It Takes Faith

It takes faith.  Recently, on a community visit a parent asked me, “Why do so many of the families who start out homeschooling stop in junior high and high school?”  This question is often on the minds of parents of young children.  At the beginning of any adventure, one is likely to ask, “Am I able and is it worth it?”  

I think the reason, though it most likely is complex and varied, as to why so many turn back before junior high and high school, is that it is easier to put your faith into the ‘black box’ of public education rather than rely on a known local community, a tried and true curriculum, one’s own effort and weakness, a transcendent God’s grace and power, and the “immutable yet ever in need of refinement” nature of mankind.  

The ‘black box’ of public education seemingly has a lot going for it.  It has a big building, educated teachers, accreditation, a lot of other children, sports, and other extracurricular activities.  But once a student enters that world, the details of what a child is learning and becoming starts to blur and becomes obscured.  It is often difficult to receive a syllabus from a class your child is taking. With each new generation, the latest and greatest educational hypothesis abounds.  A public education of twenty years ago is unrecognizable today.  The end of education lately is college readiness, a strong sense of rights, job readiness, the relativizing of all values, and an unbridled freedom to be anything one wants.  Yet, the data shows something different.  Studies are suggesting children at alarmingly high rates are not ready for college, and in fact boys are forgoing college at extremely high rates.  Children are also routinely depressed and unable to find purposeful meaning to pursue.  

The transformation in a Christian classical curriculum in junior high and high school is worth the effort, discipline, and perseverance.  The skills of abstract and conceptual thinking drawn out in math through conversation in a classical classroom is far different from the seemingly endless algorithms in the modern version.  The study of the symbolism, parts of speech, and functionality of grammar for nine years in a classical classroom is far different from a cursory overview of the concepts in the modern version.  Reading difficult literature while debating the moral nuances of its characters ignites the imagination allowing one’s own actions in a moral world to come alive.  

These are just a few of the many benefits of a classical classroom.  But I think at its foundation is something called ‘worldview.’  Worldview is what one thinks the world is.  All education has a point of view, a definition of humanity, and a theory of flourishing and happiness.  This is what is most troublesome in the modern classroom.  To eliminate the study of history and replace it the social sciences, replace virtues with self-generated values, and dismiss inherent meaning with meaning-making, is a recipe for ruining a generation with self-centeredness and absurdity.

So which is it?  What are you putting your faith in?  Have you spoken with families who have made it to the end of high school in a Christian classical curriculum?   Have you asked them, “Is it worth it?”  Or are you going to put your faith in the “black box” of the modern system hoping things turn out for the best?  Either way, the tradeoffs will appear and something will be formed.  Once children have reached adulthood, a parent’s influence wanes.  I would rather put in the effort, even if it is imperfect, than have regrets later.