Who is to Blame for the Sandy Hook Massacre?
It was nearly two years ago that the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took place. Precious young lives were snuffed out by a man whose heart was evil and deranged. May God spare us another such tragedy and show us mercy.
The Governor in the aftermath appointed a 16-member Advisory Commission to study the incident and present recommendations for improving security procedures. After nearly two years, that panel has finally produced a report. And one of their primary recommendations is that Connecticut needs to crack down on homeschoolers!
Yes, you heard me correctly. Now granted, the killer, Adam Lanza, was pulled out of public schools briefly as a teenager by his mom. But, that was done only upon the recommendation of his own psychologist! One of the Commission's members, Harold Schuwatz, said, "The facts leading up to this incident support the notion that there is a risk in not addressing the social and emotional learning needs of homeschooled children."
And the sigh coming from all us homeschoolers across this great nation is very, very audible at this time. Really? I mean, really? We're expected to take this commission's report seriously? One temporarily homeschooled teen commits a crime and so now every homeschooling parent in Connecticut is suspect? Is this what it's come to? And of course, the commission pulled the ole "socialization" card.
Well, I cannot speak for other homeschoolers, but socialization is one of the many reasons we do educate our own children! The socialization I received from the state-run educational system back in the 80s did me a world of ill. I'm sure it has denigrated in the last 30 years, since the Bible says "Evil men will go from bad to worse."
But I digress. The real issue here is not to compare homeschools to public schools. I know amazing godly families and children in both systems, and I know Christ-exalting teachers in both systems too. The real issue is Statism. Big Brother is taking massive chomps out of all of us now, dear Americans. Whether or not a parent educates children at home, or in private schools, or in public schools, or any combo of these, is a right that must be reserved to parents. It's part of actually parenting the child. The Bible supports parental rights big time and indeed thrusts the responsibility for teaching and instructing and raising and disciplining squarely on parental shoulders. God did not command King David to appoint an educational committee to ensure all Israel's children were being taught. God simply told parents to do that in Israel (Deut 6; Psalm 78). Ditto for New Testament believers (Ephesians 6:1-4).
So, freedom loving Americans of all educational stripes should be very concerned about such a development in Connecticut. If parents can truly no longer be trusted to raise children, then do we seriously think the government can do the job any better? If we allow such invasions and assaults on basic rights to continue, we dare not think we all will not eventually be living under full tyranny. The State now desperately wants to be God, it seems. And that never goes well.
Don't take my word for it. Ask Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4).
by Keith McWhorter