According to The Tech Edvocate in June 2021, the number one reason for failing schools in America is ‘parents are not involved enough.’ (1) The Public School Review in June of 2023 ranks parents involvement at number thirteen below overcrowding, bullying, teacher tenue, standardized testing, teacher salaries, school safety, and their number one reason for failed education in schools is deficits in government funding for schools. (2) We definitely have a problem with the education system in the United States in 2023.
As tragic as failing education is today in all subject matter in the traditional sense, a more troubling factor is the ever evolving curriculum that is subject to change as the current culture demands it. With no solid basis to instill programs and agenda driven ideology into already established course curriculum, educators and school boards across the country have caved to the loud cries of diversity, equity, and inclusion. They are at the same time discriminating against Christians and those who hold to a moral view of ethics.
How do we begin to address these issues? Time and space will not allow a thorough investigation on the subject with proposed solutions, but as Christians, especially Christian parents, there are plenty of recommendations from the God of the Bible to help us along. First of all, parents are responsible for the education of their children. We can say education starts in the home. The book of Proverbs says, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” (22:6) The apostle Paul in writing to the early churches says, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4) Christian parents are to teach their children from an early age the teachings of Holy Scriptures. Setting the foundation of learning from God’s Word and His moral standards will help when instructing your children in all other stages of life, including their formal education.
If you are fortunate enough by God’s grace for your children to attend a private Christian school or to homeschool them, rejoice in God’s blessings. But perhaps it is the Lord’s will for your children to attend today’s public schools. A firm Biblical foundation instilled in them from an early age will guide them through their educational journey. It is an on-going guide for every student, whether homeschooled, in Christian schools, or in secular public schools.
Education starts in the home, and God has given that responsibility to every parent and not to the state, especially in matters concerning how His Word commands us to live. We are to continually teach our children about the Lord and His commandments from the beginning of the day until the end, and while inside the house and outside. This is as old as Moses’s instructions to the nation of Israel in what is known as the ‘Shema’ or ‘hear.’ Let us follow through with the ‘Shema’ of the Old Testament as we teach our children in 2023.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV
Word for the Soul 