I'm Edumacated

Dear Joel,

There's an episode of The West Wing in which Sam Seaborn says, "Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense."

I like Sam, so I want to forget for a moment that he's kind of a moron in this case. I also want to forget that he somehow thinks national defense is "free" to American citizens. As though the almighty government just has money that has graciously rained down upon it by the benevolent God (who, by the way, you're not allowed to talk about at those schools Sam loves so much) of Liberalism. I want to briefly turn off my BS meter, which flashes brightly and boldly every time someone in politics talks about Americans receiving something for free (and though you may think BS stands for bull sh*t, it could, in this case, just as easily stand for Bernie Sanders).

So, forgetting all of that, let's talk about education, because you asked me when I'm going to move to a part of the state that has a classical Christian school.

I have to start by saying I don't think there is a single "correct" way for Christians to educate their children. There are public schools, private schools, private Christian schools, classical Christian schools, homeschooling, and probably other options I don't even know about. Every community is different. Every school is different. Every kid is different. I have no interest in telling anyone that the "only way" to raise up a Godly child is to enroll them in a certain kind of school. I believe that, primarily, because I know Godly men and women from a wide sampling of educational backgrounds. To me, it's much more important to raise your child in a Godly household than it is to bicker about the right kind of school.

I should also say that my only kid is still four months away from being born, so I have no expertise or experience with raising kids, and I also have several years before my wife and I need to make educational decisions.

I said early on that I wanted to talk about education, but my disclaimers have filled up so much space that I feel like I can only summarize my thoughts now with a few sentences. So here they are:

I'm very interested in classical Christian education, and with my limited research and understanding of the options, that might be the one I would vote for if I had to choose today. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, we don't have one here in Ames, and I don't know if I'd be able to move somewhere else with that as the primary reason. I also really like the idea of homeschooling, except I'd be jealous if Elizabeth was the one who got to teach our kids. The only alternative, though, would be for me to quit my job so I could homeschool our kids, and Elizabeth would have to bring in all our family's income. My current preferences for Christian or homeschool education primarily come from the cynicism I have about government-run schools. As I said above, I don't think it's a make-or-break issue. I probably have (or will have) nieces and/or nephews who attend public schools, and I fully support my siblings' discernment in how they choose to educate. If my kid was turning 6 this year, though, and I had to make a decision about her education, I still wouldn't answer hypotheticals.

And you thought you were gonna get an answer out of me.

Do you have a standing poker night with friends every month or every quarter? Do you have a card club? Other than your connection group (or whatever your church calls them), do you have any regularly occurring hang-out nights with friends?