Neutrality in Education (with Keltis Hall)

🎙Principles in Practice Homeschool Podcast. Join us for Episode 35: Neutrality in Education. This takes about 15 minutes of your time.

Join us as special guest Keltis Hall discusses the idea of neutrality in education. Keltis is a Biblical Classical Approach homeschool graduate, a certified Principle Approach®(1) Master Teacher and curriculum creator through the Foundation for American Christian Education, and she is entering her Junior year of college at Bradford Christian College. She is earning her degree in Christian Education with a focus on The Principle Approach® philosophy and method.

Transcript Teaser

I know that some individuals prefer to read vs. listen to a podcast, but transcripts can be rather lengthy for an article. With this in mind, here is a little bit of a transcript for those who prefer to read. Please do take a listen to the whole podcast though.

Neutrality in Education Introduction

Heather: Greetings Everyone. Welcome to this episode of the Principles in Practice Homeschool Podcast. Today with me I have a guest. Our daughter Keltis Hall is joining me again for an episode. And, we’re going to be talking about neutrality in education. Well, Keltis, welcome back to the show.

Keltis: Well thank you for having me.

Heather: Keltis is recovering from her second year of college.

Keltis: Yes.

Heather: So, she’s at the beginning of her summer break and is busy with working full-time.

Keltis: Yeah.

Heather: Okay, so Keltis, tell us about some of classes you’ve been taking in college this year through Bradford Christian College.

Keltis: Well, a lot of the courses that I’ve been taking over the past year have been focusing on what makes education Christian. And, uh, the various components of Christian education.

Heather: So, Keltis, if I remember correctly you had three classes this past year where you were learning more about education.

Keltis: Yes.

Is There Neutrality in Education?

Heather: So, my first question for you: Is education neutral according to Scripture? Why or why not?

Keltis: The first thing that a lot of my texts talked about was whether there was such a thing as ‘neutrality’ in general. And, I think it’s important for us to first understand what being neutral is. According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, neutral is defined as not being engaged on either side. Or, being indifferent. Not having any bias in favor of either side or party. And, this whole idea of ‘neutrality’ has infiltrated our school system.

When looking at Scripture, we see in Matthew 12:30 that Christ said: “He who is not with me is against me.” And, a lot of the authors that I read or listened to talked about how there is not such thing as neutrality—whether it’s in education or anywhere else. Because, we can either be for God or against God—there is no middle ground. And so, we can’t have this in between space where we are not honoring God. There is no place where we can be in between. So, Scripture makes it clear that there is no neutral position that we can take.

What Would You Say to Christians Teaching in the Government Schools?

Heather: So, from what you’ve been reading, what would you say to individuals who are Christian who are there in the gov’t schools to teach? And they are there to pray for the students, to try to help intervene for the students in some ways? In their thinking, they are not against God . . . they’re on the battle ground—the forefront to try and be there to influence the students with their exhibiting Christ-like character. So, what would you say to them when it comes to there being in a gov’t school as a teacher—with those intentions—but, they’re still teaching subjects in the gov’t schools that the gov’t lays out for them to instruct the students on?

[End transcript teaser]

***

Listen to the podcast to learn more about the question of neutrality in education.

Footnote ¹: The Principle Approach® is a registered trademark of the Foundation for American Christian Education.