New Scientist doesn't like home-schooling

Guest blog – Dr. Georgia Purdom, AiG speaker and researcher

In a recent article in New Scientist, homeschooling is cast in a disdainful light. The author is obviously deeply concerned about the impact homeschooled children will have on society in the future. Below are a few quotes from the article.

These students are part of a large, well-organised movement that is empowering parents to teach their children creationist biology and other unorthodox versions of science at home, all centred [sic] on the idea that God created Earth in six days about 6000 years ago. (emphasis mine)

New Scientist investigated how home-schooling, with its considerable legal support, is quietly transforming the landscape of science education in the US, subverting and possibly threatening the public school system that has fought hard against imposing a Christian viewpoint on science teaching. (emphasis mine)

For these parents, religious instruction and science are often intertwined. This bothers Brian Alters of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, who studies the changing face of science education in the US. He is appalled by some home-schooling textbooks, especially those on biology that claim they have scientific reasons for rejecting evolution. “They have gross scientific inaccuracies in them,” he says. (emphasis mine)

By 2004, PHC [Patrick Henry College] students held seven out of 100 internships in the White House, a number even more striking when one considers that only 240 students were enrolled in the entire college. Last year, two PHC graduates worked in the White House, six worked for members of Congress and eight for federal agencies, including two for the FBI. “Patrick Henry is something to worry about because these kids end up in the administration,” says Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California, which campaigns against the teaching of creationism as science. (emphasis mine)

At the end of the article, there is a section entitled “Book learnin’.” Obviously the “g” is left off of the word learning in a direct attempt to make those who homeschool seem ignorant and backwards. Dr. Jason Lisle’s book Taking Back Astronomy is highlighted as a book used by homeschools with some “unbelievable” ideas (at least to the author) about how to explain distant starlight in a young universe.

Why are the author and so many others concerned about children learning that the Bible is true when it touches on topics such as astronomy, biology, and geology? Many people have built their lives on the evolutionary foundation of millions of years of death, disease, and suffering to bring about all that we see. In their minds, we are nothing more than highly evolved animals, so morality is relative and truth is whatever works best for each individual. In our society, if the Bible is replaced as the foundation for morality, then everyone is responsible to the Creator God, and there is only one truth found in God. The prospect of the existence of heaven and hell become much more real, and many are afraid they are headed straight for hell (and rightfully so!). The good news is that Jesus has provided salvation for all who ask forgiveness and believe and assures them a spot in heaven. Don’t be discouraged homeschool moms, dads, and students, keep fighting the good fight! (2 Timothy 4:7).

Thanks for praying for AiG

Georgia