Principle #4: The purpose of education is not simply to teach the child about the world around him. It is primarily to teach him about the things of God.
“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. 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.” (Deuteronomy 6:6–9, NIV)
In fact, the fear of the Lord is the basis for all education. This point is so important that it is repeated several times in Scripture.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” (Psalm 111:10, NIV)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7, NIV)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10, NIV)
Principle #5: The primary goal of education is to create in your children Christians who love God and serve him all their days.
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6, NIV)
If your children turn from the way when they are old, all your efforts are in vain. I don’t say that lightly. I say that as the parent of a 16 year old. The jury is still out on my own children. But this is the biblical truth.
C.S. Lewis rightly said that "education without religion, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil."
Principle #6: The secondary goal of education is to teach your children truth about God’s creation.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Hebrews 11:3, NIV)
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1, NIV)
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” (1 Corinthians 10:26, NIV)
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17, NIV)
Everything belongs to God. There is no division of life into separate spheres so that school is over here and church is over here. God created math. God created science. As Christians we confess that all subjects belong to and are informed by God and his Word. There is no such thing as a secular math or secular history or secular science or secular English class. God puts his stamp on all creation and, as Abraham Kuyper says, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"
