isis drives out 1 million: will iraq survive? Special issue September 6, 2014 Online public schools Lowering higher education costs Christian schools in China Common Core Plus more MS_HCReformAd1_2014.indd 1 4/28/14 11:37:54 AM 18 COVER.indd 2 8/11/14 11:50 AM 18 COVER.indd 1 8/11/14 11:51 AM WHEREVER GOD CALLS YOU, WE WILL EQUIP YOU. At Southwestern Seminary, we equip you to preach the Word with confidence, knowing it is the means by which people hear and believe. We also give you the tools to reach the world with the Gospel, and then we take you there and show you how to use them. Are you ready? Let’s go. PREACH THE WORD SWBTS.EDU REACH THE WORLD 18 CONTENTS.indd 2 8/15/14 10:20 AM ContentsSe Ptember 6, 2014 / VOLume 29, Number 18 feature 38 Risking genocide As the Islamic State rages from Syria to Iraq, it threatens to wipe out Christians and other religious groups with singular roots in ancient Mesopotamia SPeCIaL SeCtION 42 Groundhog reform day BCA K TO scHOOL 2014 finds American education in the midst of yet another expensive revolution 44 Uncommon pushback With a rebellion growing, Common Core no longer looks inevitable 46 Public school @ home Online charter schools are growing, with growing pains 49 Lone Star laboratory T exas is likely the next school choice frontier dispatches 50 Portland public 9 News 20 Quotables Seeking the peace of a very liberal city by helping to rejuvenate a deteriorating school 22 Quick Takes 52 Risks and rewards reviews Amid limited resources and a hostile government, a Chinese 27 Movies & TV Christian school movement is growing 30 Books 55 Homeschool debate 32 Q&A Hwo to keep a few bad apples from spoiling the bushel 9 34 Music 58 Good credit Competency-based programs offer college credentials notebook without the debilitating cost 65 Lifestyle 68 Technology COVER illustRatiOn by kRiEg baRRiE. insEt: yazidi REfugEEs in zakhO, iRaq; phOtO by gail OREnstEin/nuRphOtO/sipa usa/ap 70 Science 71 Houses of God 72 Sports voices 27 6 Joel Belz 24 Janie B. Cheaney 36 Mindy Belz 75 Mailbag 79 Andrée Seu Peterson 80 Marvin Olasky WORLD (ISSN 0888-157X) (USPS 763-010) is published biweekly (26 issues) for $59.95 per year by God’s World Publications, (no mail) 12 All Souls Crescent, Asheville, NC 28803; (828) 232-5260. Periodical postage paid at Asheville, NC, and additional mailing o ffices. P rinted in the USA. Reproduction in whole or in part without 38 65 written permission is prohibited. © 2014 WORLD News Group. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WORLD, PO Box visit our website—wng.org—for breaking news and more! 20002, Asheville, NC 28802-9998. SEPTEMBER 6, 2014 • WORLD 3 18 CONTENTS.indd 3 8/19/14 4:39 PM “The earth is the L’s and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein.” —Psalm : Marvin Olasky David K. Freeland Mindy Belz Robert L. Patete Timothy Lamer Rachel Beatty Jamie Dean Krieg Barrie Janie B. Cheaney, Arla J. Eicher Susan Olasky, Andrée Seu Peterson, John Piper, Edward E. Plowman, Cal omas, Lynn Vincent Emily Belz, J.C. Derrick, Dawn Wilson Daniel James Devine, Sophia Lee, Angela Lu, Edward Lee Pitts Arla Eicher, Al Saiz, Alan Wood Megan Basham, Anthony .. Bradley, Andrew Branch, Tim Challies, John Dawson, Amy Henry, Mary Jackson, Michael Leaser, Jill Nelson, Arsenio Orteza, Tiff any Jim Chisolm Owens, Stephanie Perrault, Emily Whitten .. Les Sillars June McGraw Kristin Chapman, Mary Ruth Murdoch TRUSTWORTHY Kevin Martin worldoncampus.com CHRISTIAN Joel Belz Leigh Jones Warren Cole Smith INTERNET Jonathan Bailie Debra Meissner worldji.com RADIO Marvin Olasky Edward Lee Pitts wng.org Reformation Network, Mickey McLean Leigh Jones David Strassner (chairman), Mariam Bell, the always-on streaming Lynde Langdon, Kevin Cusack, Peter Lillback, Angela Lu, Dan Perkins Howard Miller, William Newton, Russell B. Pulliam, David Skeel, radio station, features Whitney Williams Ladeine ompson, Raymon ompson, biblical preaching and John Wei ss, John White worldandeverything.com teaching, Scripture, news, Nickolas S. Eicher To report, interpret, and illustrate Joseph Slife audiobooks, music and the news in a timely, accurate, enjoyable, and arresting fashion ’ more. Available for free from a perspective committed gwnews.com to the Bible as the inerrant Word through your app store or Howard Brinkman of God. online at RefNet.fm. Contact us: .. / wng.org , , , [email protected] wng.org/account (current members) or members.wng.org (to become a member) .. (within the United States) or .. (outside the United States) Monday-Friday (except holidays), a.m.