I have numerous Christian acquaintances who insist upon having a calling to put their children in government schooling. Might they be right about this calling? If not, why not?

The Scriptures make it clear that it's the parents' responsibility--the father's, most of all--to educate their children. It is quite impossible to maintain authority over your children's education when handing academic responsibility over to the State. The State gleefully takes responsibility (despite its insistence upon failure), but it also takes the requisite authority. Frankly, this is as it should be. Responsibility and authority go hand in hand.

Aside from the loss of authority over your kids' education when the State takes over, there's the ubiquitous claim of being "salt" and "light". This implicitly admits the unholy nature of government schooling. After all, there is no need for salt and light among the salty and enlightened, so to speak. These parents admit, then, they're essentially sending their children into the lions' den (if you'll pardon the mixed metaphors). Are these children ready to be salt and light, to evangelize the lost, to withstand the unholy onslaught that is secular humanism? Allowing for the one-in-a-million exception, no. Most adults cannot even handle this, amply evidenced by the countless Christians within government schools' employment ranks who are completely ineffective at fixing the system even a little bit. Children are to be about learning to minister, not doing the ministry yet. Even God Himself in the Person of Jesus went into the desert for forty days to prepare Himself for ministry--and He was already perfect! Paul spent years in preparation for his ministry, yet he was already a mature adult and well versed in the Scriptures (he was a Pharisee, after all). As a Biblical rule, childhood is a time of preparation for ministry, not yet a time of ministry.

There's also the principle of "pearls to swine" to consider. Given the secular humanist school system is unable to be reformed (brought closer to Christ) from within its ranks, any ministry there is very likely to be nothing more than throwing pearls to swine. I'll allow room for the very rare exception to this rule, but I can also demonstrate how even these exceptions do not require public school attendance.

Biblical ministry is one-on-one, one person at a time. It's about seeing the need for the Lord in those we encounter in life (family, friends, etc.) and offering them a chance to choose Godly discipleship. Anyone in public schools knows such chances are extremely rare; the schools insure very little time is available for such "extraneous" activity. Outside of school, where relationships are nurtured, one-on-one ministry occurs. It's the social time when kids get to know one another, spending quality time together, that ministry can occur. As a lot, homeschooled students spend much more time with friends outside a regimented classroom than the government's kids do.

Another nagging antithesis to a calling to government schooling is the common inability to hear the Lord accurately. Today's [American] Christians generally do not know the Word of God. They are generally unable to discern the Lord's will from their own sinful desires. The church is largely wayward, and even its leaders cannot accurately discern, let alone teach such discernment. Even if all the other obstacles against such a calling did not exist, it would be highly doubtful it could be accurately discerned.

The discernment of even the more extraordinary believers is generally abysmal, drawing into question any perception of a calling to public school. Discernment aside, if the pearls of Scripture are to be offered to those who aren't swine, those seeking the Lord, it's far more likely to happen outside a government classroom. Otherwise, children are to be in training to be Godly adults; they're not to be thrown to the lions before they're prepared to endure the evil onslaught. The final nail in the coffin of government schooling is the loss of parental authority. When parents surrender their Godly responsibility to train their children, they surrender their Godly authority, too, effectively signing over their children's futures to the desires of an institution diametrically opposed to Biblical values.

I do not believe there is such a thing as a calling to government schooling. I believe there cannot be. It cannot be Biblical to surrender parental duty to secular humanist indoctrination camps. There are even a discerning few who have called the church to endorse the withdrawal of Christian children from this a priori doomed institution called public school. Let the system collapse under the weight of its sins, and let a Godly alternative grow in its stead. Erroneous perception of this "calling" must be questioned; more so, the sins motivating this bizarre disobedience should be revealed and repented.

Here's the good news: forgiveness is readily available for those parents willing to repent of public schooling. If parents want to reclaim a Godly heritage for their children, there is not only forgiveness but ample support and encouragement for doing so. Truly a Biblical calling--a commandment, really--homeschooling is easier than ever (though not as easy as abandoning this Godly duty and honor). The Lord assures us He will provide the strength and means to obey should we choose to do so.