Should Christians Take Their Kids Out of Public Schools?

An evangelical Christian organization the Exodus Mandate is urging believers to pull their kids out of public school. Lt. Col. E. Ray Moore, founder of the Exodus Mandate, says that students left in school will soon be “indoctrinated” by leftist Common Core ideology.

“I describe the education of children in America (as) kind of like a prison,” says Moore. “We’re all in a prison. But this is a unique prison. The doors are wide open and they’re not locked. And people can get up and walk out of that prison anytime they want.”

Moore released a documentary this year titled Escaping Common Core: Setting Our Children Free, which he wrote the script for and produced. He says he hopes the documentary will convince Christians to abandon the public schools and return to a biblical model of homeschooling or Christian education.

“Sound theology teaches that the education of Christian children belongs to the family with assistance from the church, not the government,” says Moore. “So we don’t think under any circumstances Christians should have their children in godless pagan schools, which is what they’ve totally become.”

Though Moore opposes public schools, he believes Common Core has made the situation even worse. Moore says he believes that, through this new set of standards, the elite are “intentionally dumbing down” the masses.

“Very bright kids are going to be able to go to elite schools, but the average population will be less and less able to function academically,” says Moore. “The kids will not understand the great literature (or) the great books. They may not be able to do basic computation.”

Furthermore, he says this indoctrination will limit opportunities for the next generation: “They’re going to use this method to affect employment, so you won’t be able to advance in employment unless you’ve been indoctrinated in their model. You won’t be able to advance to university unless you’ve been indoctrinated in their model. So they’re going to use it to control the population and create a bunch of ‘sheeple’ and herd them around. That way they control the culture and then they can put in the New World Order … because people will be too dumbed down to be able to oppose it. So this is their plan. And it’s pretty easy to show it, and that’s what we do in the movie.”

A spokeswoman for the Council of Chief State School Officers contradicted Moore’s claim regarding curriculum.

“States led the development of the standards to ensure that every state in the nation has high academic standards to prepare students for college and careers,” said the spokeswoman. “The Common Core State Standards are standards in English, language arts and mathematics. Standards are guidelines for what each child should know and be able to do by the end of each grade level. Standards do not determine the curriculum, or the lessons or specific tools teachers should use to help students reach the standards. Those decisions are left up to local school boards and educators at the local level.”

Christians will need to exercise discretion when determining where they stand on this issue. Reviewing the standards for themselves could be a good place to start. More information about Common Core, including changes to existing curriculum, frequently asked questions and common myths, are available at this website.

For more information about the Exodus Mandate and Escaping Common Core, visit the official website. The film is now available on DVD.