The Decline of the Christian School Movement

I was reminiscing with someone earlier this week. Fifteen years ago, as a young math teacher with just two years' experience, I was looking for a different Christian school at which to teach. Even though I had only listed my name with my alma mater's placement office—and had done very little active searching beyond that—the contacts from schools were frequent. For a season, it seemed like I heard from another new school every day or two. The maxim that "Math teachers are always in high demand" never seemed more true.

By 2010, as a much more experienced teacher with a far more impressive resume, the opportunities were few, and generally so low-paying as to not be options at all. Now I work at BJU Press (which, I hasten to say, I enjoy very much), possibly having left Christian school teaching behind for good.

In the 1980's and 1990's, Christian schools were often growing. Today, few are.* Why is this? I would like to offer several key reasons that I have seen from my own vantage points.

Parents: Sadly, fewer and fewer parents view the financial sacrifice of Christian education as worthwhile for their children. While the next two points below may have something to do with that, even those parents with good Christian school options in their area are often passing up the opportunity.

Many of my parents' generation decided that, no matter what, their children would not receive the humanistic worldview and education found in the typical public school classroom. They wanted a better education, one centered on the Bible and free of the politically correct and godless brainwashing so prevalent in public education. Today's parents are more convinced that they can somehow counter what their kids absorb in public education.

Parents also have a responsibility to instill a desire for excellence and a love of learning into their children, and to model such things in their own lives. This seems to be less common than it was when I was a kid.

Lowering of Standards, both academic and otherwise: This, quite frankly, is a terrible shame. A Christian education should—must—be both thoroughly Christian and academically excellent.

Some Christian schools have bought into the idea that if they stop teaching about certain potentially controversial Bible principles, or if they open up their admissions policies to accept students from families that do not have similar beliefs, or if they lower their dress and behavioral standards so that carnal fashions and behaviors aren't rebuked, they will retain students and/or grow. Decades of observations seem to tell us the opposite: You can't have much of a Christian school [as defined for this post] by doing so. Furthermore, you certainly can't expect God's blessing on it.

The lowering of academic standards is shameful. Just because we live in an age where parents will howl if their precious little one doesn't get the honor roll grades they feel they so richly deserve [when, in fact, they are not deserved] does not mean we need to make it possible for all kids to find their names on the honor roll. Christian schools should be trying to provide quality faculty with a desire to shape young minds both spiritually and academically—and then making sure that academic quality is a part of the picture. Christian schools may brag that their test scores are better than the public schools' scores, but this is a bogus comparison. They ought to be far and away better than the public schools, first because they are not accepting every kid in the district, but primarily because the quality of the education is high.

What parent is going to sacrifice for a Christian education if the "Christian" is diluted and the "education" isn't strong?

Mismanagement: The majority of Christian schools have not been run well. In many cases, they are (a) led by pastors with somewhat autocratic authority, who have no training or experience in running a school and usually don't supervise its day-to-day operations anyway; (b) run by school boards comprised either of parents [who, in most cases, cater to the whims of the students, wanting to "keep them happy"] or of a generally uninvolved group of church leaders; or (c) led by administrators who are not trained in school administration. The number of Christian school administrators/principals who got the job simply because they were a relative or friend of the pastor or another church leader is an absolute outrage.

Furthermore, it seems that too much administrative effort has been put into placating parents and pleasing students, and too little put into improving the academic and spiritual climate of the school.

Christian schools would do well to figure out who they are, and then strive to do what they do better. Their leaders should ask, "Is this what we believe the Bible teaches? Is this the kind of education we want to provide?" Once those sorts of questions are answered, then stick with it, and quit trying to pleasing everyone.

Homeschooling Movement: I have no problem with those who, out of conviction, choose to homeschool their children, thinking it to be the best way to educate their children, and doing so with all the skill they can muster. I have no respect for those who make it into a glorified form of truancy.

On the one hand, there are those who have taken their children out of good, solid Christian schools to homeschool them anyway. (I am not at all convinced that the majority of them have righteous motives for doing so. I'm thinking of writing a series of posts on problems with homeschooling, too.) Some feel that they can do a better job, but if the Christian school is providing the kind of quality education it should, that's a pretty tall order that most parents, toiling alone, cannot do.

