Going Public

Tim Challies is a well known reformed Christian blogger who lives in Canada and who has his children in public school.  His blog, always worth reading, is promoting a new book, Going Public:  Your Child Can Thrive in Public Schools, by David and Kelli Pritchard.  In reviewing the book, Challies makes the following important point:

The most valuable lesson of all, at least in my view, is that public schooling is a family affair. The decision to place children in the public education system is a decision to have the whole family involved in this system. They say, “We should not think in terms of sending our child off by himself to ‘the mission field.’ We go there together. This is a family expedition. When we show up each August to enroll our kids for another school year, we are enrolling our family into the life of this institution. This is a joint venture.” This means that mom and dad are involved not just with the children, but with the school and teachers and leaders.

This echoes an observation Gordon Fuller, a public school teacher, made last year at our own Navigating the Education Maze event.  Gordon said that the most time-consuming option of all is public schooling, because Christian parents must make sure to know what was said and done throughout the school day every day and to be prepared to help children "unlearn" many things learned in school that do not match up with a biblical worldview.  This requires a tremendous investment.

You can read Challies' article here and find Going Public at Amazon.com.