Five Reasons To Send Children To Christian Schools
In 1922, Oregon attempted to enact legislation which would have forced all children to attend the public schools. The United States Supreme Court overturned that decision and established that "The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations." Thankfully, in America, we as parents have a choice where to send our children for schooling.
Non-public education is a long-time American tradition. Before 1837, when Horace Mann established state-supported schools in Boston, nearly all of the schools in America were evangelical Protestant institutions.
Nearly 1/4 of the schools in the United States are non-government operated. There are now approximately 15,000 Bible-centered Protestant schools with a combined enrollment of nearly two million students!
"Why send your children to Christian schools?"
I would like to present FIVE reasons why families should consider Christian schools. Christian school education for our children is not an educational alternative! I believe there is no alternative to Christian education for today’s Christian family.
(1) Your children will be like their teachers.
Luke 6:40 reveals that a pupil "after he(she) has been fully trained, will be like his/her teacher."
Some parents may chose to send their children to Christian schools because there is better discipline than other schools
Some parents may chose to send their children to Christian schools because of the more rigorous academics found in Christian schools;
Some may chose to send their children to Christian schools because of the better moral influence in a Christian school.
Some parents may chose to send their children to Christian schools because of the positive learning environment associated with Christian schools.
Some parents will send their children to Christian schools because there are less drug problems than in the local schools
All the above reasons are valid, but the reason why some parents send their children to Christian schools that I wish to champion is: our children will become like their teachers!
Years from now, your children probably will not remember much detail about what their teachers taught them. They will have even forgotten some the lessons that their teachers especially labored over in their preparation to make the class interesting and exciting. Children's long-term memory, according to educational psychologists, will only permit them to retain less than ten percent of what was taught in class.
Christian School classrooms today will retain in their long term memory is WHO their teachers were as a Christians ...Christian Teachers. They will remember their teacher’s concern and love for them, their prayers and understanding of Scripture as it related to where the students really were. Your children and will definitely remember the individual personalities of their teachers. Not only will they remember their teachers, but a part of the teacher will be transferred into your children permanently. Our Creator, God, made us in such a way that we become like the significant people around us.
Jesus, often referred to as The Master Teacher, was addressed by one of his pupils-Nicodemus- as "Rabbi." I suppose that today that same student in a classroom would be called "Nick" or "Nicky." Nick declared to Jesus, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God."
Teachers, do you realize that each of you have been called from God to teach your students? It is my prayer for you that your students would also echo that same comment that Nicodemus stated: "Teacher, I know that you have come from God to teach us." Not only should your students know this, but I pray that parents, administrators, and board members as well will echo my prayer.
Teachers--you have come from God to teach your students this year. In teaching your students, they will ultimately become like you.
It is not by accident that you are part of the faculty this year. It was not by a last minute decision by the school board to hire you, It was not the fulfillment of your wish to live and work in this lovely location. It is not even by your many years of tenure in one school. No, each and every one of you have come from God--to teach your students--of God. You have been prayed for and are now set apart for a specific teaching ministry.
Furthermore, you Christian school teachers are not just affecting the lives of the pupils in your classrooms today. You are literally acting as change agents in history. Most of us do not realize the impact we can have in the life of a student, especially when we see that person every day.
Dr. Elver Voth, a former professor of biology and colleague of mine at George Fox University died from cancer. I would like to share with you some comments from his former students which will demonstrate the influence and impact of one Christian teacher. Just before he died, the university asked his former students to write their testimonials for Elver. He was able to read what many of us may never get to--comments from our former students and the influence we had in their lives.
"Through all the lectures, lab work, and field studies, you never failed to show us how God’s handiwork was at the heart of creation. With much love, Steve."
"I often think about all the things you taught us in class; not just the facts of biology, but also the truths of life. Truly, Elaine"
"If I can influence as many lives as you have over the years, if I can maintain personal discipline and moral standards like yours, and if I can learn to do God's will, despite the offers of the world, then I will truly be able to say I have fought the good fight. Your grateful student, David."
"At a time when I was beginning to wonder if they were mutually exclusive, you showed us how science was enhanced by, even more, how it was more clearly understood, as we examined it through God’s Word. I have been to thankful for how that strengthened my faith and has helped me to know what I believe. Praise the Lord for the privilege that was mine in being your student. Because of Calvary, Doug."
"Someday I'll be a good doctor, probably in the mission field. I want to thank you for your part in getting me here. God bless you, Marion"
"Having learned from you has enabled me to serve our Lord better. Lana"
"You helped me to realize that I could be both a Christian and a physician. Thank you so much for taking time for me. David"
"I have learned a lot about science, writing, and thinking from you. Much more importantly than that, I have learned honesty, integrity, and most of all, a serving attitude.. Bradley"
"During my senior year at George Fox, you had to make some very difficult decisions concerning me. I know that you made these in my best interest. We are told that all things work together for good. those words have proven true in my life. God is truly all powerful and forgiving. I live my life for His glory and kingdom. In His love, Dean."
"I learned that a person's grasp of material did not so much depend on their brilliance, which might be an advantage, but rather on their diligence and the world view that God gives us, Matthew."
Teachers and administrators--you have a tremendous impact in the lives of your students. What you as teachers do and who you are will also reach into the lives of future generations. Do you know that the life of one classroom teacher, will impact hundreds, thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of people until the day our Lord returns.