On the other hand, there are those who have seen mismanagement and lowered standards and decided that they can indeed do a better job. Perhaps they can.

Whether or not the homeschool crowd is doing a good job is not the point in this post. The point is that students are being taken out of Christian schools to be homeschooled...and that's hurting Christian schools of various types and qualities.


*The definition of Christian schools, for the purposes of this post, is somewhat limited to those that openly and literally believe the Bible as the authoritative Word of God, that hire only teachers with similar doctrinal beliefs, and that seek only students from families and churches with similar doctrinal beliefs. "Christian schools" of a more ecumenical nature, which hold other doctrines, or have more "open" admission policies are not in this discussion.

The Eternal Importance of Christian Education

A friend began a facebook discussion today on the general topic of placing one's child in the government's care (read: public school, day care) for such a large portion of that child's life. She took the very sensible position that God does not give children to parents for that purpose.

This stimulated further thought in my mind for much of the rest of the day. There are the usual list of reasons why you should give your children a Christian education, such as:

• Superior academic education, compared to public schools in general
• Less dangerous environment
• Doctrines like creation and salvation are taught, not stifled

Today, however, I was on a deeper wavelength. I want to communicate on this deeper level now.

God has given me and my wife four wonderful children (my friend is anticipating her fourth's arrival within the next several months). The moment we conceived them, they became our responsibility—a profound responsibility—to rear, to discipline, to love, to train. They are not, nor ever have been, nor ever will be, the government's responsibility. In order to fulfill the God-given responsibility, there are a number of things we must do; one of these is to provide them with Christian education.

[Parenthetical: Some parents will choose to homeschool their children in order to meet this responsibility. As long as the education they provide is both thoroughly Christian and strong in academics, I have no problem with that. Others, including us, will choose to partner with a Christian school that will teach the Scriptures in all subject areas and support our family and our values as Christians. Such a Christian school needs to be both thoroughly Christian and strong in academics, too.]

The child, ultimately, will be inevitably impacted by the education he is provided. If a strong Christian education is provided, then he will be more likely to follow in the path of Christ-likeness and go on to serve God for the rest of his days on earth. He will be more likely to avoid the guilt and consequences of sin. He will probably have more joy and peace in his life, and if he marries someone else who loves and serves God and seeks to be more like Christ, he will likely have a happier marriage than most.

But more importantly, if a child is provided a Christian education—particularly at a young age—he is much more likely to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior and spend eternity in heaven. That is not something most day cares or public schools are going to encourage; indeed, the truth will most likely be stifled or ignored.

If you have children, make up your mind: Are you going to take the responsibility to provide your child with Christian education that will positively impact their lives both now and for eternity, or are you going to hand over your responsibility to the government, leaving them open to temporal misery and possibly eternal damnation?

NOTE: I certainly don't want to imply that eternal damnation is the certain fate of those who attend public school today. Please understand that my meaning is that the risk of a child turning away from God and Truth is heightened when the child is put into an environment where God's truth is maligned, ridiculed, neglected, or blasphemed. For a parent to consciously take that risk with his child's soul is inexcusable.

And on the other hand, there are certainly Christians among the many public school teachers out there, who are striving to be lights in the midst of darkness. May God bless them and give them success as they try to reach out to the students in their care.

The Basics of Christian Education

True Christian Education, regardless of where it takes place, must have these two basic characteristics pervading it:

1. It must be thoroughly Christian. It must exalt all three members of the Trinity. It must follow the Word of God at all times and in all things. It must encourage and edify—and when needed, rebuke—believers to serve God with every part of their lives. It must point the non-Christians in its midst toward God as Savior and King. Rules under which it operates encourage godly, biblical living.

As a consequence, it will not be happily received by most non-Christians; many Christians will likewise chafe at times.

2. The quality of education must be excellent. The teacher must be well-prepared, diligent, and surrendered to God; the teacher must also love the students. The curricula must be chosen on the basis of both academic soundness and ability to point its users toward Truth.

