What should we expect from public education?

Think for Yourself

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 Education is a long and complicated discussion this country needs to have. This country has some excellent educators, and it has some dangerous people posing as educators. Fortunately, our small community has been slow to feel the increasing influence of the federal government on education. Recently, we have had an increasing number of controversies involving our public schools. I want it to be understood that I love, support, and respect most teachers I have encountered in White County. I cannot say that I have always agreed with the decisions of the director of White County Schools or the White County School Board, but their job is not to please me 100 percent of the time. Their job is to oversee the operation of White County Public Schools and the education of the children of White County. They must also comply with regulations imposed by the state and federal governments. Often these regulations are imposed by unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats who are constantly being courted and influenced by lobbyists.

To be totally honest, I was not opposed to baccalaureate going away. I believe I attended my own, but I have not attended one since. My son is a senior at White County High School this year. If he wants to attend the community sponsored baccalaureate this year, I will attend and will offer whatever assistance I am able to provide. The result that was achieved was the result that I would have suggested and preferred. I do not want my children’s schools involved with religion in any way. If my children pray in school, I want it to be their choice when, how, and to whom they pray. I want my children to be exposed to religion from me, in church, and at events organized by either. I want the school system to provide my children with a basic education and to enforce basic moral instruction only. The government is slowly creeping into our schools and our homes. There is a behavior problem in society, and schools may be drowning under the weight, but they are not the cause. We have allowed this to happen. Are parents responsible for their children’s education or not? You cannot have it both ways. I hear complaints about God being missing from our schools. I am more concerned with God being missing from our children.  

I have heard many individuals suggest pulling children out of public schools. That won’t work because the federal government determines the standards that children must be educated up to. If you remove your children from public schools, you do not remove the standard requirements. If you fail to educate your child to the mandated standard, the government will step in. Once society accepts that parents can no longer be trusted to ensure their children’s education and government intervention is required, government is obviously going to advance the education that best fulfills the needs of government. Secular citizens might seem best for a government that is constitutionally religiously ambiguous.

If you want to protect your children from “the world,” hiding them away is a temporary solution at best. The only way to protect your children is to provide them with the armor of your training, moral example, and with the constant reinforcement of that armor. Until the American people take back the freedoms and liberties that our governments have been slowly usurping, we can only arm our children with the moral character to resist evil influences and the security to lean on us when necessary. We must continue to fight for the future of our children. Hiding from a problem is never the answer. We must show our children that the power of our convictions is greater than all the noise of the world. If we cannot sustain our children while they face the possible influences of public schools, how will they ever survive after they leave? Please, think for yourself.            

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