Dr. Duke Pesta
Host of Dr. Duke Show at Freedom Project
America spends more money and time on the education of children than any country in the world. But what results have we seen from the massive spending? Why is there so much bureaucracy? Are we truly educating children and preparing them for the future or is our system producing children who really don’t know logic, reason, and critical thinking?
Some people are convinced the current system is set up to produce “widgets” who fit into the global plan of humanism.
What are the alternatives available to parents who are concerned with the direction of government schools? Dr. Duke Pesta of Freedom Project Academy joins us this morning.
Dr. Pesta’s last interview on Stand Up: The Literal Dumbing Down of Public Education
ARTICLES:
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Common Core and Eroding Education
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A “Common Core” for a Global Community
Photo by Jack Moreh courtesy of and copyright Free Range Stock.
Karen,
Why must you imply that I made arguments I certainly did not make? Yes, I certainly believe it to be sinful to send children to public schools in which pretty much everything they are taught goes against God's Word.
I did not say that homeschooling is the only right way. What I did say is allowing our children to be heavily indoctrinated with evil agendas is definitely wrong. There are other alternatives to public school.
I also did not say or imply that all homeschools honor God. I simply said that parents have an obligation to give their children an education and upbringing that does honor God. It makes no difference if every homeschool family goes against God's Word. I still have an obligation to give my kids a proper upbringing and so does every other follower of Christ.
Moreover, the false doctrines and unbiblical Christian practices are alive and well among the Christian community. However, this topic has absolutely nothing to do with this conversation. I am fully aware of dominion theology, false signs and wonders, the New Age, blah blah blah. I write and blog about this topic. It makes no sense that you keep going on about this stuff to refute the claim that children deserve a better education than public school. I would argue that parents have an obligation to teach their children proper theology and worship.
Also, yes there are guarantees in life. Proverbs 22:6 states, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (KJV). To say this is not a guarantee is to call the Lord a liar.
You keep giving examples of not glorifying the Lord to refute the fact that people should.
It's interesting how it is implied that I am self-righteous, arrogant, and prideful simply for stating that it is sinful to allow the ungodly government to take it upon itself to raise our children. I have wasted enough time on this conversation. But, it is not self-righteous, arrogant, or prideful to call sin sin.
Hello Dawn,
I am sorry, very sorry. You insinuate that those of us parents, born again parents in the Spirit of our LORD, have sinned for sending our children to the public school systems. I have attended churched with parents like you in our midst and the scene painted by homeschooling parents is one of self righteousness, condemnation, criticism, and just plain evil at times. If bringing up our children in the ways of our LORD, means only homeschooling, then all of the child and spousal abuse, sexual depravity, pornography, lying and slandering, rivalry, political activism (Jesus was a Republican), adultery, lovers of self, fornicating, etc., that I was witnessed within the homeschooling community is simply an illusion.
No, Dawn, homeschooling does not guarantee raising a non Marxist, a non sexual deviant, a non sinner….no, many parents can send their children to the public school system and still honor our LORD Jesus, the Christ and raise healthy, Biblical worldview children. We did, and others in our community do as well. Most of our churches are filled with dominionist theology which is wicked to the core, also, I would like to point out that many of our young people have attended the local Baptist college down the road. The parents of these individuals reek with pride, arrogance, and the Nicolaitan attitude (lording and looking down on the rest of us), however, several of these young people have visited my home. In discussing one of the points of their curriculum, these young people get very defensive when I share that evolution is a lie from the evil one, for our LORD did create the earth in six literal days as defined by the Word. These young people, and there have been many, share that their 'professors' have taught them that our Bibles say that a 'day is as a thousand years' so our LORD could have created the earth and everything in it, in a period of a thousand years.
Example number two, these 'educated' young people have also brought back from their private Baptist college down the road, mysticism….."god is speaking to my syndrome," receiving revelations that are NOT found in the Word of God. According to these young people, signs and wonders/experiences are more important than the Word of God, so in effect, our Bibles are becoming more and more irrelevant to them. It is a shame and a sham, for the parents (many of them homeschooling parents) have spent a fortune sending their children to a private college to receive an unbiblical worldview.
There are no guarantees in this life, except for one, believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and be saved. Follow Him, serve Him, and honor Him with every fiber of our being for He created us in the first place. I have lived long enough and have grown in my faith in Christ (still maturing by the way until He chooses to bring me to His Home) to know that there is no eternal security here on this earth apart from our LORD, Master, and Savior.
I will say this one more time: my point is simply that it is the responsibility of parents to raise their children up according to Scripture, which means keeping them out of public schools. Whether or not all homeschool situations glorify God or whether or not all curriculum glorifies God is completely and utterly irrelevant to this argument. Even if almost all homeschool families fail to glorify God or if almost all curriculum is insulting to God, Christian parents still have an obligation to properly bring their children up in the ways of the Lord. It would be stupid of any parent to decide against homeschooling because "sexual sins/pornography/child abuse are equally as high within the homeschooling community". You make a preposterous argument against homeschooling.
Also, I cannot imagine a single person making the argument that all homeschools glorify God. The argument in which I made is simply this: IT IS A PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE PROPER EDUCATION! IT IS FOOLISH TO ALLOW THE GODLESS (EVIL MAY BE A BETTER WORD) GOVERNMENT TO TAKE THIS RESPONSIBILITY UPON ITSELF.
