Who's Accountable For Your Child?

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. -Ephesians 6:4

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. -Deuteronomy 11:18-21

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. -Proverbs 22:6

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The primary buzzword in today's educational landscape is accountability. The federal government speaks of holding schools accountable for student achievement. School districts hold building administration accountable for measurable results, and school Principal's in turn pressure classroom teachers to work harder and longer to increase student assessment scores. But somewhere in the struggle for accountability in education the truth of God's word has been lost.

It seems to be self evident when you read scripture as to God's intentions for the education of a child however for some reason, in today's society, those intentions have either been forgotten or intentionally ignored.

No matter what the public education bureaucracy will tell you, the inherent accountability in the education of a child lies with the parents of that child, not the state. Consider this: A student, entering second grade and will spend approximately 1116 hours during an average school year in the custodial care of a school. Over 13 educational years, the child will have spent 14,508 hours in a school setting as a minimum requirement. When that child leaves the classroom for the last time most, if not all, teachers will fail to remember the child's name.

Conversely, the lack of a quality education or consequences of negative social indoctrination can effect a parent child relationship for the rest of their lives. After all, it will be the child that will make the decisions for an elderly parent when they can no longer make decisions for themselves. If that is not inherent accountablility, I don't know a better example.

The truth is that I am not against public education. What I am against is parents that will blindly give away the responsability of their child's education to an institution that does not promote their family values. It is appauling to think that parents are satisfied to drop their children off every morning at the doors of a school (any school) and then be satisfied with a brief conference twice a year. For the benefit of the long term viability of our country and society parents need to take back the accountablility of educating their children. They need to regularily ask questions of their school and check for regular progress. It is fool hardy to think that a public institution with a history of forwarding a humanist agenda will offer trustworthy values. And least we think that schools are only educational environments devoid of social steering, my experience shows me that such a school does not exist. So the question must be asked by an accountable parent, "What social philosophies are my children learning." When you find the answer to this question you will be able to make an informed desision as to your child's educational needs.

It is for this social reason that many people have chosen to join the Bethel Life School family. We offer a trustworthy Chritian environment where your children are taught according to a belief system that closely matches your own. Our ministry is not only to your child but to your whole family. That is why you will read so often a reference to family in our promotional literature. We believe that it is only by a strong home and school relationship that we can successfully educate your child. Add to that our strong academic traditions and safer more positive school environment and it easy to see why our assessment scores are amoung the highest in the community.

Yeah I am proud...you should be too.