.

[SnowyMacie]

But it's not the actual federal government. OBama and members of his cabinet are not teaching the subjects. It's usually local teachers who simply pass on knowledge they are fed by higher-ups. Depending on the personality and level of investment, the teachers may be great or terrible.

Right. We have to follow the TEKS, which the objectives for are pretty obvious and basic, like "The student understands the events that led to the American Revolution." How this actually ends up being taught is determined by the districts, school administration, and teachers.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I know it's technically accurate, but calling a public school a "government school" sounds derogatory because it implies some kind of brainwashing goes on.

It is accurate, no implication needed,
and what's wrong with brainwashing by the government ?
Practically ALL the governments you've ever read about or heard about
have practiced this, haven't they ?
The communists of course were 'specialists' at it,
separating children from their parents, from God,
and instituting their system of control over everything, from medicine(the biggest deception)
to religion (next biggest), to "cleansing" ? the population, and so on....

 

[jimmyjimmy]

As someone who went through nine years of private Christian education at a fundamentalist Baptist school it definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth and would never wish the same on my own future children.

I was also home schooled one year. Protip: If you're going to home school, don't use A Becca's video classroom material. That was a super failed experiment for my parents and my brother and I.

In a lot of ways I learned far more in the four years of public high school than all the years previous.

I'm sure there are plenty of good private institutions, and if parents are well trained and educated they could probably pull of the home schooling thing. But my own experiences were such that I would put far more faith in the competence of the public school system than anything like what I had.

It's taken most of my adult life to unlearn some things, relearn other things, and heal from the spiritual and emotional abuse I experienced.

-CryptoLutheran

Thanks for adding to the discussion.

It seems to me that many people see homeschooling and/or private Christian schools and fundamentalism (the bad type) as a package, and for good reason, in your case, but when I speak of homeschooling, I have no such idea in mind, mainly because I don't swim with those fish. I know families who have ivy-league backgrounds who homeschool, so when I'm writing here about homeschooling, I have them in mind, but I'm sure that some/many here see advocates for homeschooling as fundamentalist Baptist, which makes there two obstacles to overcome when speaking to parents about homeschooling. I have to shake the stereotype first (if at all possible), which I sometimes forget to do.

 

[joshua 1 9]

It depends on the child and the school.

Also we need to remember that the Holy Spirit of God guides us and leads us into all truth. Not the Church or man. Science tells us that the Church or Community center teaches us empathy for others. So perhaps we need to maintain a balance. We are in the world but not of this world: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind".

 

[joshua 1 9]

Have you found that a good way to teach reading, writing, and mathematics?

We had a foreign exchange student from China and he was the one that helped my son with his math. He constantly warned us that America is falling behind and not keeping up with the standard that the rest of the world is following. There is a lot of competition and you have to work hard to get ahead if you want to compete with the world market.

Trumps suggestion of tariffs and import taxes can help to level the playing field. Still our students need to be prepared and they need to learn how to work hard because there is a lot of competition for the better jobs.

 

[squirrel123]

Is it fair that childless people pay to educate someone else's children?

As a childless person I will say this - I will gladly help pay to educate someone else's children. The government can spend as much of my tax money on education as is necessary to enable every child, no matter their background, to get a quality education. With my blessing. In fact, I would vote for "free" (ie. tax-payer-funded) education for all, in a heartbeat.

See, if all children are properly educated, society and the economy benefits, and therefor I benefit.

 

[RDKirk]

I know it's technically accurate, but calling a public school a "government school" sounds derogatory because it implies some kind of brainwashing goes on.

Morality indoctrination definitely does go on, and a lot of people from both ends of the political spectrum explicitly want morality indoctrination to happen in government schools.

 

[Goodbook]

And yet we are allowed to minister and teach bible to children in public schools because the paid teachers wont do it. Its not part of their curriculum. The only schools we arent allowed to teach Bible in, is...the catholic schools!

The reason for this being....catholics do not actually want their children to learn the bible, only what the RCC teaches. Which in most cases contradicts the Bible...

 

[grandvizier1006]

Morality indoctrination definitely does go on, and a lot of people from both ends of the political spectrum explicitly want morality indoctrination to happen in government schools.

Maybe so, but it's not typically not as systematic as the phrase "government school" implies. Rarely do people have the time and desire to "de-convert" every Christian child that falls under their care.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

Maybe so, but it's not typically not as systematic as the phrase "government school" implies. Rarely do people have the time and desire to "de-convert" every Christian child that falls under their care.

The term brain washing shuts down the conversation, so think of it like this, government-run schools are instilling in your children what they have decided best to instill in them. They are training children to see the world in the way that they have chosen.

 

[RDKirk]

The reason for this being....catholics do not actually want their children to learn the bible, only what the RCC teaches. Which in most cases contradicts the Bible...

I'm not Catholic, but I would strongly dispute "...in most cases contradicts the Bible" in what the RCC teaches. I'd argue that protestants do a whole lot of bible-contradicting as well.

 

[Mudinyeri]

Also we need to remember that the Holy Spirit of God guides us and leads us into all truth. Not the Church or man. Science tells us that the Church or Community center teaches us empathy for others. So perhaps we need to maintain a balance. We are in the world but not of this world: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind".

Excellent point. If we approach any subject with a bias, it makes being sensitive to the Spirit's guidance exceptionally difficult.

 

[SnowyMacie]

The term brain washing shuts down the conversation, so think of it like this, government-run schools are instilling in your children what they have decided best to instill in them. They are training children to see the world in the way that they have chosen.