"A pupil is not above his teacher, but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher." Parentse choose to send their children to Christian schools because they want them to become like you, their Christian teachers!
(2). The values expressed in Christian schools are those of our family. What one believes is expressed in Education. Education cannot be expressed in a vacuum. All cultures and subcultures educate their children with the predominant values held by that culture. No truth, fact, or educational philosophy can be neutral or value-free. All education, therefore, is ultimately value-oriented. Education, all education, is more than academics. Education is not theologically neutral and it is not even politically neutral. As parents, we can not afford to be neutral where our children are concerned. We are providing them a coherent, consistent education when what is taught and caught in the classroom is the same as our home and church.
(3) Christian School Education is Bibliocentric. As the nation’s public schools respond to the growth of Christian schools, and as they respond to the criticisms raised in "A NATION AT RISK" with their "Schools of Excellence" movement, we in the Christian schools must remind ourselves that the underlying philosophy behind Christian school education is more important than just academics. Good academic training is, of course, essential preparation for life in our complex society. The level of learning in most Christian schools is well above the national average. BUT, If all of our nation's public schools improved dramatically in their academics, that should still not compel me to place my children in public school.
Christian schools offer spiritual training which is not available in non-Christian schools. Christian schools can teach the whole child, the whole truth, the whole time -- academically, spiritually, physically, and socially in the same way that Jesus developed as a child.
(4) A Christ-centered education will affect how our children see the world. Education in Christian school classrooms is Christ-centered. Col. 1:18 "...so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything." Christ is the center of life and the message of Christian day schools.
Dr. James Dobson and Gary Bauer in their latest book, Children At Risk, sound the alarm that our society is enmashed in a civil war that will determine which value system will guide our nation.
..Someday soon, a winner will emerge and the loser will fade from memory.
Children are the prize to the winners. Those who determine what young people are taught and what they experience--what they see, hear, think and believe-will set the course for the future of this nation. For now, American children are balanced precariously and the outcome is very much in doubt.
Only in Christian schools can children learn within the context of a Christ-centered world view.
I recognize the positive influence that Christian public school teachers have. We need to pray for and encourage them. They are limited, though, in what they can say and do in their classrooms. These Christian public school teachers are constitutionally confined in presenting a Biblio-centric world view for their students.
(5) The home, the Church, and the Sunday school are not enough to train and influence our children in today's society.
Many forces, values, and messages bombard our children: home, school, church, television, friends, music, magazines. Between the seventh and 12th grades, the average teenager listens to 10,500 hours of rock music, just slightly less than the entire number of hours spent in the classroom from kindergarten through high school. One study concluded that teenagers spend more than 12 hours each week listening to the radio and another 8 hours weekly listening to records or tapes. According to a recent University of Minnesota study, listening to music is the primary way troubled teens say they cope with problems. (After music, they turn next to friends, drugs and video games, the survey said. Talking with parents came near the bottom of the list. Tying for last place were teachers, clergy and professional counselors.)
What about the influence of Sunday school programs? The Sunday school is a powerful influence for good, but it represents less than 1% of a child's time. That percentage assumes perfect attendance in Sunday School. It's totally unrealistic for me as a parent to assume that one hour of Sunday school can successfully compete with a 30-hour per week experience where required attendance has the force of the law.
Well then, what about the influence of strong Christian homes? The home is a powerful influence for good, but studies reveal how little actual contact there is between children and their parents, particularly fathers. How much "quality" time do we as Christian parents spend with our children? Some educators are questioning just how strong the "Christian homes" are from which are students come.
The home and the Sunday School are not enough to train and influence our children. At one time in history, Roman parents were concerned that they provide their children with the best education possible. In their culture, that meant using Greek slave teachers. These Greek teachers did not teach from a value-free vacuum. They thought as Greeks and taught as Greeks. Roman parents were shocked when they discovered a Biblical principle we know today. "A child when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher." Lk 6:40. The pupils had Roman bodies, but Greek minds. They could not become Roman soldier/statesmen--their minds would not permit that.
Today, children receive conflicting values-laden messages from television, radio stations, music, and friends. Our children need to be in an educational environment in which their teachers are deeply committed to Jesus Christ and to a Christian philosophy of education. They need to learn from educational materials that are Biblically-integrated. Our children need to know that Jesus Christ does make a difference in their learning. That environment only exists for your children and my children in Christian schools.
Our children need to be educated in the "real world." In a Christian school, they are not being sheltered from the "real world". What is the "real world" anyway? What is ultimately real? How I view reality, how I view truth, and how I view values determine my perspective on education. My metaphysical (what is ultimately real), my epistemological (what is truth), and my axiological positions (what are my values) are contrary to this present world and its secular mind-set. To me as a Christian parent, the real world is God-centered, God-created, and God-controlled.
"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things..." Rom.11:36
"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are external." 2 Cor. 4:18
Therefore, for our children, an introduction to the "real world" begins with an introduction to its Creator. According to John 14:6 Jesus Christ is the key to education. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life..."
As Christian parents, we need to send our children prepared to weather the demands of life. When the weather outside is harsh, as parents we send our children out with the right clothing. The right education is like the right clothing for our children. Our children need to be equipped for the unpredictable weather of a complex world. They should learn in a climate of strong Christian values and a Christ-centered curriculum--an environment where my children can pass the test before they take it. Christian school education is preparation to weather the demands of life.
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This page was last updated on: March 19, 2001