So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt?- A Modern Day Educational Lesson
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So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt?
A Modern Day Educational Lesson
When I was a child, Christian recording artist, Keith Green, sang a rather humorous, but also poignant, song entitled, “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt.”
It was based on the story of the Exodus in the Bible where Moses and the Israelites escaped from Pharaoh, crossed the Red Sea and wandered through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.
The problem was, it didn’t take long until the newly rescued slaves forgot how hard their life had been making bricks for the Egyptian government’s building projects and began to long for the past.
“Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (Numbers 11:4-6)
God had been taking care of them, and they had all their needs met. But rather than being grateful, they focused on what they didn’t have. I mean, leeks, garlic, melons and the like are nice, but they aren’t necessary to live. Such paltry government subsidies also aren’t worth exchanging your freedom for!
The Education Exodus
In 1852 in Massachusetts, a Unitarian God-hater named Horace Mann started compulsory attendance laws, and with them created the tax-funded, government school monstrosity we have today. By 1900, nearly every state in the U.S. had adopted laws that forced children to attend government-controlled schools.
In 1925, the Catholics won a supreme court decision that gave them an exemption from the government school monopoly (Pierce v. Society of Sisters). In 1972, the Amish won a similar case allowing them to also start their own parochial schools (Wisconsin v. Yoder).
In the 1970s, brave Protestant pastors around the country were handcuffed, arrested and had their church doors chained and padlocked because they were trying to teach academics in their church buildings during the week, rather than merely teaching Sunday school lessons on the weekends. State compulsory attendance laws made it impossible for such schools to exist.
Legal teams like Christian Law Association and Rutherford Institute began defending these church schools, and winning cases (based on the precedence of the Catholic and Amish rulings).
In 1983, the modern-day homeschooling movement began. Many parents were arrested and thrown in jail for teaching their own children at home! They risked having the courts remove their parental custody of their children, and have their children placed in foster homes. My own family began homeschooling in 1978 and was one of these early families who faced court because of home education. Twenty-six state homeschool organizations were formed, as well as the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).
By the mid-1990s, homeschooling was legal in every state in the U.S. Many brave parents headed out across an unfamiliar sea of doubt and uncertainty in the direction of what they believed was a promised land of educational freedom. They would have the ability to make the choices they believed were best for their child.
No more bullying, sexual abuse from school teachers and students, and school shootings. No more Common Core, underperforming academics, Marxist indoctrination, gender dysphoria, revisionist history, situational ethics and condoms handed out in school. No more one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter, assembly-line, institutional factory-model school approach.
Finally, the promised land of flexibility, choice of curriculum and tailoring the education around the child. Finally, the ability to teach to the interest of the child, to use outdoor education (rather than being tethered to a desk), and to spend time with one’s own child (rather than co-parenting with the government and having virtual strangers have more influence in a child’s life than the parents).
Longing for Egypt
Today, however, we find a generation of homeschoolers who don’t seem to remember what things were like in Pharaoh's schools. They have begun to think of things they may be “missing out on.” There are some leeks and onions of electives and extra-curricular options being offered by Pharaoh and his school system. There are even promises about being able to take core classes and being able to play on the Egyptian sports teams.
Rather than remembering the God who won the victories and set His people free, God’s people have begun to look to the government as their savior. Pharaoh is the one they think of to meet all of their needs. Rather than assuming that they can join together with God’s people to create new learning opportunities in the context of like-minded community, parents are heading back to Egypt in hopes of some handouts. Never mind that they will have to pay to make Pharaoh's bricks with their labor (and still gather their own straw), they want the familiarity and “security” even if it means returning to slavery. At least they’ll get a few cucumbers and melons out of the deal (rather than having to gather all the manna on their own).
Who is Our Hope and Deliverer?
5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.” Proverbs 3:5-7
5 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.’ 7’Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.’” (Jer. 17:5, 7).
7 “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.” (Ps. 20:7-8).
1 “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!” (Is. 31:1).
I want to encourage us to stop looking to the government as our source. Stop thinking we need Pharaoh and his school system. Remember, whatever the government pays for, it controls and regulates. We don’t need the government to raise our children. Parents successfully raised children for thousands of years before the invention of government schools. When we have a need, we need to pray. God can bring manna, quail, water from a rock, a cloud by day and fire by night. He can and will meet our needs. Let’s stop pining after the leeks and garlic of Egypt. There is far greater abundance in the promised land ahead! Keep moving forward and stop looking behind.
Israel Wayne is a homeschooled graduate and homeschooling father of eleven children (and one grandchild) who have all been raised in SW Michigan. He is an author and conference speaker and founder of www.FamilyRenewal.org He also volunteers as Vice President of MiCHN (www.MiCHN.org).
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