November 25,1996
Dear Br. Larry;
You and I appreciate the value of Christian
education. We have spoken about it on several occasions. You and
your wife are sacrificing so that your children may obtain a good
Christian education, lets hope they appreciate it.
As you know, Sevilla and I also sent our
son to a Christian elementary school and would have sent him to
an academy, or high school, if he had not decided to quite school.
It was expensive, but we both felt that the Christian education
was worth the sacrifice.
Over the last twenty-five years, I have
noticed several parents who removed their children from Christian
schools and placed them in public schools. They cite various reasons
for this decision. The primary reason, given by most parents,
concerns a dispute over how their child was treated by the teacher
or school. I have talked with several parents and listened to
their recital of supposed wrongs their child suffered at the hands
of an uncaring or indifferent teacher. The parents often agonize
over their decision, looking and searching for confirmation that
their solution is in the best interests of the child. They often
cite, as reasons for their action, the inferior quality of Christian
education, expense, or some other supposed wrong in the school.
Over the past two decades of observing parents
behavior and talking with several of them, I have formed some
opinions as to why parents remove their children from church schools
and place them in secular public schools.
The most prevalent reason cited is the cost
of religious, private education, and indeed, as you and I both
know, it is expensive. But, when a parent uses this excuse, what
are they actually saying. The message comes over loud and clear
that their children are not worth the sacrifice required to pay
for their education. After all, they reason, why should we pay
several hundred dollars a month for the same education that our
children can obtain from the public schools. After all, math and
reading are the same in either system. But this simply isn’t
true. Public schools are so preoccupied with inculcating socialist
values into their students that they lack the time to adequately
teach their pupils the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.
The second reason, offered by disaffected
parents, is some perceived wrong or failure of the school. Everyone
is imperfect and I acknowledge that religious schools are not
what they ought to be, but neither are public schools. The underlying
reason why parents disapprove of Christian education is a simple
one, these institutions are too effective at teaching Christian
values for the comfort of the parents.
When a Christian school educates children,
their primary mission is to teach about Christ and Christianity.
I believe they perform this function quite well. It is a established
that children, graduating from a Christian school, are more apt
to remain Christian then those who graduate from public schools.
Many parents send their offspring to Christian
schools not realizing that the schools will educate them in the
ways of the Lord, thus reveal their own failure to reflect Christ’s
character of love or teach their children about Him. Parents cannot
allow their children to be more religious then they are, for this
would reflect poorly upon themselves, revealing their spiritual
poverty. Therefore, the children, who are becoming to religious,
must cease and desist, for the parents will seldom change. This
is the ultimate form of selfishness.
I do not minimize that there are some Christian
schools that should close their doors, but the vast majority are
doing an excellent job at their primary task of teaching Christ.
If our schools are defective, we should
endeavor to support the academy until the defect is corrected
or pray that the Lord will clarify our vision, which is usually
the source of the problem.
The worst Christian education is infinitely
better then the best pubic school education.
Be encouraged, you and your wife are doing
a good thing by sacrificing for your children that they may obtain
a Christian education.
May the Lord richly bless you. Your brother in Christ.
Allen A. Benson
