{"id":2131,"date":"2012-04-10T14:30:17","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T18:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thinplaces\/?p=2131"},"modified":"2012-04-09T20:31:55","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T00:31:55","slug":"learning-to-choose-from-private-christian-school-to-public-by-margaret-philbrick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thinplaces\/2012\/04\/learning-to-choose-from-private-christian-school-to-public-by-margaret-philbrick\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Choose: From Private Christian School to Public by Margaret Philbrick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Margaret Philbrick's three children<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After nine years in a private Christian grammar school our son stepped into his freshman year at the local public high school with 600 people he didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 Almost every student in his graduating class of 80 went on to attend the private Christian high school.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to be like everyone else.<\/p>\n

We evaluated both schools prior to making our decision.\u00a0 The primary reason why he determined he would be happier in the public school was diversity.\u00a0 He was grateful for his Christian education, but he felt like he had grown up in a bubble, everyone looked and acted the same.\u00a0 Popping the bubble in ninth grade seemed to be as good a time as any because as parents we liked the idea of him being exposed to the challenges of a big school while still under our own roof.\u00a0 We could talk to him about the drinking parties, the inappropriate \u201cgrinding\u201d at school dances, the \u201cliberal\u201d ideas of some of his teachers which didn\u2019t line up with our Christian worldview.\u00a0 Thought provoking dinner table conversations ensued.\u00a0 These situations forced him to take a stand for what he believed in and behave accordingly.<\/p>\n

He ran Cross Country freshman year and went on to run Cross Country and Track all four years making it to the state competition for both sports his Junior and Senior year.\u00a0 This opportunity would not have been available to him at the much smaller Christian school. \u00a0His coach and several of his friends were Christians and proved to be an immense blessing to all of us. The economic and ethnic diversity he longed for was very much a part of the team and he grew to love many of these students who would not have been able to attend the private Christian high school due to unaffordable tuition costs.<\/p>\n

At graduation he was awarded a scholarship in honor of his loyalty to friends, academic achievement and competitiveness.\u00a0 Each of these qualities grew in our son because we chose the public school, but more importantly, his ability to perceive right from wrong and make the right choice blossomed in the public school environment.<\/p>\n

He went on to study at Indiana University and as we wandered through the early morning drunken morass of the phenomena known as tailgating, he did not partake of it. \u00a0We asked him how he felt looking at all those young students in the gutter at such an early hour on game day, his response, \u201cIt presents a very clear choice.\u201d\u00a0 The public high school honed in him the ability to make the right one.<\/p>\n

Margaret Philbrick is an author, gardener and teacher who desires to plant seeds in hearts.\u00a0Her first book, Back to the Manger is a holiday gift book she created with her mother, an oil painter. You can connect with Margaret via her website at www.margaretphilbrick.com<\/a> or on Facebook.<\/em><\/p>\n

This post is one of a series of guest posts about different choices Christians make in sending their children to school. All of them are in reference to an article I wrote for Christianity Today:\u00a0The New School Choice<\/a>, and you can find out more through Christianity Today\u2019s\u00a0This Is Our City<\/a> project.<\/em>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After nine years in a private Christian grammar school our son stepped into his freshman year at the local public high school with 600 people he didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 Almost every student in his graduating class of 80 went on to attend the private Christian high school.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to be like everyone else. 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