They way that we have chosen for children to see the world is with intellectual curiosity. In fact, the exact opposite of brain washing occurs in public schools. If I'm teaching geography and your child is in my class, and while we're in the Middle East unit I give lesson about the basics of Islam, going off the governmental requirement of "The student understands the basics of Islam" they come home and talk about how beautiful they thought mosques were. That is the perfect opportunity for you to talk about architecture and Christianity, not send me a knee-jerk email about how I'm indoctrinating your child with Islam. That's ultimately going to end up in a meeting that no one wants to be at and will accomplish nothing because from our end we'll be heartbroken because we see a parent who wants to shut down their childs intellectual curiosity and you'll see it as us "indoctrinating your child".

 

[chevyontheriver]

And yet we are allowed to minister and teach bible to children in public schools because the paid teachers wont do it. Its not part of their curriculum. The only schools we arent allowed to teach Bible in, is...the catholic schools!

The reason for this being....catholics do not actually want their children to learn the bible, only what the RCC teaches. Which in most cases contradicts the Bible...

My children had Scripture classes in Catholic high school. Their texts included, wait for it, the Bible. While indoctrination in your particular version of Christianity may not be welcome in Catholic schools, that does not at all mean the Bible is forbidden. Might you want to prohibit a Catholic priest from teaching in your Sunday School? If not, let me know.

 

[Kersh]

The term brain washing shuts down the conversation, so think of it like this, government-run schools are instilling in your children what they have decided best to instill in them. They are training children to see the world in the way that they have chosen.

And, often what they have decided to instill in children is such controversial facts as "2+2=4" and "the United States has 50 states." In other words, the majority of what the schools instill in children is true and uncontroversial. Perhaps, this is what makes the more controversial stuff problematic, as kids can't decipher between objective fact (e.g., 2+2=4) and opining (e.g., "Islam is a religion of peace"). But, I see the subjective going both ways, such that I don't buy that there is any sort of concerted effort to sell one agenda or another. When I was a kid in public school, we were taught to fear people from the Middle East and that they were all warmongers and terrorists. Now, I hear that public schools are teaching that Islam is a lovely religion of peace, love, and tolerance. Both extremes were subjective at best, and mostly wrong.

 

[RDKirk]

And, often what they have decided to instill in children is such controversial facts as "2+2=4" and "the United States has 50 states." In other words, the majority of what the schools instill in children is true and uncontroversial. Perhaps, this is what makes the more controversial stuff problematic, as kids can't decipher between objective fact (e.g., 2+2=4) and opining (e.g., "Islam is a religion of peace"). But, I see the subjective going both ways, such that I don't buy that there is any sort of concerted effort to sell one agenda or another. When I was a kid in public school, we were taught to fear people from the Middle East and that they were all warmongers and terrorists. Now, I hear that public schools are teaching that Islam is a lovely religion of peace, love, and tolerance. Both extremes were subjective at best, and mostly wrong.

Or the history textbooks approved in Texas that stated Africans came to the US prior to the Civil War as "guest workers."

 

[jimmyjimmy]

They way that we have chosen for children to see the world is with intellectual curiosity. In fact, the exact opposite of brain washing occurs in public schools. If I'm teaching geography and your child is in my class, and while we're in the Middle East unit I give lesson about the basics of Islam, going off the governmental requirement of "The student understands the basics of Islam" they come home and talk about how beautiful they thought mosques were. That is the perfect opportunity for you to talk about architecture and Christianity, not send me a knee-jerk email about how I'm indoctrinating your child with Islam. That's ultimately going to end up in a meeting that no one wants to be at and will accomplish nothing because from our end we'll be heartbroken because we see a parent who wants to shut down their childs intellectual curiosity and you'll see it as us "indoctrinating your child".

Teaching "is" indoctrination, is it not? There's always a slant, which you revealed in your post.

 

[ClothedInGrace]

I went to public school my entire life, and it honestly has made my faith stronger. It was also an incredible witness to work hard in school when everyone else preferred to slack off and party. Teach your children the truth at home, always, but when it comes to getting an education, I think it would be more beneficial for them to experience what the world has to offer. Also, putting your child in a private school will not guarantee them purity and faith, as those are gifts from God. I think to display purity and faith in a public school environment gives more glory to God. However, it's not for everyone: some children might not be able to handle that. Still, give them the option.

 

[JoeP222w]

By God's grace and provision, any child that God gives me and my wife stewardship over, will not attend public school. I will not offer my child to Molech or Ba'al.

Public schools, by and large, have abandoned the truth of God and are enemies of Him. Not every single one, but that is the trend.

 

[Gwen-is-new!]

I don't have time to read every post, but I skimmed a lot. My teens have been in Christian school since 6th grade, and are close to graduation.

The thing to think about is the content of the text books.

Christian education and I'm not talking about "bible" class is a totally different education. Darwin's theory of evolution is taught as a "theory".. Roe v Wade isn't portrayed as women getting their "reproductive rights", pics of sonograms of the baby inside mom at 2 weeks, 5 weeks, etc.. are in the books. My daughter has psychology this year, and I'm not terrified of what mumbo-jumbo might be in that book, and actually look forward to reading it with her. These are really simple examples, but it all boils down to teaching your child/young adult to have a biblical worldview.

The teachers are Christians and actually love and pray for their students. They are taught love, kindness, respect, manners, purity, and modestly.. I could go on and on, but it's all to say that Christian education is a TOTALLY different education in every way, shape, and form.