Part of the series Mostly Honest… Isn’t True
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2014-03-17.
Some of our parents have expressed a desire to better be able to identify the tricks being used to convince them to believe things that may not actually be true. This series will provide applicable examples of such.
We often refrain from being honest because we do not wish to offend those who need to hear the truth. Opinions expressed in this blog are intended to offend those who would advance anything, other than the truth, in order to benefit themselves.
Bible Reference: 1 Tim. 6:10
Before we begin, let us determine that secular programs do not advance biblical thinking or directives. It is therefore amazing how many “Christian” schools are advancing secular programming as acceptable, even desirable. Programming based on a belief that government has authority over parents in education cannot be properly advanced as scriptural and should have no place in Christian education. The first concern parents should have regarding a potential home education provider is whether or not they or their sponsoring school uses public curriculum or provides high school credits. If they do and you do not wish to be a compromiser, go elsewhere.
Most of the tricks and techniques used to capture parents can generally be described as advancing, as acceptable, a standard of secular ideas. Parents who have had most of their training through public programming will fail to see that this simply normalizes something that is wrong in the first place. Rather than train parents to replace their secular thinking with a biblical approach to training children, they present a variety of “offerings” that are mostly honest … but actually not true.
Being a dedicated, lifelong teacher has given me some interesting insights on what boards, schools, teachers and other education providers and personnel are willing to do, to increase that bottom line. I have a great number of examples that would probably require a book rather than a blog! From my Christian perspective, I find a number of tactics used to entice parents to join any particular agency to be questionable or even unethical. A great number of tricks are used towards achieving the goal of increasing the number of students and/or use of public programming. Let’s start with lies.
How about the offering of “definitive distinctions”! First of all, what does that mean? Especially since the entire list is neither defined nor distinctive! The old adage of baffling people with words, if you can’t dazzle them with wisdom, comes to mind. Be careful of empty words that sound good but say nothing.
It has come to my attention that one provider promised folks of a certain religious sect, that computers would not be used in the provision of services so as to not offend their understanding with respect to their use. I highly doubt that this provider would not use computers in this day and age. This is simply a lie to entice the ill-informed to sign on with them. Should we not be helping parents to train children for their future rather than the parent’s past? Be careful of simply being aided in your misunderstanding.
Another closely related offering is one that really defies logic. It is a question of giving parents what they want, even when we know that what they want is not in keeping with their faith. Few people are truly aware of the depth of secularism the public program eschews. If they did, they would refuse to even be associated with it. Rather than to equip the parents to adequately prepare their children for God’s kingdom, this provider enables them to look just like the world so they can compete in a world’s game. If this is not dubious enough, they then offer to make the public accreditation obtainable without actually using the public programming or resources. Fraud is typically defined as unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities, for which this offering provides a rather “credible” example! How does God view our longing for worldly accreditation without actually truly fulfilling it’s requirements? If something appears to be not fulfilling man’s or God’s requirements, it is probably a compromise which accomplishes nothing other than benefit the provider who was willing to help you do the compromising. To not equip is to tell a lie. Beware of trusting those who would be willing to cash in on your lack of understanding!