"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (Proverbs 13: 20)
"Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” (1 Corinthians 15: 33)
It is important to be aware of the fact that this warning is not just for children from marginally "Christian” households who go to the worst public schools. This warning holds true even for children from doctrinally sound, Bible teaching churches that go to the "best” public schools.
A real life example of this is the story of my former student Ashley Jackson. Ashley was a young lady who took my class as a senior in high school early in my teaching career. She was the daughter of a local pastor from a Bible believing church; and her end was truly a tragic one.
One day, while in my class, I overheard Ashley talking to her friends in a very enthusiastic way about praising Jesus at church. She even started singing one of her favorite hymns in a joyous and beautiful tone. I couldn’t help but listen and rejoice in my heart at the beautiful words and the heart-felt passion that was emanating from this beautiful young lady.
Only a few minutes later, the topic of the conversation shifted, and she started to retell of her adventures during spring break. What came out of her mouth was truly foul. Out of the same mouth that praised Jesus in such a beautiful way just minutes earlier came the vilest and most corrupt details about her sexual experiences with several young men during spring break. As the filth of her actions washed over me, I became physically ill. My soul was so vexed that I couldn’t help but ask her to step outside of my classroom so I could confront her.
I confronted her regarding the utter hypocrisy of her words and actions, and how she was dragging the name of Christ through the mud, causing the world to blaspheme His Name. I strongly encouraged her to repent of her sins and to throw herself at Christ’s mercy. In response, she just stood there quietly, waiting to be allowed back into the classroom. After a few moments of silence, I opened the door and we returned to class.
I didn’t see any results from our conversation until the year was about to come to an end. Ashley needed to pass my class in order to graduate, but she was failing. She had a 40% average before taking the final exam. This is when our conversation resurfaced.
Ashley asked another teacher to try to convince me to allow her to pass my class regardless of her average. Trying to be helpful, the teacher came to me and asked me if there was anything I could do. I told her that I would not make any decision concerning her grade until she took the final exam. When her test results were determined a few days later, it turned out that Ashley scored a 39%. In the end, her final average was a 40% which is an F.
There was no way she could pass on her own merit, but this did not stop Ashley. She believed that she had the right to pass my class even though she had a failing grade.
This time, Ashley herself approached me and tried to blackmail me into changing her grade. She told me that if I did not change her grade, she would tell an administrator that I had a religious conversation with her earlier in the year. In response to her threat, I told her that I would not blaspheme my God by lying about her grade. When she heard this, she immediately went to an administrator.
The next thing I knew, I was called to the office. The administrator immediately brought up the religious conversation, but surprisingly, in short order, the conversation shifted to Ashley’s grade. "From what I hear, your wife is about to give birth to your first child. This would not be a good time for you to lose your job. If you value your job and your family, you will change Ashley’s grade so she can graduate.”
After hearing this, I was very confused. How did not changing Ashley’s grade become the offense? But in the end, I was bound by the Word of God. I could not lie. I told the administrator how it would be a sin for me to lie about Ashley’s grade and that there was no way that I could do it because I feared God more than man. At this point in our conversation I thought my job was over, but God had other plans. Surprisingly, the administrator left me alone and found another teacher that was willing to
change her grade. Then on the last day of school, Ashley was transferred to the other teacher’s class. In the end, on graduation day, I looked on as Ashley walked across the stage. Even though Ashley failed my class, she ended up graduating with honors from "Satan’s preparatory academy”.
It is obvious that even though she was a pastor’s daughter that was brought up in the church, the public school’s student culture contributed greatly to her corruption. God’s Word is true. Bad company truly does corrupt good morals. - the above is an excerpt from a new book, "Education Reformation" by Ray Fournier.
