Stephen Owens was raised in an evangelical Christian family. He writes a blog call Common Grace, Common Schools. He is the Education director at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. He sends his own children to public schools. In this post, he explains why many homeschooling Christians fear public schools. I posted only half the essay. Please open the link to read the other half.
Owens writes:
The Washington Post had an article that feels tailor-made to produce schadenfreude in progressive circles. Titled The revolt of the Christian home-schoolers, the reporter detailed the experiences of a couple that chose to send their kids to public school after rethinking their own upbringing in closed, homeschool Christian communities. White evangelical readers will not be shocked by most of what’s written, as I believe most of us worshipped next to families that tsk-tsked mundane cultural experiences such as Halloween, dating, or public education.
Some folks almost gleefully shared the summary quote from the father, Aaron Beall: “People who think the public schools are indoctrinating don’t know what indoctrination is. We were indoctrinated.” After reading the piece I’m struck by my own ignorance of how many people’s experience with homeschooling is similar to the Beall’s. I’ve encountered dozens of (current and former) homeschool families in the churches I attended, the private school where I worked, and even in the real world! (That last part is a joke—homeschooled children become adults and usually don’t want to be labeled with the mean stereotypes of the schooling any more than those people who went to private or public school). The families I’ve encountered fall on a spectrum ranging from “act typical of any public/private school people” to “believed Song of Solomon was smut” but I’ve yet to meet anyone as extreme in their beliefs as who this article is describing.
Now you might say that the close-knit nature of these communities would explain both the siloed thinking and the reason that people like me haven’t met many of them, and that’s fair. I want to, however, make sure not to paint with too broad of a brush even as I think through some of my own concerns around homeschooling. If you’re considering keeping your children from communal schooling, I’ve framed this post as a series of questions for you.
What are you scared of?
Like the article’s subjects, at the root of many people’s decision to homeschool is the desire to limit exposure. On some level every parent practices guarding the minds of their children—oh that I was more aware of this when I took my then-four-year-old on the Monster Mansion(née Monster Plantation) ride. The tricky part is that just because some things seem scary it doesn’t make them evil.
So what are we scared of? Curriculum? Other people? The story people like those in the WaPo article tell about public schools is that they’re filled with Godless liberals who push students (purposefully or accidentally) into leaving the faith of their parents. Children, by comparison, are treated like clean sponges that will soak up any and all ideas without discrimination. I think the both conceptions are comically far from reality and the second specifically runs counter to scripture.
There are enough public schools in the U.S. that I’m sure you’ll find individual instances of a teacher preaching some faith other than Christianity, but I would bet $1,000,000 there are many more instances of Christian public school teachers influencing students. The teachers (Christian or not) I have met are, to the person, unwilling to use precious minutes of class time trying to evangelize to students—jeopardizing their jobs at the same time.
The pupils of these teachers are also not clean slates waiting to be written upon. The Bible states clearly that we are all born wicked. From that birth we spend the first few years developing rapidly—physically, mentally and spiritually. By the time your child enters kindergarten their brain has already developed 90 percent. They have deep imprints of how to handle stress, joy, want and plenty. The idea that your child’s school teacher will be able to quickly undo what your child has learned in the home makes no sense.
As a number of social media posters have said, if I was truly indoctrinating kids, I would indoctrinate them to bring pencils to class and do their work on time.
Love it!
Grooming I tell you! Grooming is what they are afraid of. Public Schools will turn their children into Godless, Communist, antiwar, homosexuals going for sex change operations and undermine male superiority in the household .
I suppose you teachers are shocked to hear that you have these Svengali like powers. Or will sitting next to a Black or gay child rub off.
https://kristindumez.com/books/jesus-and-john-wayne/
Joel, in reference to your “over the top” comment from an earlier thread, “Despite its waning moral and spiritual credibility, Catholicism is today the linch pin of culture-war conservatism in the U.S.” The quote is from The New Republic, 2-3-2021; article title, “Originalism is dead. Long live Catholic natural law.” The article author writes, “What the ‘intellectual disaster’ of evangelical Protestantism lacked was a robust natural law tradition.”
Harvard constitutional law Prof. Vermuele, the most dangerous critic of liberalism today, “seeks to revive divine law, natural law and civil law” (Law and Liberty, 8-24-2022). Vermuele is known for his advocacy of preferential immigration status for Catholics.
A clerk for Thomas is in the news (Guardian) today regarding Venmo payments and lawyers with cases before Thomas, one of which was the recent affirmative action case. The clerk formerly interned at the Becket Fund (for religious liberty). The Guardian article describes Thomas’ “close relationship with a vast network of former clerks and mentees.” Becket was founded by Kevin Hasson who is Catholic and named the organization after St. Thomas Becket.
