We ended the last piece in the middle of our discussion of the biblical benefits of homeschooling. Jesus tells us that every student, when he is trained fully, will be like his master (Luke 6:40), which prompts us to ask: what kind of masters are my children being trained by?

We discussed the godless ideas permeating the public school classroom, but education is more than just ideas. It also involves people. So let’s also consider more than just the lessons being taught; what about the people teaching them?

Teachers do far more than impart information—they provide role models for those they teach. I remember how much I looked up to certain of my teachers when I was in school—my debate coach in my Christian homeschool league, my logic teacher for an online course I took, and of course, my parents—and their behavior influenced my behavior.

Since teachers have great power to impart character as well as knowledge, this prompts us to ask an important question: what kind of character do my children’s teachers have? Are my children being taught by someone who denies God and the created order and is willing to promulgate the worthless ideologies of the present day? Someone whom, frankly, the Bible might call a “fool?”

Simply put, are my children being taught by the kind of person whom I want them to become? I thank the Lord that He raised me in an environment where my parents were my teachers. The Bible exhorts parents to bring them up in the Lord’s training and instruction (Ephesians 6:4) and consistently emphasizes their role as the primary responsibility-bearers for their children’s nurturing.           

To be fair, this does not mean you are condemning your child’s soul by sending him to public school. Children are not fatalistically determined by their environment, especially if you are diligent about pouring into them every minute they are at home. Plus, God’s sanctifying power can preserve anyone, no matter how young, in any environment, no matter how nasty.

But nonetheless, children are dramatically influenced by their environment, especially when they spend the better part of the day within it. The same God who preserves their soul also commands parents to actively take care of them, and part of taking care of children is knowing what environments are conducive to their growth and which are not.

Now, let’s hit pause for just a moment: I’ll admit that any discussion about parents’ choices regarding their children is bound to get heated quickly if the right clarifications aren’t made. Ultimately, individual parents most likely know what’s best for their individual children (given the individual educational options available to them) than I or any other outside voice can say. And it’s possible that there are still some communities out there whose public schools are filled with solid teachers who fear the Lord.

So, to be clear, it’s not wrong to send children to public school merely because it’s a public school. But the degeneration in our public education system is so widespread that I feel comfortable making some generalizations. I am claiming that, as far as the standard public school goes, Christian parents ought to seriously consider getting their kids out and into a more godly environment.

And one more qualification. I’ll admit that this biblical affront to the public school system is not an unequivocal call specifically to homeschool. There are indeed private Christian schools and other solid Christ-honoring institutions and arrangements that allow for your children to be brought up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

So this piece is more of an exposé of a very good reason to homeschool rather than a definitive case to do so. But I still maintain that the public school system falls woefully short of the ideal for anyone’s children. And as someone who was homeschooled in a Christian home, I can attest to the wonderful blessings homeschooling provides.

Ultimately, then, I believe the hymn “A Christian Home” captures it quite poignantly. We should all strive to provide our children with the kind of environment that it describes.

“O give us homes where Christ is Lord and Master

The Bible read, the precious hymns still sung,

Where pray’r comes first in peace or in disaster,

And praise is natural speech to ev’ry tongue,

Where mountains move before a faith that’s vaster

And Christ sufficient is for old and young.”