Illegal Schools

I am attempting to establish that the choice to use public schools is not really financial as most believe. It is a lifestyle choice.


Many Constitutional Lawyers believe that the tenth amendment to the Constitution expressly forbids Federal involvement in education. This amendment says that anything not mentioned in the Constitution is not allowed to the Federal government. Education was discussed at the Constitutional Convention and the delegates decided it was too religious to allow government to have a hand in it. Education was one of the main reasons for the tenth amendment. The fourteenth amendment would disallow states from being involved in education, too.


So let’s pretend that the Supreme Court gets some exotic fever and decides to actually uphold the Constitution. They declare all tax-payer funded education illegal and demand all Public schools will close their doors permanently on June 30, 2009.


What would happen to your children?


Now, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that if you are an employee of the public school system you are offered an equal paying job in the private sector. After all, there would be a sharp rise in demand for private schools. So you are not really affected.


But what about your children?


If you give this some thought and can honestly look me in the eye and tell me you would have no choice but to let your children run the streets, then I am not talking to you. You are in my prayers.


But for the other 99% of you out there, the fact is you would find some way to provide your child with an education. You would sell you car payment so you could pay tuition at a private school (an average of $300 per month for ten months per year or $250 per month for twelve months. Less than most car payments). Or you might down grade your housing so one parent could stay home and homeschool. You might move granny in to babysit and enroll your child in an online school (roughly $1500 per year or $150 per month). The average parent in America would grumble and complain but find some way to educate their children.


This causes me to ask the question:


Why can’t you do it now?


The answer simply is that you don’t think it is as important as what you are spending your money and/or time on now. You don’t think your children need a Christian education. Or you don’t really think the schools are THAT bad. Or you have some idea that your children are being witnesses at school. Or you think they are better off in a rich house in a fancy neighborhood but in government school than they would be in a poorer neighborhood with a Christian education. The painful truth is that the odds are that you are choosing your standard of living above giving your child a biblical education.


Now, just ‘cause you CAN do a thing doesn’t mean you SHOULD do that thing. After acknowledging that you really do have choices, the next step is to decide what the best choice is.