Ken Ham Says Secular Schools Have Become 'Churches of Atheism' After Energy Group Rejects Homeschooled Graduates
Creation Museum CEO and President Ken Ham said that secular schools have become "churches of atheism" and that culture is becoming more secularized after an Indiana-based energy distribution group announced that it will not be hiring homeschooled graduates.
"Secular schools have by and large eliminated God, the Bible, creation, and prayer. In essence they have become churches of atheism. The more students are taught that they are just animals and that life arose by natural processes, the more we will see this religion reflected in the students' worldview," Ham wrote over the weekend on the Answers in Genesis blog.
"By the way, much research has shown the great academic achievements of homeschoolers. In reality, this controversy about hiring homeschoolers is not a battle over how equipped and ready for the workforce a person might be, but is over whether or not that person has been indoctrinated into the worldview dictated by the state."
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Ham's statement is in response to news last week that NiSource, Inc., which operates in Ohio, told the Home School Legal Defense Association that it will not be hiring homeschooled graduates.
Charisma News pointed out that the response came as a result of letters seeking to resolve a dispute involving a particular job applicant, whose job offer had been rescinded because he was homeschooled. The applicant apparently had years of relevant job experience, as well as several industry certifications, and took seven courses at a recognized state college during his last two years of high school and made the dean's list.
HSLDA has noted its opposition to Common Core, which has been adopted in Ohio and seeks to set a nationalized education system that includes national standards and associated nationalized assessments and a national student data collection scheme. The Association has argued that it opposes Common Core because its system could "negatively affect home-school graduates and job seekers."
Earlier in June, Louisiana became the fourth state to withdraw from Common Core after Gov. Bobby Jindal declared that the state won't let the federal government take over Louisiana's education standards.
"We're very alarmed about choice and local control over curriculum being taken away from parents and educators. Common Core has not been fully implemented yet in Louisiana, and we need to start the process over. It was rushed in the beginning and done without public input," Jindal said.
Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina are the three other states that have so far withdrawn support from Common Core, while 45 states and the District of Columbia originally adopted the standards.
