The Peril of Ignoring What Your Children Learn
by Cindy O'Halloran
March 22, 2006
(AgapePress) - - "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so ...." Our children love their Savior with a simple faith Jesus Himself recognized. We teach them their first verses and prayers, watch them bow their curly heads, and listen with satisfaction and relief when they grab on to what seems to be a sure place in heaven. But according to the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life, 88 percent of Christian children leave the church by the time they reach the age of 18. What is happening?
Many people believe that the schools are to blame for the growing secularization of Christian kids; that schools subvert the godly upbringing we work so hard to instill. The evidence, at first, seems to agree:
Literacy rates do not support quality public education. The Washington Post reports that only 31 percent of college graduates are proficient in reading and understanding short prose texts.
Increased rates of academic dishonesty show moral decay. The Ad Council Campaign to Discourage Academic Cheating shows that, while 20 percent of students in the 1940s admitted to cheating in high school, today between 75 and 98 percent do.
Sexual activity among teenagers also has increased. According to reports from the Heritage Foundation, 48 percent of American teenagers are sexually active and 8,000 teens contract a sexually transmitted disease every day.
Although these statistics clearly show that the public schools' experiment in values-neutral education based on morality without foundation has failed, the Nehemiah Institute's surveys remind us that as many as 25 percent of children educated in Christian schools have a secular worldview. Barna Research's "Churched Youth Survey" shows that 57 percent of Christian children overall could not even say that an absolute standard of truth exists.
Every adult who interacts regularly with children teaches. Schools may appear to teach only academics, but along with that, they demonstrate moral values in the way they teach them. We all understand that what young people see, hear, think, and believe will determine the future. Praise God for godly teachers instilling biblical values -- but we need to remember that it is our job as parents to be the chief force of godly standards; not only teaching, but evangelizing our children as well. We must be the ones to arm our children for victory in spiritual battle, teaching them to wear the armor of God as laid out in Ephesians 6. It is not the school's job -- not any school. Worldviews can be imposed but, in the end, each individual's worldview must be chosen. This is a big job in a world where two out of three adult born-again believers do not believe in a standard of biblical absolute truth.
The heart of one church aches over what's happening to our young people and their families. Richland Center Fellowship in Richland Center, Wisconsin, has taken on a mission to reveal the danger of this trend by bringing a live portrayal on stage incorporating culturally relevant scenes in their annual Easter production, The Keys.
The Keys plays out the life of Jesus from His ministry to the ascension, but it does more than communicate the Gospel. It intertwines modern scenes among the ancient scenes that relate the Gospel message to today's issues. The 2006 modern theme shows Christian parents recognizing the flaws in their children's education and in themselves in a way that will leave those who see it with a realistic image of the potential eternal consequences of their negligence.
As parents, we are accountable to God for what our children learn -- whether it comes from us, through the church, or through one of their schoolteachers. We are also responsible before the Lord to impress biblical truths on our children constantly. "Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (Deut. 6:7-9)
We must educate with intention in light of eternity, or none of us will be able to say we have lived righteously on Earth.
Cindy O'Halloran is a book reviewer, writer, speaker, and playwright. She can be contacted via her website. Special thanks to JoAnne Potter for her contribution to this article.
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