“Catholic Right Still Tied to Big Money Republicans”, BishopAccountability.org, 1-16-2015
Notre Dame graduate, Kevin “Seamus” Hasson is described in the article along with other key players. EPPC labeled Hasson as a “Knight of Religious Freedom.”
Matt Schlapp of CPAC is right wing Catholic and his wife has been reported as Opus Dei.
The danger to democracy and public schools, posed by politicized right wing Catholics should not be down-played. The motivation to do so is suspect. Law firms like Becket, Thomas More and Jones Day, universities like Georgetown, Catholic University of America and Notre Dame, organizations like Catholic Vote, EPPC, Knights of Columbus, Leonine, Napa Institute, Lumen Christi and the almost 50 state Catholic Conferences…
They must be doing a terrible job.
“The Edison exit polls estimate that 52% of all Catholic voters went for Biden this year, and 47% for Trump. The Edison exit polls in 2016 showed a 46% Catholic vote for Clinton, and 50% for Trump. These estimates thus reflect a three-point downturn for the Trump vote among Catholics and a five-point uptick for the Democratic candidate (Biden compared with Clinton).”
. “Edison in 2016 showed an 80% vote for Trump among White evangelical Protestants and 16% for Hillary Clinton. That compares to Edison’s 76% Trump and 24% Biden estimate this year.”
So it may be that the Intellectual basis of the American right as Lofgren pointed out comes out of Catholic traditions by default. As someone said intellectual and Conservative is an Oxymoron. It certainly is obvious that the Court and other institutions have been influenced by these people lay or Clergy.
But in another sense you have a 50 / 50 chance when sitting down next to a Catholic of him being a human being. Where as you only have a 1 in 4 chance when siting down next to a White Evangelical Christian of him not being a sub human Trumpanzee ( was that not P.C. ) .
Why the difference.
Kristin Kobes Du Mez a Calvinist Historian no longer an Evangelical would say that White Evangelicals have become a sub culture which has been spoon fed a vile ideology right from the Pulpit for decades. It is no longer about Religion. The same can not be said about the Catholic Church.
Pew research- 63% of White Catholics who attend church regularly voted for trump in 2020.
Joel’s correct in one of his points. Other conservative religious sect members (evangelical protestants) experience more political messaging from the pulpits. Catholic political messaging is different. For example, Steve Bannon geofenced Catholic churches to deliver political messaging. Catholic websites, for example, churches in Ohio, have messaging about Issue 1. The outcome of Issue 1, if passed, will make it almost impossible for voters to get referendums on the ballot- in other words, in a state gerrymandered for Republican dominance, it will be a “stake in the heart of democracy”. Right wing Catholics don’t want Americans to be able to make ballot decisions about abortion law.
People who deliberately refuse to acknowledge an enemy of democracy deserve what they get. But, the rest of us don’t.
Joel-
just curious- do you believe it’s fake news when right wing Catholics, self-admit publicly, that the initiation and passage of school choice laws is a success attributable to them?
I’ve worked with many teachers that have a Christian or Jewish background. I have also cotaught social students in upper elementary classrooms with several teacher and never witnessed any religious or political indoctrination. Teaching accurate history is not indoctrination. It is an opportunity for young people to learn from our past mistakes and do better. Right wing extremists are engaging in smear propaganda campaign to undermine public education. The actual number of leftist extremists in public education is likely quite small as Owen notes.
They fear their own god. Why shouldn’t they fear everything else?
The idea that teachers can indoctrinate students is so absurd that it is humorous. While a student is enrolled in a teacher’d class, the teacher sees that student for 4% of that student’s day (counting weekends and holidays). Not to discount the worth of good teaching, but that ain’t much.
Not impressed at all with the writing nor the assumptions of the author.
“What are you scared of?”
Really? What is he? A 6 year old talking to 4 year olds?
“The Bible states clearly that we are all born wicked. From that birth we spend the first few years developing rapidly—physically, mentally and spiritually. By the time your child enters kindergarten their brain has already developed 90 percent.”
How disgusting that one believes such an inane, absurd proposition. . . “born wicked”. Ay ay ay effin ay! And one’s brain is 90% developed at age 5?? Horse manure.
Why lend credence to such garbage?
“The Bible states clearly that we are all born wicked”
Does that mean we are all like candles?
Now I know what that Elton John song , Candle in the Wind was about
Marylan Monroe was wicked because she was born that way.
Cults of all types always try to keep their members (particularly children) isolated because they know they will lose them otherwise.
Religious cults are no exception.
It’s not a matter of teachers convincing the students to leave their religion (that’s a straw man) but instead that the students will decide to do so on their own simply by being exposed to sane people and sane ideas for the part of the day that they spend in public school.