ARE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL STUDENTS SHELTERED FROM THE WORLD?

-by Dr. Paul A. Kienel-

Are Christian school students sheltered from the world? The Christian school has been put down with this particular question more than any other. The question rests on several assumptions that are not true. The first assumption is that non-Christian teachers in public

schools are better prepared to train Christian youngsters to live as Christians in a non-Christian world than Christian teachers in a Christian school. Pardon the mind bender sentence but the full reality of the situation is that non-Christian teachers in non-Christian public schools usually succeed in training Christian students to live as non-Christians in the world.

I recently interviewed Dr. Tim LaHaye on my radio program, "Christian School Comment."

...Dr. LaHaye is one of the nation’s best-known pastors and, in my view, one of the finest Christian writers in the world today. (He pastors the Scott Memorial Baptist Church in San Diego, California.) During my radio interview with Dr. LaHaye I asked, "How do you feel about parents who say, ’I send my children to the public school because I don’t want to shelter them?’" Dr. LaHaye answered "In the first place, I don’t think they are being objective. They are already colored by the fact they will have to pay tuition if they send their youngsters to one of our Christian schools. Unfortunately they come to realize too late that sending their children to a "free" public school is a very expensive thing to do.

"In reality it is a ridiculous concept to expect a youngster to do battle with a non-Christian teacher who may be a master-degreed individual with years of experience. He knows how to jerk the rug out from under this kid and make a fool of him in the classroom. We don’t send out missionaries this way. We train them over many years with graduate school and the rest. Then we send them out to work with people who can’t read or write. But all too many Christians will expose their kids to public school educators who may be mental perverts and skilled in the art of deception. To me it is insanity!"

A second assumption is that youngsters and young people will become strong positive individuals if they are exposed to a negative non-Christian public system of education. Someone might say, "What is so negative and non-Christian about the public schools?" If you have missed the latest news reports on secular schools, I suggest you read the recent January 26, 1976 issue of "U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT." ...The special four-page report on "Terror in the Schools" begins on page 52. A few of the statements in the report are as follows:

    Violence and vandalism in the nation’s public schools are approaching epidemic proportions --and nobody seems to know what to do about it.

The fact is simple but stark: Vandalism and violence have become one of the foremost problems of the nation’s schools during the past five years.

*Drug and alcohol offences on school property increased by 38%.

In 1965 there were no security guards in Chicago schools. Today there are 700. Of the 10 million dollars spent last year as a result of crime in schools, 5 million went for security personnel, 3.2 million for equipment and programs, and 3.5 million to cover property losses.

Speaking of the public schools in Washington, D.C., Sgt. Thor E. Bevins of the Washington D.C. Police Department, said,

     TRUANCY: "It’s one of our largest problems. We know that day time burglaries in our district increase if we don’t pick up truants. We bring in as many as 500 a week."

"The truancy rate in the Washington school system probably averages 25%."

     NARCOTICS: "You can go to any school and buy about anything you want in the line of narcotics. And you buy it from students."

     TEACHERS: "The majority of them are assaulted daily and make no reports. They figure its part of earning their "paycheck. I’ve just found out that many, many more teachers retire on disability than policemen or firemen. What you need in Washington are combat teachers."

The National Congress of Parents and Teachers has warned, "The increasing intensity and frequency of violence and vandalism in the schools threatens serious disruption of the educational process."

And yet there are parents, many of them Christians, who steadfastly claim that their children are being strengthened and will grow stronger in their faith as a result of their "exposure to the world" through the public school system. Like a shot of penicillin, they believe the inoculation of public school exposure will insulate their children against catching a serious infection or disease. Of course there is no Biblical basis for this idea and the truth of the matter is that according to our church records, a majority of Christian students (approximately 70%) who attend public schools succumb to the "disease" and are lost to the church. In my view, parents who gamble with their children on the public school market are playing Russian roulette with 7 out of 10 odds stacked against the most precious possessions they have in this world. I agree with Dr. LaHaye --it’s insanity!

The writers of the February 15, 1976 "Digest" of the Church League of America said the following concerning this problem:

Dr. Roy Lowrie, one of the nation’s leading Christian school educators, said,

Christians look for the Deceiver to bring false doctrine into our churches. While we guard our churches, and we should, Satan’s major attack is in our public schools. As we guard our pulpits and Sunday schools, our children are enrolled in schools whose teaching is dominated by the Prince of this world. Satan’ Trojan Horse is within our schools. It is time for Christian parents to enroll their children in Christian schools whose teaching is dominated by God’s Spirit, for a child goes to school to learn, and should be taught Truth, not Error.

Christian schools are often referred to as "greenhouses" or "hothouses" that create a sheltered environment for children. The assumption is that a greenhouse is good for young and tender plants but somehow the semi-protected environment of a Christian school is not good for children.... Everyone knows ... the purpose of a greenhouse is to give young plants a head start. The ideal environment of the greenhouse protects the plants from destructive elements during their early delicate growing season and provides them with proper conditions for maximum maturity. At a given point the young plants reach a "graduation point" and they are ready for transplant. The end result is they are stronger, larger, and more productive and better prepared to ward off plant diseases and stand on their own than their counterparts who had their start in the wilds.... So young children educated in a positive Christian school environment (which exposes students to the errors of the world but does not teach them the ways of the world) will be significantly stronger than their secular counterparts....