These two characteristics must be found for education to be "Christian," whether that education takes place in a school building, a church, or a home.

Ideally, there will be other characteristics found in the classroom. Students need to be desirous to learn; if they are without salvation, spiritual things will not make much sense to them. Logistical matters from attendance taking to restroom usage must be efficiently planned. Technological innovations, while not always essential, should be employed in ways subservient to education goals, not as the educational goals.

Christian education suffers today because it succumbs too much to pressure to de-prioritize its two primary characteristics.

On the one hand, there are those who do not thirst for doctrinal purity or biblical standards. They would rather see an "openness" to other points of view, or more practically, would prefer to avoid the issues which cause divisiveness when those who hold the Bible as truth disagree with those who don't. "Standards" arguments are a way this often manifests itself.

On the other hand (and remembering that many people have two hands), there are those who do not feel that academic excellence is either necessary or even practical. They prefer not to "push" students to learn, fearing the "pushback" of students and parents. In K-12, they may feel content merely to outperform the public schools, while further potential for excellence is allowed to waste away.

For those of you in Christian education—at school, church, or home—remember the basics!

Heritage Christian School of Findlay, Ohio; and the Curious Case of Tyler Frost

The national news media has, since Friday, been starting to pick up a minor story from Heritage Christian School of Findlay, Ohio, which told a student that he would be suspended if he chose to attend the public school prom. The student, one Tyler Frost, defied the school, attended the prom, and received the suspension today.

A couple of media stories can be found here and here. As is almost expected these days, the student's dad is threatening to sue if the suspension is not lifted.

Naturally, most people today have no understanding about why the school made this decision, or why it has the policy in the first place. Most will not bother reading what the school has to say about the matter. The majority of the public feedback so far favors Tyler.

The majority is wrong.

There are several key facts in the case:

• First of all, Tyler and his parents signed a statement of cooperation each year. Regardless of their personal feelings toward the school policies, they agreed to abide by them. Tyler has attended Heritage Christian since kindergarten, and his grandmother is a teacher there. There were no surprises.
  
• The school's policy regarding proms (and such) is consistent with the school's view of the Bible and the school's understanding of, and teaching about, Christian living. Attendance at a prom is incompatible with Christian living. Tyler knew this.
• Tyler and his parents are dragging the school's reputation as far down as they can, and are bringing a lot of unnecessary, unwarranted, and negative media coverage upon the school. Quite frankly, in my opinion, for this alone Tyler should be expelled.
• Tyler's behavior is nothing short of defiant rebellion. He, with the willing support of his parents, is parading his defiance for all to see. This is entirely inappropriate where lawful authority is concerned, and all the more galling when intentionally done in front of a world which has very little understanding of God or of obedience. Tyler probably claims to be a Christian, but his actions portray something else.

The school is entirely within its rights to suspend this young man; I would argue that the school would be within its rights to also expel him for the circus he has instigated.

As a footnote, I know a few folks who are affiliated with HCS. The school has had an excellent all-around reputation for a long time. I would be quite pleased to put my children in that school if we lived anywhere near Findlay, Ohio. I'd even be happy to teach there.

Why My Children Don't Go To Public School

There are actually many reasons why....here is one of them.

Today, for the first time since I completed my student teaching in December 1992, I spent an entire day in a public school classroom. As I will likely do a number of times in the days and weeks ahead, I was a substitute today in a local, fairly rural public high school, where I subbed for a teacher of World History [2 sections] and Health [2 sections] and (for those of you who know me, feel free to laugh—I think it's funny, too) Weight Training [just one co-ed section].

Although my day as a substitute went reasonably well, it was very sad to see the social condition of most of the students. Not being an expert on this particular school's rules, I do not know how much of the following is in violation of those rules, but judging by the widespread occurrence of these things, my guess is that they are not violations or simply not dealt with:

• Horrendous dress, both in terms of modesty (girls in particular, showing far too much of themselves), sloppiness (ripped clothing, especially), and messages (irreverence to authority, rock groups, general foolishness)
• General lack of manners. Although the students were generally friendly to the total stranger now among them, their manners could be classified as relatively crude. Apparently boys wearing hats in the classroom is an acceptable practice.
• Unacceptable behavior between boys and girls (unacceptable to God, that is). Having a co-ed class in weight training while in gym clothes isn't very healthy, either.
  
