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Today, when “the school” is spoken of, most people think of the building down the road called the “public school”. But this was not always true in America. Did you know we didn’t have tax-supported schools until the 1830s? America had been here over 200 years before we had even one state that had tax-funded public schools. There were public schools, but they were supported financially by local individuals, local churches and local businesses. Thus, what went into the child’s mind was controlled locally. And the truth is, most American children were educated by their parents until way up in the 1800s. In fact, over half of America’s Founding Fathers were educated at home—and they were the wisest generation in world history!
Where did America’s Founders get the idea that parents were to be the teachers of their children? Like all their basic ideas about life, they got it from the Bible. God had said very plainly in Psalm 78:5-7,
“For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:”
Parents are called by God to teach their children about all of life. All education falls under one of two subjects: Theology—which means “the study of God”—or history, which can be described as “The events orchestrated by God down through the ages.” All of those events are made up of the combined effect of academic subjects like math and science. So all that mankind has ever done has come out of his view of God and history.
God has always intended parents to be the primary teachers of their children. It’s logical if you think about it: Did God have parents give birth to children, or did He have the state give birth to children? Obviously, He gave children to parents, not the state. Therefore, parents are to be the primary teachers of their children. Parents can delegate this task to someone else in certain academic subjects. But that teacher must be “in covenant” with the parents. In other words, the parents and the teacher must agree on the basics of life; that is, Who God is, who they and their children are, and what is God’s plan for them all. Without this covenantal thinking, there will be conflict between the school and the home, which will result in the child developing what the Bible calls “double-mindedness”. And double-mindedness always leads to unbelief concerning God and His Word. And unbelief always leads to rebellion against God. Now does it make sense why eighty-five percent of conservative Christian young people leave the church in their late teenage years?
The great Reformer, Martin Luther, gave a fervent warning to parents concerning the education of their children. He stated,
“I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.”
(Luther, Martin. Concise Dictionary of Religious Quotations, William Neil, Ph.D., D.D. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), p. 9, No. 14.)
Shouldn’t you be learning how America’s Founders taught their children so you can teach yours the same way?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.