Parent Resources—Articles

Salt and Light or Hot House—Which Should Influence Your School Choice Decision?
By Randy Fulmer

Over my years as a Christian school educator I have heard various reasons that Christian parents give for not sending their children to Christian schools. One of the most obvious reasons given is the significant cost of tuition even though many Christian schools have financial assistance programs.

Another of the leading arguments Christians use to defend their decision to send their children to government schools involves the idea that Christian students are to be "salt and light" ( Mt. 5: 13-16) in those schools to help carry out the Great Commission. Often coupled with this point of view is the idea that Christian young people need to be exposed to the "real world" to "toughen them up" if they are to have any chance of coping in life after they graduate.

In light of the disturbing statistics that are prevalent today showing that most Christian young people do not hold significantly different values than their non-Christian counterparts and many Christian college students turn away from their faith in college, perhaps it is time to re-examine the application of "salt and light" theology to school age young people.

If the "salt and light" passage is correctly applied in school choice decisions should not that point of view be consistent with other scripture that can also be applied to children and education? The purpose of this article is to propose that a stronger biblical argument can be made that shows there are numerous scriptural teachings that are not consistent with "salt and light" theology being applied to young people in educational settings.

An alternative approach is the "hot house" theory. Young plants are often planted and grown in a hot house to protect and nurture them until they have grown strong enough to survive the elements outside. The same idea applies to protecting and nurturing young Christians as long as possible before they must withstand the attacks on their thinking they will receive from the secular culture.

The implications of the scripture passages listed below, when applied in the context of school selection decisions, argue in favor of the "hot house" approach for a child's education.

Mt. 18:6
Adults have a responsibility to protect children from spiritual harm and error. At best, government schools leave Christ and His point of view out of discussions and, at worst, they often outright oppose Him.

Ps. 78:1-8; Eph. 6:4
Parents are responsible to educate children in the ways of God. Schools should reinforce and supplement parental teaching rather than undermine it.

Col. 1:15-18 Col. 1:15-18
Christ is to be recognized as supreme in things. This includes educational institutions.

Deut. 6:6-9; Deut. 11:16-21
The godly education of a young person involves exposing them to God's truth as often as possible. This includes the six and half hours of the school day.

Luke 6:39-40; Phil. 4:9
Teachers are to be examples of godliness to students. This applies to both teachers in the church and in the schools. This would preclude teachers who hold un-Christian views on moral and spiritual issues from teaching Christian youth.

Luke 11:23
There is no "neutral" form of education in regards to spiritual truth. Education either nurtures spiritual maturity or hinders it.

1 John 4:1-6
Believers are to test the spiritual forces that operate in the world. Government education is just as "religious" as is Christian education. It just fails to acknowledge Jesus Christ as God.

The above scripture passages suggest that the application of the "salt and light" teaching to students is more appropriately applied to older, more mature students who have been trained to combat the lies of the secular culture. That is why successful missionary organizations train their missionary candidates in the language, culture and belief system of the people to whom they will be ministering before sending them abroad (the "hot house" approach).

The truth of the matter is that government schools are spiritually very dangerous places for Christian youth. For 30 hours a week, 36 weeks a year, students who attend government schools are being taught to think secularly even if they are fortunate enough to have a Christian teacher. This time does not even account for the exposure students get to secularization through television, movies, music and other media.

Sending young people into this culture each day to do battle with the entrenched, aggressive and determined forces of secularism is often a recipe for spiritual suicide. Numerous Christian researchers confirm this conclusion. The Barna Research Group reports that only 9 percent of born-again teens believe in moral absolutes, and more than half believe that Jesus sinned while He was on earth.

The Nehemiah Institute states that 83 percent of the children from committed Christian families in government schools adopt a secular humanist or Marxist socialist worldview. The Southern Baptist Council on Family Life reports that 88 percent of the children raised in evangelical homes leave church at age 18.

Barna also reports that the church is clearly losing the worldview battle. If this trend is to be reversed, Christian parents must search the scriptures and prayerfully re-examine the long term implications of sending their children to schools that tear down the belief system they are trying to instill.

What type of school should Christian parents choose? Home schooling or Christian schools are obvious answers. Both options are biblically sound when conducted biblically. Neither alone, however, is likely to reverse the trends cited with a "business as usual" approach.

We will need schools that have a strong emphasis on apologetics, and proactive methodologies and curriculum that emphasize Christian worldview formation at every grade level and in every academic discipline. Few schools of either type are structuring their educational programs to adequately achieve those ends.

Evangelistic Temple School is committed to assisting Christian parents by providing just that type of educational experience for their children. Our goal is to help educate young people so they truly can be "salt and light" in a lost and dying culture.