Parents and Education: Practical and Biblical

The Ladue-Frontenac community is engaged in significant discussion regarding our educational system. Proposition 1 has garnered many voices of support as well as voices crying foul. That debate is a significant one, yet it is also a reminder of a more important factor for sound education than money - namely, parental involvement.

Many studies have demonstrated the critical factor which parental involvement plays in a child's educational maturation. When parents are absent or when they choose not to engage in the child's education, the likelihood of a child attaining high levels in education is greatly reduced. There are certainly exceptions to the rule, but the rule is obvious - as the parent goes, so goes the child. From reading to an infant and toddler to listening to the growing child read to helping a grade-school child with homework to enforcing rules for homework with a middle school student to discussing school projects with a high school student, parents are critical in the child's maturation.

The Biblical faith teaches the same. Scripture is replete with admonitions to teach the faith to the next generation. Those admonitions are directed at parents. A classic example is found in Deuteronomy 6 where parents are told to be busy teaching at all times - "when you sit in your house, when you walk on the way, when you lie down, when you rise." The sixteenth century reformer Martin Luther reiterated this Biblical principle in his Small Catechism repeatedly putting the emphasis upon parents in education, stating: "As the head of the household ought to teach the family."

As a pastor, I invest time and energy in the education of young and old. The more I do so, I note the importance of equipping parents that they might be teaching the faith to their children. Thus, I am reminded of the importance of being engaged in the education of my children. My two oldest are well served within the Ladue school system. That investment will be maximized when I am all the more engaged in their educational maturation. Should I fail to engage with my children educationally, the investment of their teachers will be stunted.

Parents are the number one influence upon children. That includes their education. Let's maximize the opportunity to mold them, even in the faith we profess.