- p.m. ET WORLD, PO Box , Asheville, NC - , , .. / .. or [email protected] WORLD occasionally rents subscriber names to carefully screened, like-minded organizations. If you would prefer not to receive these promotions, please call customer service and ask to be placed on our list. LIG-312_2014_08_REFNET_WORLD_1-3V_FINAL.indd 1 6/27/14 10:05 AM 18 CONTENTS.indd 4 8/11/14 12:09 PM Broaden Your Career Marketability Regent University’s world-class, advanced degrees can strengthen your career and help you succeed. Our Top 10 Law faculty* and distinguished government and business faculty prepare tomorrow’s leaders to make a difference in critical areas— from city hall and domestic courtrooms to the academy and global boardrooms. LAW | J.D., LL.M. & M.A. GOVERNMENT | M.A. & MPA BUSINESS & LEADERSHIP | MBA, M.A., PH.D. & DSL On Campus & Online SBL140217 APPLY TODAY. regent.edu/success | 800.373.5504 *The Princeton Review. The School of Law is accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). 18 CONTENTS.indd 5 8/11/14 12:00 PM Joel Belz children taught us that even grown-ups like color, photos, maps, charts—and a little bit of fun here and there. And yes, we’re still doing business with tens of thou- You fi lled my sands of those kids, with their parents, and with their schools. Candor (and honest journalism) compel me to mailbox report that our circulation is down signifi cantly from our best years in the early s, when we went every week Now I’d like to fi ll yours as well! to at least a quarter-million children. e internet and the whole digital enterprise have taken their toll with our I’ couple . I asked children’s ministry, just as they have with the whole you in this space on June if perhaps you had a secular world of publishing. few good ideas about using the media to reach out So can God still use the internet and similar digital >> to the next generation—claiming the allegiance of eff orts with our kids and grandkids? We are confi dent our children, and our children’s children, to this dynamic that He can—and will. With that optimism, we are ready we call “biblical worldview thinking.” to greet the new school year in a few days with new—and You fi lled my mailbox. I wasn’t ready for the moun- signifi cantly enhanced—products for your kids and teens. tainous stack of ideas you sent along. I’m still studying at lineup starts with a bimonthly magazine at each of my way through them, trying to sort out and prioritize three grade levels: God’s Big WORLD for beginners, some common threads and fresh perspectives. WORLDkids for those in the middle, and WORLDteen for Along the way, though, as I’ve read your letters, I’ve adolescents. Beyond the refreshed physical magazines, been forced to realize that among the many thousands of we have also now added a lively and interactive website WORLD’s readers, a huge number are quite unaware of for each of the three levels. e websites guarantee that the media link WORLD already enjoys with young chil- our content is lively and engaging. e physical paper- dren. If that includes you, let me catch you up to date! and-ink magazines will provide broader and deeper Starting years ago, in , the company that now background, while the web version will off er more inter- produces WORLD launched a small newsprint magazine action and timeliness. Students, with guidance and for children called It’s God’s World. Aimed at fourth- and permission from their parents, will fi nd themselves fi fth-grade elementary students, the eight-page weekly going back again and again to both sources. reported on current events. It also made a point of trying Am I excited about this version of what I fi rst to help its young readers interpret those world events envisioned years ago? You’d better believe it! Do I from a God-centered perspective. think it is faithful to that original vision? Yes—and To say that It’s God’s World was popular is an under- almost certainly does it better than we did it in the early statement. Exploring God’s World followed in for years. Is this the fi nal word in communicating with and second- and third-graders, and God’s Big World in persuading the boys and girls who are otherwise bom- for kindergartners and fi rst-graders. Suddenly we found barded with secularism and godless explanations? Not at ourselves publishing six diff erent graded editions every all—and for that I am thankful as well. Some of the ideas week of the school year. some of you have sent our way need to be incorporated But, we discovered, that still wasn’t in the new lineup I’ve described above. If enough. More and more, parents of our you wrote me about that, please be young readers got in touch with us to say: patient.