Just as many families fled urban living for the suburbs and rural areas of America during COVID, so too are parents, students and teachers fleeing some corners of public education that have become a wasteland.
The beneficiaries of parents pulling their children out of public institutions? Christian and Catholic schools across the country, that are reporting increases in enrollment.
In an interview with “Fox and Friends First,” Rev. Jadyn Nelson, president of Bishop Ryan Catholic School, and parent Perry Olsen, shared why parents are leaving public schools in search of an education system that matches their value system.
“This year we are up 6% overall, and we’ve been seeing year-over-year gains around 5% for the last five years,” Nelson explained. “Sixty-seven new families for a small school like ours is good interest in what we’re doing here.”
Rev. Nelson explained that for many of the parents that he has interacted with, it is the shared values they have with the school their children will be attending:
“I think the biggest thing is that when people look at what they want for their children in terms of an educational environment, they think of providing such an environment that corresponds to their own values, and what they want to communicate to their kids in their home,” he explained.
It is not just families that are quitting the failing public school system in America, teachers are leaving in droves as well. Compound that with the fact that there are not enough teachers coming into the workforce to offset the amount leaving, and you have the widespread teacher shortage that is affecting the entire nation.
Darla Romfo, president of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, explained in an email the virus that is ‘woke-ism’ polluting the classrooms today:
“When more than half of students can’t even read proficiently and the pandemic only exacerbated this learning loss, especially for our most vulnerable students, why do schools insist on diverting time and resources into non-academic, controversial subjects that are confusing at best and don’t align with many family’s values? Parents are tired of it and rightly so. And my advice is if your school doesn’t respond to your concerns, find another school that will. There are no do-overs when it comes to your child’s education.”
For Christians, being told by public school boards and unelected bureaucrats how to raise their children is strikingly anti-biblical. Here is a small list of what the Bible covers with child rearing:
- Proverbs 22:6
- Ephesians 6:4
- Proverbs 29:15
- Deuteronomy 6:7
Furthermore, these texts are not suggestions from God, but commands on how to raise godly and righteous children. For some, it will be a difficult journey to pull their children from public schools and put them on a values and knowledge-oriented course. But if parents seek the Lord and feel that is the direction they should take for their child, then the Lord will most assuredly provide for their needs. {eoa}
James Lasher is a Copy Editor for Charisma Media.
