Challenges in the world abound, not just when it comes to daily living, but spiritually, morally, ideologically--every which way.  Once your student(s) leave your home, will they be ready?  Are they even fully *aware* of what those challenges are?  Will their minds and hearts be able to cut through the fashionable nonsense to get to and stand upon truth?

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These are questions that are imminently important, and more and more parents are asking them.  Being prepared takes, among other things, a prepared mind: a mind that can see through the fog, that is not “blown about by every wind of doctrine.”  We all can see “doctrine” is everywhere, not just in church, and our kids are bombarded by it constantly. This goes well past knowing facts, high test scores, and college acceptance letters.

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Studies—by Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith and others—demonstrate that an alarmingly high percentage of young Christian students are incredibly inarticulate about the basics of reality and the Christian worldview.  There are exceptions, but on the whole, they are ill prepared for what awaits. 

 

Don’t mistake my point: they might be respectable and nice citizens, who balance many responsibilities and treat others with kindness.  They might be articulate on a wide range of topics.  However, when it comes to the ability to think through the most fundamental and important questions of life, and when it comes to the ability to address the cacophony of political rhetoric thrown at them by interested actors, typical young adults struggle mightily.  

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The good news is that much of this is not simply because “they are teenagers.”  It is a matter of preparation and training, a matter of culture, and thus is preventable and correctable. 

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If you were going to run a Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, or compete in a Crossfit competition, would you show up only having trained for an hour or two in your living room?  That would be insane!  Yet a great number of our young show up to college and adult life with an analogous amount of training on the crucial questions of our day.  

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Our youth are current disciples of Christ, and will be future husbands/wives, mothers/fathers, leaders, employees, citizens, and voters.  On that last role, our children will, in the future, not just have a role in choosing the governmental policy that will affect the lives of all generations--they will be tasked with choosing the leader of the free world.  There are many things fulfilling that duty requires.  One of them is a sound mind.  It is not optional. 

 

This goes far past “being smart.”  High ACT scores and college acceptance letters do not a good life make.  It’s wisdom.  Understanding.  Knowing the times.  This kind of knowledge touches the voting booth, the home, the job, and the street.  Does our culture’s education adequately prepare them for those roles?  Does the usual youth group weekly gatherings, common in American churches, combined with youth group retreats and Vacation Bible School, get them ready?  There are pockets of light in our culture, but the common answer is “no.”  Most of us recognize that even a college education is wanting.

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They need more.  This is what The Daniel Collaborative is all about.  You are already concerned about the impact of the culture on your students’ intellect, emotions, and actions, and are taking measures to filter that influence through your direct role in his or her education.  The Daniel Collaborative is a program that will ground your children’s approach to life on sound principles that will allow them to properly evaluate the options and information swarming around them.

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I am someone who is on the front lines with you: I am the father of two daughters; my wife and I homeschool our children; I earned two undergrad degrees from a secular university; I have been a public school teacher since 2006, in both urban city schools and suburban schools; lastly, I have not only taught a wide range of English courses, but have taught Research Methods, ESL and worldviews/philosophy courses.  I routinely formally teach logic in my classrooms….I “get” your concern—I vividly see the need for this emphasis every single day in multiple ways.

 

We offer training to prepare young men and women for the challenges they *will* face outside the home. The Daniel Collaborative’s domain is worldview challenges that, if left unaddressed, can sideline or erode a young student’s trust in the Faith Once For All Delivered to the Saints.  It is not a matter of “if” they will face these challenges.  They *will.*  The structure of education in the West and the pulse of the culture at large guarantee it.