Yes, Karen, people homeschool for all sorts of reason. Secular people homeschool. People whose children have disabilities homeschool. Homeschooling is growing among Muslims as well. I have the utmost respect for anyone who takes it upon themselves to give their children the best education possible according to their personal values. This more than I can say for a very large portion of the Christian community, who have a great responsibility to ensure their children are brought up in the ways of the Lord.
Dawn,
Wickedness and evil are not immune to the homeschooling parents as well as the homeschooling system as a whole. The lives of the homeschooled families in our area look exactly like the ones they label as pagan and hedonistic, for there is no difference. And the sexual sins/pornography/child abuse are equally as high within the homeschooling community as they are in our 'pagan' public school systems. When I point out the double standards brought forth by these homeschooling parents, their comeback is this, "you are persecuting us."
No, Pointing out the sins/unbiblical methods of the homeschooling community is not persecution, it is speaking truth in love. There have been several instances in our community where pornography/nudity/sexual impropriety has been initiated by homeschooled students within our church, not the public schooled children. So we must be very careful in how we approach education from a Biblical perspective. Our homeschooling parent boldly stated at one of our church meetings, "It takes a village to raise a child."
So I personally, witness no difference in the heart of the homeschooled student as I do in the heart of the average public schooled student. And the wicked sin of "pride" is perhaps more apparent in the hearts and minds of homeschooling parents than those who choose public education. Humility is NOT a godly characteristic that I see in the homeschooling community. Sorry, just sayin……
Regarding the concept education; we must always be on guard and stand firm in our faith in Jesus, the Christ. Our family chose the public school venue to educate with some replacement homeschooling courses to supplement the public school cirriculums that we believed violated our faith and trust in Christ. With that said, not all homeschooling materials abide by the Word of God, so we must be careful in the content of our instruction. Many of the homeschooling materials are ripe with the dominionist heresies, or the lying signs and wonders heresies, or the health, wealth and prosperity lies, or the new age promotions of yoga, transcendental meditation (contemplative prayer), or extra Biblical revelation lies. So when I choose to condemn the public school systems, which provide an easy target for those who profess Christ and Him crucified, I must also look into my own home and be very careful, discerning the materials from homeschooling sources for they are not God's perfect source of materials either.
There is only one good and godly source in which to teach our children, The Bible, with the Helper, Who is God, the Holy Spirit, Who in fact, according to The Word, always points our souls to Jesus, the Christ. There are believers in Christ all areas of education, likewise there are wicked and evil people involved in both forms of education, so for me to say that all homeschooled families are exempt from wickedness and evil would be a lie.
Karen, you are certainly correct that there is a great deal of dangerous homeschool curriculum. I can't imagine that any homeschool parent would argue that point.
Regardless of how necessary anyone believes public schools are, Christian parents will not be excused of their responsibility to ensure that their children are not trained up in a heathenistic system. Public school are paving the road to hell for our children. Public schools are not the same as the schools our parents and grandparents attended. The excuses for taking advantage of the convenience of public education are endless, but it all boils down to how high of a priority do we place on our children's proper upbringing, If ALL Christian parents would ensure that children were properly trained in the ways of the Lord at home, at church, and through their education, this country could escape it's current condition.
How can Christians (if in fact the commenters claim to be Christian at all) justify such evil as necessary? And yes, indoctrinating children into communism, homosexuality, evolution, and other anti-Chrisitan thinking is evil!!!! Also, purposely dumbing down and killing the creativity of children is child abuse of the worse kind.
Public education is necessary because it is open and available to all children doesn't matter what race, religion, or disability you are the public schools are more available to all children. Public schools are also important because childrens academic achievement is tracked from when they start in the public school, Private, charter, homeschooling,
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Public Education is very necessary. Very few people can afford to send their children to private schools. And no, I don't think this is a "mundane" financial reason, especially when referring to the grand majority of the American (actually, the World) population.
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Thank you for this great program today.
It angers me that people who call themselves Christian allow the reprobate minds of the American education system educate their young impressionable children. Of course, people have many excuses for sending their children to public schools. Some even have legitimate obstacles making it difficult to provide their children with a quality education free of indoctrination. It certainly isn't easy for my husband and I to sacrifice my income so that I can stay home to educate our children. In fact, my husband currently brings home less than $500 a week. We use our income tax return each year to pay for our curriculum and supplies for the next year. Let me tell you, what we do is challenging. But, it is more rewarding than it is challenging and we believe wholeheartedly that our situation will improve as we do what is right before the Lord. As Christians all that should mater is obedience to God. We know from Scripture that God's plan is for parents to train up their children, not the government. Please know that I am not condemning private education. I know that homeschooling is not for everyone.
As parents, our children are our highest calling. We must understand that our children are in danger of eternal damnation if they buy into the lies being shoved down their throat in public schools. Moreover, there is great hope for this country if ALL Christian parents would do their duty and ensure that their children are educated properly in the ways of the Lord. On the other hand, there is little hope for this country if the very large majority of children are trained to think as the government programs them to. Make no mistake parents will be held accountable. The fault lies much less with the government than it does with the parents.