• Bad language. Two particular words, both of which start with "s", were heard more times today than I can remember.
• And just a miscellaneous: Since when were flip-flops over bare feet considered acceptable school dress? I had always been told there were health-related reasons for requiring feet to be covered (and, FYI, it was about 55° this morning)

These are not acceptable ways for my children to behave. I and my wife, as parents, have a God-given responsibility to bring them up to be Christ-like—to be salt and light in a sinful world. To put them in an environment where they are both influenced by so many kids like these, and implicitly taught that such things are acceptable, is to have the opposite effect.

Although some will argue that one can be a Christian, and still be Christ-like, while a public school student (and, yes, there are examples of this), I cannot in good conscience put my children where both the implicit teaching and the numerous examples of their peers influence them in that direction.

Christian Education: The Students

Once again, here is my operative one-sentence philosophy of Christian Education:

Christian Education exists to provide a quality Bible-based education that is Christ-centered, academically excellent, and well-rounded, enabling the student to daily serve Christ and become more like Him.

The student is a creation of God, created for God's specific purpose. The student has a will and a personality. How, then, can he be best taught?

The students must be obedient children of God. This means that, first and foremost, the students need to be saved. Certainly, if a Christian classroom has unsaved students, efforts should be made to bring the Gospel message to those children. The unsaved, "natural" man (1 Cor. 2:14) cannot understand spiritual things—and that is the most essential part of Christian education. Not only does the student need to be regenerate, he must also be willing to learn. The student, ultimately, is responsible for having "a pure heart and a willing mind" to learn [See Christian Education: Its Mandate and Mission, p. 5]. Only an obedient child of God can do that.

All students, because each human being has a sin nature, are naturally disobedient and rebellious, making it difficult to teach them biblical truth, because Satan has somehow convinced them that their own decisions and perspectives are superior to God's. This is not limited to Bible class; it could just as easily apply to math, history, or literature. Students who refuse to be submissive, obedient, and honoring to their authority figures not only harm themselves academically, but also forfeit the blessings God has promised to those who submit, obey, and honor. Could those blessings extend to a fuller understanding of the subject matter? As a teacher, I believe that is so. I also know that a student can learn and understand academic information without salvation or without a submissive spirit...but that is not an ideal outcome. The student needs to learn academic information within a biblical worldview, and must also grow spiritually, which requires salvation.

Parents, the primary educators of their children, must therefore seek not only to lead their children to the Saviour, but also to train them to be submissive, obedient, and respectful of authority figures. To the extent that they can help them with phonics or algebra, that is helpful; but Christian teachers teaching saved, submissive students can bring about not only academic understanding, but also cultivate great spiritual growth and maturity.

Christian Education: Teachers and Curriculum

Again, here is my one-sentence philosophy of Christian Education:

Christian Education exists to provide a quality Bible-based education that is Christ-centered, academically excellent, and well-rounded, enabling the student to daily serve Christ and become more like Him.

The teachers must be examples to the students of what a Christian life should "look" like. Just today a man in my Sunday School class reminded me that our actions speak louder than our words, and that completely applies here. Teachers must diligently avoid any demonstrations of carnality in their lives. The students will nearly always be sufficiently observant of this; if they see teachers indulging in carnal things, they, too, will be very tempted to imitate the teacher.

The teacher must also have a thorough knowledge of the subject matter. One of the problems in Christian schools, especially in the early years, was the tendency, for whatever reasons, of being willing to hiring "anyone" (meaning: anyone doctrinally agreeable and willing to work for the salary) to teach academic subjects in the school. This had several bad effects, the two most obvious of which were students learning less than their potential, and a general diminishing of respect for the teachers and the learning. After all, if the "expert" in the room doesn't know the subject that well...why should I? Teachers who know the subject best are able to teach it best.

