Gov't schools hoodwink Christian parents

The movie "Waiting for Superman" is causing a stir. Socialist union supporters are accusing it of "scapegoating teachers and union-busting," and teachers are protesting outside movie theaters around the country. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel has said that "the film demonizes public education, teachers unions and, unfortunately, teachers." By bringing national attention to the plight of parents whose kids are stuck in poor performing schools, "Superman" is certainly agitating educators.

There's another movie coming soon, however, that tells the true story about why public schools are so dangerous to our kids. "IndoctriNation," produced by filmmaker and father of seven Colin Gunn, tells the story of the Gunn family's bus tour across America on a quest to discover the origins of our modern educational system.

What they discover "is a masterful design." But it's a design for "training up the next generation with a humanistic, man-centered program." This program, Gunn claims, is fragmenting the family and undermining the church in American society. Indeed, statistics show the majority of Christian youth are leaving the church and forsaking their faith. Those who stay have worldviews infected by secular humanism and other unbiblical views.

Other Christians are sounding similar warnings. In his book, "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools," Bruce Shortt says, "Christian parents and grandparents need to see government schools for what they really are, not for what they claim to be or for what they once were." Shortt bluntly states, "American education is now aggressively anti-Christian, both spiritually and morally. Government schools have effectively become parochial schools for secular humanism and many varieties of New Age spirituality." As Shortt points out, the truth is "… for decades the unacknowledged moral code of government schools has been moral relativism."

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If this were not troubling enough, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is pushing for "international benchmarks" and "Common Core Standards" – just another term for a national curriculum. More than two-thirds of the states already have adopted them in hopes of getting more federal funding. As I point out in my book "The War on Children," globalization is the new conceptual rubric in all the disciplines, and students are learning to be "world citizens" through educational programs such as the International Baccalaureate. Actually, the IB curriculum is just a notch above the politically correct multicultural education that has infected schools for the past 20 years. It is the perfect tool for indoctrinating children into both moral and cultural relativism, since it relativizes both the Christian worldview and American exceptionalism.

Why do so many Christian parents settle for sending their children to state-run schools, where this is the prevailing vision? Christian writer Gary DeMar claims that most public-school parents suffer from the "my kid's school is fine" syndrome. This syndrome shows up in every Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup school poll. According to the 2010 poll, 77 percent of parents give their child's school a grade of "A" or "B," which is an all-time high. Only 18 percent of all Americans give public schools across the nation such high marks.

I can only conclude that most parents don't know what's really going on inside their own schools. I also believe there is a prevailing mindset that even many Christian parents accept. This mindset is based on two lies: first, that all education should be neutral, and second, that the curricula of government-controlled schools are, in fact, "neutral."

Government schools are anything but neutral, especially when it comes to Christianity. They deny students knowledge of the most fundamental fact in the entire universe: that God created everything that exists – including man.

"Neutrality" of viewpoint in education is an utter myth. My great-uncle, the late Christian philosopher Cornelius Van Til, pointed out that "… every philosophy of education … is theistic or anti-theistic." Nevertheless, most parents don't think of today's government-controlled schooling as "anti-theistic." Even most Christian parents fail to acknowledge the indoctrination that is taking place.

John Taylor Gatto, former New York state teacher of the year and author of "The Underground History of American Education," observes that most Americans accept one of the following as the purpose for compulsory schooling: to make good people, to make good citizens, or to make each person his or her personal best. Education and schooling are not synonymous, however. We may send our kids to school, but are they getting educated? What is the purpose of education? Christian parents in particular, should ask, "What is God's design for education?"

Great-uncle Cornelius said that the purpose of education is to teach the pupil what man's task is. And it is not to be "a good person" or to be "a good citizen," as noble as these sound. Nor is it the warm and fuzzy "to become our personal best." Rather, according to God's plan, man's task is to build His kingdom – joining Him in the task that Jesus taught His disciples to pray for: "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven."

Education should prepare youth for kingdom service – not government service. It should provide them with knowledge and understanding of the creation that will enable them to carry out the Cultural Mandate (Gen. 1:28) – not the "green" agenda. It should enlarge their vision of God's sovereign work through all of history and their particular calling here and now, cultivating in them a passion for carrying out that calling – not currying an obsession for gaining as many of this world's toys as they can.

So there is one question I would ask every parent, Christian or otherwise: "What do you believe the purpose of education is?"

Once you answer this question, you'll be able to decide what kind of education and schooling your child needs to fulfill this purpose.

Karen Gushta, Ph.D., is research coordinator at Coral Ridge Ministries and author of "The War on Children: How Pop Culture and Public Schools Put Our Kids at Risk." Dr. Gushta is a career educator who has taught at all levels, from kindergarten to graduate-level teacher education, in both public and Christian schools in America and overseas.