Who Says... We Need Accreditation?
Part of the series Who says...
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2015-04-06.
Government high school accreditation has no place in a Christian education.
Building on a foundation that God is, that He created the universe and that He ultimately is responsible for our children's being, should provide ample substance upon which to build our faith. This lengthy series will identify the secular thinking that has eroded that faith.
Bible Reference: 2 Tim 2:15
Accreditation has a few definitions but can generally be described as a process of giving official authorization or approval for someone or something to occupy a particular place or position. But who is the one who does the authorizing or approving? Scripture tells us that God does, but government disagrees. By assuming authority over parents in the training and teaching of children, the government takes it upon itself to authorize and approve people to function within the government's world. It is easy enough to understand how people can be made fearful of failing to meet government expectations since they seem to hold all the cards, but if you take a closer look at the cards and you will discover that they are mostly jokers!
If government can convince us that it has the authority, it can convince us that we will not be successful outside of its claimed jurisdiction. Those of us who understand that God has never changed his mind about who is responsible for the training and teaching of children, will have no problem trusting God to direct our children in their future. However, when the institutional church generally supports the government in their claim as authorities in education, to the point of creating public schools that are "Christian" in name only, parents can be deceived into accepting what their "spiritual leaders" normalize as right and good.
If accreditation and approval is the Lord's domain, our seeking approval of the state is to claim that the state or government is Lord. One would wonder how any organization claiming even a superficial faith in God could ever offer state programming. The answer is very simple. Money! If there was no money attached to the delivery of public programming, most "Christian" schools and home education providers would cease to offer the government programming and likely also, cease to exist. In the meantime, nearly every organization claiming to have the Christian parent and student's best interest will either take advantage of the near universal ignorance or redirect those who question the authority of government back to the public programming because it pays bigger money in one way or another.
Parents are not without excuse in this matter. How many parents, who have started their home education program with their children from the start, end up losing their resolve to see the job properly completed in keeping with the directive of God and sound reason? Many, because most people have far more faith in what they can see and understand, such as government accreditation, than in a God they cannot see or fully understand. It is the same choice that was given in the Garden of Eden and unfortunately we seem to have not learned much from that mistake.
If government was capable of creating children, real children, they may have some claim on having the authority to accredit and approve based on a their ill-defined standards. But, since parents are the only ones who have the God-given ability to create children, it is they who have the responsibility and authority to train and teach their children and to trust that the creator has already accredited and approved the student in keeping with what He has created.
Who says we need accreditation? Parents who are fearful in their ignorance and school boards willing to cash in on it. Education Unlimited has never awarded a government credit and does not know of a student who has been truly handicapped through this approach. Somehow God always seems to "show up" when we trust Him! Indeed, there is a place for government to accredit and approve, but not at a "high school" level.