3SM 210.0
(Selected Messages Book 3 210.0)
Upon fathers and mothers devolves the responsibility of giving a Christian education to the children entrusted to them. They are never to neglect their children. In no case are they to let any line of business to so absorb mind and time and talents that their children, who should be led in harmony with God, are allowed to drift until they are separated far from Him. They are not to allow their children to slip out of their grasp into the hands of unbelievers. They are to do all in their power to keep them from imbibing the spirit of the world. They are to train them to become helpers together with God. They are God’s human hand, fitting themselves and their children for an endless life in the heavenly home. (3SM 210.1) MC VC
The education of our children begins in the home. The mother is their first teacher. When they become old enough to attend school, shall we permit them to enter the public schools? (3SM 210.2) MC VC
The Public School or Church School?—Many years ago, in Oakland, my husband and I conversed with a public school teacher in regard to the public schools in the city. He said to us: “If parents knew of the iniquity that is to our certain knowledge practiced in these schools, there would be a furor raised in regard to these schools such as neither you nor I can imagine. The young people are rotten; and what kind of homes they have is more than our teachers can tell.” This statement was made over twenty years ago. Have the conditions in our public schools improved since that time? (3SM 210.3) MC VC
Some fathers and mothers are so indifferent, so careless, that they think it makes no difference whether their children attend a church school or a public school. “We are in the world,” they say, “and we cannot get out of it.” But, parents, we can get a good way out of the world, if we choose to do so. We can avoid seeing many of the evils that are multiplying so fast in these last days. We can avoid hearing about much of the wickedness and crime that exist. (3SM 210.4) MC VC