Discussing
No Christian Student Left Behind

My son just started kindergarten in public school. We would have sent him to public school even in a good economy. I think one benefit you will see is an improvement in public schools when more Christian students are there to be salt and light. Students who learn biblical principles at home and church will be able to bring them to class discussions and influence the thinking of their classmates.

The other side of the coin is what are alternative models of Christian Schools that may be more affordable. I am working with a group of families discerning whether to start an urban Christian school. My initial sense if that we have to go very small. Perhaps something like an old-fashioned one-room school house or co-operative model may be more feasible.

As a Christian educator in Canada, we are seeing the downturn here as well. Families are struggling and needing to turn to the public/separate system. As parents, our daughter started public high school as the 'local' Christian school was out of our reach financially.
What are we doing?
1. Praying - for her, her friends, the teachers, the staff.
2. Stepping up our devotionals at home to be more interactive and pertinent to their lives.
3. Making a conscious effort to spend more time with her, listen to her issues, approach them from a Christ centred point of view and pray with her. Helping her to find ways to shine Christ in all she does.
4. Include her in former activities her old Christian elementary school still does e.g., we're doing Operation Christmas Child and she's doing community service hours (part of a grad. requirement) near Christmas to help with the Christmas concert.
5. Thanksgiving will be done in a quieter fashion, focusing more on giving thanks and enjoying our family/friends instead of food/holiday. Haven't fully planned this one but it's in the works!
6. Praying - for those families who are no longer with our school, for the students who are now in public schools, for our staff and students who are with us, that we can be a light for others and a source of encouragement more now than ever before.

Attending public schools gives kids a chance to PRACTICE their faith every day. When they run into tough situations, they can retreat to their parents for sound advice. My kids have developed a strong faith because they've learned how to live in the world and actually USE their faith.

I know in Reform (i.e. more liberal) Judaism they have Sunday School. Meaning that on Sundays the children will have classes at their shul on theology, Jewish history, hebrew language, and other things usually covered at full-time yeshivas. I think a similar model could serve these children well. Tuition for "Saturday Schools." could be significantly less than everyday parochial schools, and would also give qualified Christian School teachers a chance to supplement their income (which is quite often lacking). Even just doing this during the summer would go a long way toward filling the gap on both side.

For something like this to work, Christians will have to stop seeing education and knowledge as "secular vs. church" and see church as the natural complement to a secular education. For instance: if your high schooler is learning about the causes of the American Civil War, a Saturday school can work with that curriculum by pointing out how many abolitionists saw all human life (and human freedom) as sacred precisely because of their Christian beliefs. So you can then talk about why we think life is sacred and what that means in terms of social justice, bioethics (like abortion/euthanasia) and so on. There are lots of other "teachable moments" where Christian values can be pointed out. Public schools won't talk about these with respect to Christianity, and properly so; to do that would ostracize non-Christians, and public school is for everyone. But Christian educational supplements could build on what students learn Monday-Friday relatively easily.

You imply that students and teachers in Christian schools have dormant faith until they leave the premises to go home. Nor apparently do they have any tough situations needing sound advice. I'm glad for you and your kids that they already have a strong enough faith to take on all that the world will throw at them.

I don't mean to imply that at all. I'm sorry it came across that way. I taught in a Christian school for three years. I understand it is not total bliss. I just know my kids encounter more faith-stretching opportunities in their public school because the commitment to Christ is not there. They get grief even from their teachers at times. In a Christian school the peer pressure is to do the right thing. Not so much in my kids' schools. They have to stick up for what is right and are usually in the minority. That is tough, but makes them stronger.

Thanks for pressing me and making me clarify my comment. Love it.

