from high school, then went to what is now one of the largest public universities in the U.S.
I had a great experience in high school. I was on the honor roll, National Honor Society, participated in several sports, and was voted to the homecoming court 4 times. However, to say that I was unprepared for what I experienced in college and the working world would be an understatement. Although my Christian school was not known for being a slacker in academics, everything came easy to me. I did not have to work hard to get good grades in high school, so I did not know how to study in college. I quickly became overwhelmed in my initial major, and made a change to something easier. This would later have a negative effect on my job prospects.
Not to mention the fact that I was in a Christian "bubble" and did not know what the world would throw at me beyond high school.
In retrospect, while my Christian foundation did a lot of good for me, I think it would have been helpful for me to have a year or more in public schools before college. Perhaps I would have been better prepared for college and beyond.
In summary, I would say to parents that if at all possible to expose their kids to both public and Christian school environments and determine which is best for your child and your situation. Each child is different, and each school is different, so it will be up to each parent to decide which is best.
This is an interesting topic for discussion, and there are good points to be made on both sides. I attended Christian schools from preschool until I graduated from high school, then went to what is now one of the largest public universities in the U.S.
I had a great experience in high school. I was on the honor roll, National Honor Society, participated in several sports, and was voted to the homecoming court 4 times. However, to say that I was unprepared for what I experienced in college and the working world would be an understatement. Although my Christian school was not known for being a slacker in academics, everything came easy to me. I did not have to work hard to get good grades in high school, so I did not know how to study in college. I quickly became overwhelmed in my initial major, and made a change to something easier. This would later have a negative effect on my job prospects.
Not to mention the fact that I was in a Christian "bubble" and did not know what the world would throw at me beyond high school.
In retrospect, while my Christian foundation did a lot of good for me, I think it would have been helpful for me to have a year or more in public schools before college. Perhaps I would have been better prepared for college and beyond.
In summary, I would say to parents that if at all possible to expose their kids to both public and Christian school environments and determine which is best for your child and your situation. Each child is different, and each school is different, so it will be up to each parent to decide which is best.
Ha! I just wrote a blog post that is eerily similar to this. As I was looking for an image to accompany it, I stumbled here! Needless to say, I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks for being a voice on this side of the issue for parents who are making decisions about this.