Freedom

I have a young homeschooling friend who takes a class at the public school, an advanced placement class. We were chatting a bit and I felt like it was a very interesting conversation... he told me several very interesting things, and so I thought I would post some thoughts on that conversation here for consideration. It is about homeschooling, public school and freedom of the mind to actually think.

In this particular class, (note: at this time is had only been about two weeks into the school year) they happened to be studying the Bible as literature. and this young man, a Christian young man, is rather bold in his beliefs. Having the opportunity to give a talk before the class he told them that he was a Christian and that he believed the Bible to be literally true.

Imagine that. He reminded me that this was something the teacher could never do without loosing her job, but as a student it was something he could do. Needless to say, he then continued to tell me about various encounters with people in school and what being in school was like. He said it is oppressive, much like a prison.

He told me how he had been to Russia as a visitor last year and he compared the look and feel of the people there to the look and feel of the people "stuck" in school...

Now I have not been to school recently myself, but I have known people who went to Russia, even the same cities that this boy had been. They saw what he saw in Russia. They explained it the same way. How interesting that he saw this same dynamic in his experience at the school.

Homeschooling is freedom exercised. Freedom to choose the kind of education you have and use... freedom from the clock, freedom in how you spent or do not spend your day, your week, your calendar of things to do. It is also freedom of the mind to think, observe and question, to seek answers and to gain an understanding of the more important things in life, your family, yourself, your world and your creator, the one who loved you and gave his life so that you might live eternally in freedom from sin and death, Jesus Christ, (and you can even talk about him freely.) Public Schools, they are like "a prison." Truth is, if the son sets you free, you are free indeed! Homeschooling in America is the free exercise of many freedoms.

Yet there is school, mandatory school, we are told, a person "has to "get an education.

This all has me curious. What does one learn in school? and...Who exactly runs the classroom?

Is it law? Is it the NEA? The Union? MacGraw Hill or whatever textbook manufacturer has given the US government the lowest common denominator.. I mean, bid? If not the Bible in American schools... then what morals and values are upheld in school who decides? Who manages what is thought... and NOT? What is the "plumbline" or "objective" of public education, concerning morals, stealing... respecting authority... assault... cheating... swearing... and what will happen when you break the rule or fail to learn what IS (or maybe is NOT) being taught? What in a classroom makes right right and makes wrong wrong? Is it the textbook? The teacher?

In this case the textbook just so happened to be the Bible, but they were not looking at it as truth... and the teacher, was not the teacher but the student was giving credence to the book. A homeschooling student, a student on loan to the public school from a local homeschool at that!

This student all his life had not been to a public school. He was homeschooled, where his teachers at home were actually free to teach him things that are true and right, noble and good. Free people in the USA, free to talk about, to believe and teach their son about something better than anything he would ever learn in school, the true and living God.

Amazing.

So he told me too.. (and keep in mind this is a smart young man. He has not only been around the block, but around the world. He knows his history, his knows his English pretty well, he reads and writes and is not afraid to speak out or speak up in a class...) He told me that after he had been in school a couple of days he was called into the principals office.

He was not in trouble or anything. The principal simply asked him, "Who are you?"


It reminded me of this verse:
Phi 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.