Curriculum, ideally, promotes a Christian worldview and perspective on the subject matter. The word "curriculum" is among the most abused words in the field of education; here I intend it to refer to the overall academic program of the school, or of particular courses, like math or reading. It includes textbooks as well as ancillary materials, teacher-directed activities, and other things included in the overall academic program. Christian textbooks and materials, espousing and promoting a Christian worldview, should be preferred. But where Christian textbooks are unavailable or inadequate, the curriculum must at least be in harmony with the truth of the Bible. Materials which promote other, non-biblical ideas should be avoided.

If you homeschool, remember that these things apply to you, the parent/teacher, just as they would to those who teach professionally. Of course, your students will have a much deeper opportunity to observe your life, so determine to set a good example for them.

Christian Education: The Parents

The parents are the primary educators of their children. This is not an option they can pass off to others; this is a biblical command. It is the parents who are to train and rear (and discipline, as needed) their children. (See Deut. 6 as one of several passages on this subject)

My wife and I have four children; we are the primary educators of our children. That we "employ" professional teachers to teach them the 3 R's or that we send them to Sunday School or Patch Club in no way diminishes our responsibility—we are only delegating that responsibility, temporarily, to another individual. If that individual does not train our children biblically, it is our responsibility to remove the children from that individual's tutelage.

What are some of the necessary qualifications for parents, in order that their children may receive a Christian Education? I offer several (if you have more, please add your wisdom to the discussion):

• Ideally, both parents are saved, dedicated servants of God. While there are many in today's older generation who testify of being brought up in an unsaved but upright home—where the expectations were the same or higher than what we expect of Christian people today—this is very rare today. Even among Christian families, an upright upbringing is not a given.
• The parents must be proactive, determined, and grounded in the Word, with the an attitude of "I'm going to do whatever God wants me to do so that I can rear my children to be His servants." Yes, that means the parents must avoid certain entertainments, and music, and activities, and people who will influence their child against God. Saved, dedicated servants will do those things. (Yes, there are children today who will become great leaders for the cause of Christ—as there have been others in the past—who did not have this kind of parenting. Praise God for His grace and His working in anyone's life!)
• If the parents choose to place their children in a Christian school, then both parents and school need to be on the same page where biblical matters are concerned. They must be standing together on God's Word. Parents must also be prepared to remove their children from the school if the school's philosophy deviates from the Truth. This does not mean the parents have to agree on every jot and tittle of how the school operates. The parents may wish the school had a different lunch program, or that recess were in the afternoon instead of the morning, or that their child took Geometry in 11th grade instead of 10th. These are not issues demanding separation, and parents sometimes need to get a grip on the fact that the school cannot (and need not try to) make everyone perfectly happy with everything. But when the school departs from the Word and does not train children biblically, separation is the proper response.
• If the parents choose to homeschool, they must do so within this same philosophy of Christian Education. Homeschooling is not a frivolous matter, and to do it properly is not easy. The parents need to provide a biblically-based curriculum that is Christ-centered, academically excellent, and well-rounded. They need to provide opportunities for the children to serve God. And, yes, they too need to "separate" themselves from organizations, etc., which do not promote a biblical philosophy of CE.
  

Christian Education: Opening Thoughts

This is planned to be the first in an occasional series of entries on the topic and importance of Christian Education. I tried a number of days ago to come up with a one-sentence philosophy of Christian Education which could be used as a starting point on the subject; here is what I wrote:

Christian Education exists to provide a quality Bible-based education that is Christ-centered, academically excellent, and well-rounded, enabling the student to daily serve Christ and become more like Him.

I have spent 17 years in CE as a student and 14 years as a teacher, and, during the last five years, as a parent. My wife and I are quite adamant that our children will not go to public schools, or attend any school where the philosophy of education is substantially different than what I just wrote above. If that means our only remaining option is to homeschool, we will do that. God has given us our four children and we have the mandate to rear them properly in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4); schooling is a huge part of this.

For Christian Education to be truly Christian, in harmony with my definition above, several things must be true. That is the purpose of this series of entries.