Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Understanding is not enough; we must do. Knowing and understanding in action make for honor. And honor is the heart of wisdom. -- Johann von Goethe "Parents must understand why public schooling produces bad fruit. Public schools produce non-Christian beliefs and behaviors because they are based on non-Christian doctrines and philosophies. Put succinctly: Public schooling is actively and intentionally non-Christian. This is not to say public schooling produces abject pagans; indeed, the opposite is true. According to research by University of North Carolina professor Christian Smith, public school students consistently espouse a religious faith he defines as, "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."1 This public school faith bears a shadowy similarity to Christianity but posits its theological tenets without particularities: god (small G for generic) whoever he, she, or it is, exists. god made the world (probably by evolution) and takes care of things. god is a cosmic therapist; you call him when you need him, otherwise, he leaves you alone. The purpose of life is to be a nice person -- happy and good. There is a heaven and all good people go there. Almost everyone is good. In short, be nice, be good, be happy, and everything will be fine. Such "faith" is a far cry from biblical Christianity whose theological particularities (e.g., sin, justification, election, redemption, forgiveness, and sanctification) are embodied in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Public schools are not comfortable with tangible definitions. Instead, they steep students in a pluralistic civility making them unwilling to express any belief others might find intolerant. Public schools teach children to deal with moral disagreement and ethical arguments by avoiding them; they believe it is better to be morally inarticulate than appear socially intolerant." -- Millstones & Stumbling Blocks: Understanding Education in Post-Christian America.   "It is easier to identify what modern education rejects than what it teaches. This strikes at the heart of education and makes one wonder if public schools can even function in a multicultural society. Education is enculturation. It is the vital link preserving and transferring truth and tradition from one generation to the next. But, what do you pass on in a culture as diverse and heterogeneous as the United States? Education without a unifying cultural theme becomes a jumbled mess of unrelated and disconnected facts instead of a cohesive, integrated, and unified body of truth. Rather than weaving a beautiful cultural tapestry from the threads of knowledge, we twist them into tangles and knots. Thus, they mat and mangle into a pop cultural hairball instead of interlacing as an intricate social fabric."  -- Millstones and Stumbling Blocks: Understanding Education in Post-Christian America    Surgeon General's Warning Preface to Millstones & Stumbling Blocks