To god be the glory i have to say does it really matter if your child attend public school or private/ christian cause i do beleive... Not being smart that god said that the way you raises your children is the way they shall go and if for some reason they go astray they know how to get back to the right of things... I've seen middle class and high class children have the best of everthing and the poor with out nothing and i look at the poor children and their grade and you would think that they had it all and the ones that was so call born with the spoon in there mouth give there parents hell!!! so let me say this i have nothing but christ in my life poor in finance but so rich in wisdom and in knowledge...i think that it start at home educating your children about our lord and savior jesus christ is so important and that is a factor that as parents we all should do...I have a child who was on the distintion roll higher then the honor roll and now he is 28 in collage. Then i have a child that is 12 on the honor roll and both of them have great impact on there pierces and they attend public school... Is it the children or is it the parents i just think it is a shame to me it just another way of selling god's word with having to pay to go to school to learn about god or the churches selling book's/ bible/dvd/cd/tape and etc what is going on i never heard of god trying to charge people to hear or to receive the word of god it comes free so why are people selling his word as any means necessary. my point god want us to win soul ...he did not say that we had to charge people for the word that can save some one life come on people let's get this thing together he said he coming for a church with out a spot or a wrinkle ...not a school. our children will do just fine only if we take the time to teach them amen.

I attended christian schools from kindergarten through college, and now I've been at a secular state university for 5 years. Thinking about my own training compared to my christian friends who went to public schools, I have a few observations:
1) Public School graduates have more contact with people who are different from them and have different values. This makes it easier for them to understand how non-christian people think and gives them more avenues for evangelism. Sometimes christian school kids can be really sheltered from meeting people who are different from them. This can be a big benefit, especially if parents like Tami offer guidence.
2) Christian schooling allowed me to be able to examine my beliefs without feeling threatened. Especially around controversial issues like evolution in high school and various issues around sexuality in college, it was useful to have an honest conversation and take a position without fearing I was misrepresenting christianity or that I needed to defend the positions often associated with christianity. Perhaps leading students in conversations like the ones we have here (but geared toward issues they understand) would help.
3) because my christian schools required bible classes, I got a pretty thorough knowledge of the Bible. Public school kids from some traditions can match me in a bible trivia game, but most can't. I think churches could offer more bible knowledge type classes (or bible studies that go through the bible book by book instead of thematically) to help solve this disparity.

I'm not sure how things are structured in the US. Here in the UK there are certain "faith schools" which are run by the Catholic and Anglican churches. There is a level of religious education in these places, but in effect I believe they function largely as public schools do.

My own local church, however, has its own school, which it has been running for nearly 40 years now. This is done almost entirely by members volunteering their time, and financial giving from the members of the church. This is a massive undertaking, given that we are only a church of 70 people.

The big question is, do we believe Christian education is the right thing to do, biblically? And if so, it is not a question of whether we should do, but how we make it happen. If sacrifices need to be made, then we make them, if we're convinced that it's the right thing to do.

Persoanlly, I am convinced that we should educate our children. We should be working to redeem their whole lives, and place them (ideally) at the centre of a church-home-school triangle. Arguments about children having to be in public schools in order to witness to other children are spurious. Our committment in the first instance is to bringing up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and their education is a massive part of that.

Nat

Re 1) and 3) I attended public schools in the '60's and early '70's in small-town Michigan, western and eastern, and attended Baptist churches that had thorough Bible-knowledge sunday school year-round. I experienced first-hand the points you make. My observation also is that the public schools of any community, large and small, tend to reflect generally the climate and character of that local community. A community-minded public, supportive of institutions and neighbors, focused on positive growth for all its people, will be a great place for kids to grow up, and will provide a great public school. An out-of-control society, one characterized by power struggles, and lack of civility/tolerance/respect for one another, will be reflected in its schools; or at best, the schools will become the only safe-haven for its children.
Point 2) is definitely a strong point in favor of Christian schooling, assuming those honest conversations take place and diversity of opinion is allowed and honored. Christian schools (I taught in Christian h.s. for 28 years) need to be equipping students to live in culture; teachers and curricula need to be focused on engaging culture with their students, rather than building a fortress to keep safe from culture. In either case, home and church are vital parts of the equation as well, and as said above, so is the community.
In either form of schooling, we want our kids grounded in the faith as they grow and mature---the question to consider is the where and how and when that grounding will occur.

Likewise, I hope I wasn't being snarky in the comment. I understand both perspectives (see response to bethanyk above). "They can retreat to their parents for sound advice"---great; how wonderful it would be if they could get that sound advice from a teacher or two as well! That being said, I remember some godly teachers in the public schools I attended; I know some godly young teachers who chose to take their salt and light from their faith, developed from home/church/school/college, and are bringing it to the public schools.