This horrendous story of school violence against a little 7-year-old boy from the West coast could be repeated daily in newspapers around the country. That’s if the true extent of abuse in our schools were reported. What this child suffered physically, and the psychological suffering from living in fear all the time is the result of institutionalized child abuse. The problem is not just that the school did not provide adequate staffing and supervision, although here is only so much that prison wardens, er, school principles can do to make sure that their inmates don’t kill each other. The real story here is the creation of a whole generation of barbarians: children who are morally and physically neglected, children who are so filled with anager and hatred that they no longer possess a conscience. These are 5th graders who can hurl a little child into a tree and run to catch a bus, as though they had just kicked a beer can into the curb. Reading these statistics from the news story was horrifying. These are the top 5 “most violent” elementary schools in Oakland, California. Each of these numbers represent the suspensions, not the violent acts that led to the suspensions. No child gets suspended on his first fist full of hair, his first punch, his first kick in the groin. Kids today get multiple chances to harass, abuse and otherwise violate fellow students before the velvet hammer falls.

- Preparatory Literary Academy – 106 suspensions.

– Piedmont Avenue Elementary – 97 suspensions.

– Webster Academy – 77 suspensions.

– Lockwood Elementary – 52 suspensions.

– New Highland Academy – 42 suspensions.

These barbarians did not come out of nowhere. They are products of parents who have totally rejected their parental responsibilities before God and man. The children are only mirroring the barbarism of their parents who nightly sit and bow low before the screen that brings pornography, murder, rape, fornication, adultery, disrespect for authority, filthy language and mockery of God into their homes. When these children act out the same in the halls of our government schools, we have little 7-year-olds with fractured skulls and hand-wringing “educators” who can do nothing more than lecture parents not to leave a student unattended for any time, for any reason because this is what could happen. The idea of an American child walking safely home from school in his neighborhood is now apparently viewed as Mayberry fantasyland. We’re living in a war-zone now, and parents better know it.

What parents should do is pull their precious heritage out of these violent prisons and bring them home to learn. I was assaulted twice at the Christian high school I attended, once having had hair ripped out by a screaming, drug-crazed student whose eyes I made the mistake of meeting in English class. In short, if your children are in a Christian school, make sure that it truly is one of the rare, truly Christian environments. If not, you’re wasting your money and harming your children. The world is driving the “church” now, and the students coming out of many homes reflect it.

The child in the news story will carry the trauma of losing four teeth and of having his skull fractured for the rest of his life. His father needs to stand physically, if necessary, between him and those who would injure him. That’s what fathers are for. It’s too bad it got to this point before the father intervened.

Nurturing and teaching one’s own child is a delight. Seeing their God-given intellects develop and unfold like little flowers is a blessing and a privilege. Directing your little ones God-ward is the highest privilege of all as a parent. I can still remember little William and Mary, (my “twins) at age 3, learning a verse for the letters of the alphabet.

A- A wise son maketh a glad heart, but a FOOLISH son is the heaviness of his mother. (They would always emphasize the “foolish” part.)

B- Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than GREAT treasure and TROUBLE therewith.

And so on. If at all humanly possible, don’t put your children where God is not honored and where they are at the mercy of the new barbarians. Barbarians and their parents need evangelism, but the spiritual war in our land today does not need to be fought by little ones who are forced to spend their time just trying to keep a full set of teeth and an intact skull to take home with them at the end of the day. Let Christian adults in their Christian armor engage the enemy of souls and let the little ones be kept safe until they are ready for battle. If you think you can’t do it financially, seek God. Ask Him to provide a better situation for your little one. I have seen God’s intervention in my life so many times when my back was to the wall. Pray in faith, knowing you pray according to His will when you seek to raise your child for Him. He will provide what is good and right if you ask.