Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 06/08/22
KC: What’s interesting, John, is that for the first hundred years in America everybody understood that education was based in the home and it was supported by the church. The government had nothing to do with it. This was normal for a hundred years in American, so essentially you can do it. It looks different for everybody. It is very affordable and there’s lots of help.
The first question is do you believe that your children belong to you or to the government? And do you want to teach them your values and your faith? Or do you want your values and faith to be replaced by a government school system that undermines the things that are most important to you? That’s what’s happening in our public school systems even despite good teachers like my father and my grandparents trying to teach kids what’s right. They live in a system that doesn’t let them.
KC: Every state has different laws regarding homeschooling. You can check within your state to see what they’re like but it ultimately offers you ultimate freedom and flexibility with how to educate the kids. Like I said, there’s so much help in learning how to do this. Most colleges agree that children who are homeschooled are better educated and more well-rounded then the majority of kids who come out of your traditional public schools because they’re taught to be critical thinkers, they have a love for learning and all of that is done in the context of being with your family and other families who want the same things. So, the how-tos and the ins-and-outs and the laws pertaining to homeschooling in your state, all of those things are addressed in the movie that I’ve just made called The Homeschool Awakening. That’s why we want everybody to see it who is interested and wants to find out more.
KC: Absolutely. They say that if you want to get rid of the darkness all you have to do is shine the light. The pandemic shined a huge light on all of the garbage that is being fed to children in the public school system because when the schools closed down – and the kids went home and did their school online – the parents got a front-row seat and were horrified at what their children were learning. The sexually-explicit material that little kids are being shown – they’re being taught that men can have babies, they’re being told that they can choose whether or not they want to be a boy or a girl. They’re being told to judge their fellow students by the color of their skin through Critical Race Theory. They’re taught to be embarrassed or ashamed of the United States of America based on The 1619 Project and the rewriting of history.
So parents are saying “We don’t want to stand for this anymore! Being a teacher is a noble profession. We are trusting you with the minds and the souls of our children.” They have broken trust with parents across America. Again, there are good teachers – like my father who is a public school teacher – but they are not in control of what they’re teaching the kids. The federal government is and that’s why parents are saying “Our children are too important to let you just run away with them like this!” and they’re starting to homeschool them.
KC: Exactly. That’s why you have a network. You’re not living on an island all by yourself trying to figure this out. That’s why (you’re) a part of a vast network in a community of other families who are doing this too and educators who you can work together with to teach subjects that you need help with…You’re learning these things together through great textbooks right there along with the kids. You’re staying ahead of them, teaching the lesson. This is grandparents teaching little kids how to read. I mean parents have been teaching their kids from Day One. You taught them how to walk and talk! You teach them how to do all sorts of things. You can just have a natural continuation of that as you learn together as a family and with other families.
Then you also have teachers who have lots of experience and degrees in these kinds of things. You can take online classes through private schools, through public schools that have just good classes. You can even take online classes with colleges and universities that have people that have doctorates in these subjects. So, again, the world – and the entire internet – becomes your classroom. You’re not restricted to Critical Race Theory and Gender/Queer Theory and all sorts of projects that teach a very narrow view of the world that certain public schools are (offering) right now.
KC: Well, you know John, this ultimately comes down do who has authority over the kids and who’s monitoring and in control of the government. I think if you did a poll of the people in the United States and you said to them “Do you think that the government school systems are providing quality education for the children of America?” if you look at the test scores and you look at the content of what they’re being taught they would say “Absolutely not! They’re failing miserably!”
There are, again, good teachers in a system that is failing miserably. We have some of the lowest ratings and scores of education in the world (at least in) First World countries. So, this is not good quality control. Depending on the government for that is a bad, bad idea. When you bring that into the private sector – and the family of faith – then there’s nobody who loves and cares about their children more than their parents.
KC: I think school choice is critically important. John, I don’t know if you have kids or not, but if you have kids you want the best for you kids. God gave children to parents not the federal government. To be told what the kids are gonna learn, when they’re gonna learn it, how they’re gonna learn it (and) who they’re gonna learn it with, listen, that’s the kind of stuff that communist dictators do, right? You look at China (where) you don’t have school choice. You go to countries that are not like America where you have educational freedom, financial freedom, political freedom and religious freedom. (In those countries) you have little kids who belong to the state government and they’re training them to become little revolutionaries or little pawns of the government. Not in America!
Vouchers are a great idea because they put the authority and the leadership into the hands of the parents who love the kids most. There’s nothing that’s more important than training up our children. That’s what made America the freest, strongest, most character-filled and blessed nation in the world. It’s parents who love God, love their kids and train them up in the way they should go – and they (do) it together in a community.
Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
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