I think the title is sufficient, yet I feel obligated to elaborate some.

All Christians should seek to provide their children with a Christian education. This is commanded by the Scriptures—“You shall teach [God’s words] diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

In other words, God’s Word is to be a part of all aspects of raising children, schooling being no exception.

Further, the Apostle Paul commands Christian parents to bring up their children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

It should go without saying that American public schools do not provide such a Christian education. They do not teach the Bible or cover subjects from a biblical worldview. Moreover, public schools teach many things contrary to the Bible—Darwinian evolution, immoral sex ethics, and gender confusion to name a few. And then they teach a watered-down version of history that neglects Western civilization and the church that was so integral to it.

Will youth group solve this problem?

I hate to break it to you, but most youth groups are little more than babysitting for teenagers. Rare is the youth leader/pastor who teaches Scripture regularly to students. However, even if a student is part of good youth group, at most this is a Bible lesson every Wednesday night and Sunday morning.

The student who attends public school is receiving 35+ hours of secular instruction every week. Contrast this with two hours of Bible instruction at church every week. If parents read the Bible with their children for say 30 minutes every day (which is unlikely), this would only bring biblical instruction up to five hours per week.

So let’s summarize. In the absolute very best scenario, public school students are getting seven times more secular instruction than religious instruction each week.

Some students will survive the train wreck known as public education. But we should not be surprised when most do not.

So if you ever wonder why Christian children are abandoning the faith when they leave home, just remember that most of them did not receive much Christian education in their most formative years.

Public school plus youth group does not equal Christian education.

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