"Quality Christian Education or Public School?"
Most of us have heard the argument that private Christian education couldn't possibly be as good as public school education. Students have more opportunity in public school to take specialty classes, more opportunity to be involved in music and sports, more opportunity to be involved in extra curricular or community activities. Some areas of the country can argue this with more validity than others, but if that is the means of justifying why you should send your child to a public school instead of a private one, let me suggest some further thoughts for consideration.
Suppose you were sending your child into a bookstore to choose a good book (alone, and note most parents do not attend school with their child). Your options could be to send "Johnny" or "Suzy" into the largest bookstore in your city, or into a small Christian bookstore on the corner. Sure, Johnny or Suzy would have a much better selection of books and much more opportunity to get the newest or most popular or perhaps most highly esteemed books from the large bookstore, but what could your child encounter along the way? If you haven't been in a very large bookstore lately, I challenge you to go alone and browse the section titles. Your child could check out books on witchcraft, new age, mysticism, --and a host of other topics. That is not to mention horror and fiction sections that promote sex, violence, and the occult. Perhaps your child would not pick up any of the books or look at any of the pictures. Perhaps your child's natural curiosity is immune to such evils. And if not, would Johnny or Suzy tell you all the horrible things they saw on the book covers while looking for their own books? Probably not. And chances are that your child in a public school would also see things he or she will never tell you about.
Some people say Christian school parents are limiting their children. I would say we are just steering them around many opportunities they do not need. Christian school's extra-curricular activities and ability to offer a variety of classes is very much dependent upon parents. If you know a lot about carpentry or music --volunteer to teach it to others a couple of times a week. If you want a class to organize and hold community- involved activities, then volunteer ideas and help. If you think your academic quality is poor in the Christian school, then organize a group to compare what students are doing to what is happening in the public system. Your being involved is what your child needs, not necessarily more opportunities.