Is it OK to Send My Kids to Public School?

[Originally published: July 26, 2022]

I think that’s an important question, especially for Christian parents to ask. Is it ok? Consider this…

I know it’s a sacrifice to homeschool or enroll in Christian school. It’s not “free” like public school is – but is public school truly “free” when you consider the price you’ll pay for your child’s mental, social, and emotional wellbeing? Is it free when you consider the cost of having your child indoctrinated? Am I being melodramatic? I truly am not. Please read on…

Understand, I realize that “indoctrinated” is a strong word. I know. It is an accurate word. It means “to teach to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.” Literally, it means to put doctrines into someone’s mind. This is what public schools are doing. For 6 hours a day, your child will have doctrines put into them. They will be taught the doctrines of a secular worldview in how they learn the history of the world, how this world came to be, and how this world works. That’s not just science or history – that’s literature, math, writing, reading, even spelling, and art.

Your child will have books read to them or be assigned to read that teach how friendships work, how families look, and how decisions are made. Teachers may not literally stand in front of your 7-year-old and say the words, “Now, this is how the world works, kids.” But in effect, that is exactly what they are doing all day long in every subject because from history to science and math to English, the public school curriculum is focused on the doctrines of their secular worldview.

“Secular” might seem simple enough because most of us went to school when “secular” just meant something that wasn’t “religious.” But that’s not the case anymore. The secular ideology your child is getting isn’t just not religious, it is anti-Christian – anti-anything that has been traditionally held to be moral and normal. Children are conditioned in schools now to reject ideas of something being “normal” or “moral” because holding that something is moral means the opposite makes it immoral and that cannot be tolerated. If something is normal, the opposite means it’s abnormal. That also cannot be tolerated in a setting where the conditioning needs to eliminate any possibility other than if you feel like it, then it’s “normal” for you.

It’s hard to imagine just how pervasive the conditioning is because you think you went to a different school in a different time. The reality is, it was happening to you as well, it just wasn’t yet accepted and promoted by the mainstream, but it was already happening and now, all pretense is gone.

Let me help you understand that most public school systems have a cycle for accepting or rejecting curriculum and standards of practices that rolls around every 7 years. In that time, it doesn’t matter how good or moral, traditional or Christian the teacher is, they have to teach the curriculum they’ve been given.

As an educator with over 30 years of experience in the classroom, I can tell you – you need to keep your children out of the hands of the public system. Bring your kids home or send them to a Christian school. Make the sacrifice. Your new car payment, your home improvement projects, your vacations can wait. Your children are in danger. Get. Them. Out.

Most people are making the decision to keep their kids in public school out of fear, ignorance, or possibly hope. You are no longer ignorant. I pray that you will not be in fear. The fears I’ve seen in parents are common and I can sympathize:
Fear of not having enough money for private or homeschool – this comes from assuming the cost will be too high to afford. Remember, the true cost is too high to risk. You’ll make a way. Trust God and check your priorities. Your fear and ignorance are keeping you from making your own children a priority.
Fear of feeling unqualified to homeschool – this is ignorance actually. The resources available to homeschool are amazing and you will be well supported in your local church and through the homeschool community you join.
Fear of their child “missing out” on traditional school experiences – this is also ignorance. There are so many opportunities for homeschool and private school kids all the way through high school.

As for “hope”…many Christian parents hope their child will do just fine because they did “just fine.” They hope their child will come out ok because aren’t Christians called to be “salt and light” in a lost world? Please understand that while it’s great to have hope, it’s better to have wisdom. Is it wise to send your child to battle for their mind? And this kind of hope puts your child at serious risk. You wouldn’t send your child to war and hope they come back uninjured. At least in war there’s a chance they’ll not be injured. In public schools, you are sending them to a battlefield of the mind and it’s not a matter of if but how extensive their “injuries” will be.

I pray you won’t make a decision out of fear, ignorance, or misplaced hope.

If you’re local to me in Orange County, CA, here’s a school I recommend:
Grace Christian School
If you want to homeschool, message me for ideas. Or begin here: HSLDA.org

---

I have over 30 years of background as an educator in both private Christian schools and homeschool. I would love to encourage you if you are working through this important decision. You can email me here and we’ll talk. God bless you!