Public Schooling and Christian Schooling Not so Good

Contact: Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., President, National Home Education Research Institute, 503-364-1490, bray@nheri.org; Kevin Swanson, Director, Generations with Vision and Host, Generations daily radio program, 888-839-6132 ext. 4, kevin@generationswithvision.com 

SALEM, Ore., Feb. 11, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- A new study, released by the National Home Education Research Institute and Generations with Vision, reveals consistent positive connections between a teen's relationships with their parents, church attendance growing up, and homeschooling with their Christian growth well into adulthood.

The Gen2 Survey, a nationwide study of Millennials who were churched while growing up, also found that the number of years that churched children spent in public school and years in Christian school were negatively related to Christian development.

"Having a strong relationship with the child's mother and father, attending church as a child, and years homeschooled were all clearly positively associated with Millennials' basic Christian orthodoxy, broader biblical beliefs, Christian behaviors (e.g., attending church, keeping sex in marriage, prayer, not using pornography), satisfaction in life, civic and community involvement, and having beliefs similar to one's parents," said researcher Dr. Brian Ray. "However, number of years in Christian school and number of years in public school were negatively associated with most of the adult beliefs and behaviors just mentioned."

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said regarding the study, "We have to raise a generation of subversive counter-revolutionaries." "And that's going to require a level of Christian teaching that's only going to take place in something that is … simply irreducible to the responsibility of Christian mothers and fathers in the context of the home ..."

Some 9,369 adults, ages 18 to 38 who were churched while growing up, participated. The survey collected information about childhood family relationships, church experiences, cultural influences, and schooling background, and details on their current life – religious beliefs, church practices, social practices, community engagement, and life satisfaction.

A focus on schooling background revealed that the home educated were the least likely (16% of participants) to support homosexual marriage; the Christian schooled, 29%, the public schooled, 33%, and the private secular schooled, 46%. The homeschooled were 2.2 times as likely to be a Christian believer as those who were Christian schooled and 2.5 times more likely to be a believer than those who were public schooled.