Written by Alyssa Sonnenburg

In a recent episode of her podcast Relatable, Allie Beth Stuckey discussed a Christianity Today article written by Stefani McDade entitled “Public School Can Be a Training Ground for Faith.”

In this article, McDade promotes the idea of Christian parents sending their children to public schools because

“…studies show there are more important elements for building and safeguarding our kids’ faith than the school they attend. As I’ve previously reported for CT, research suggests that taking children to church regularly matters more than finding the ‘right’ school.”

In addition to this, McDade asserts,

“Another major consideration is that I would rather most of my child’s first close encounters of the worldly kind happen while she’s still under my roof, not after she leaves home.”

Allie, in stark disagreement with Stefani McDade’s position, emphasizes the fragility of young children’s minds, the importance of promoting spiritual education in your child’s life, and the danger of assuming children are capable of critically thinking through worldly ideologies.

“Really, what you’re saying is that you want to put your child on the front line of the battle before they are even big enough to hold up their shield,” she says.

This is an important episode for parents to listen to.