The Christian School

NickImage

Christian primary and secondary education (sometimes called “Christian Day School”) became popular among fundamentalists during the 1970s. While some have alleged that the Christian school movement was a response to racial integration,1 it was more likely a reaction against the increasingly vicious secularism of public education. For a generation, many Christian parents sent their children to Christian schools, even when the cost of tuition meant significant financial sacrifice.

Over the past decade, however, most Christian schools have begun to decline. Administrators speculate about the reasons, but at least a few seem pretty obvious. These are generalizations that will not hold in every instance. Certain tendencies, however, can be observed more often than not.

First, Christian schools have not typically produced a better academic product than public education. True, the average test scores from Christian school students are higher than those of public school students. That is partly because public schools are required to accept students (including special education students) whom Christian schools uniformly reject. Take the top ten percent of graduates from the typical Christian school, and compare them to the top ten percent of graduates from the typical public school, and you will likely find that the public school graduates are better prepared.

A second reason that Christian schools are in decline is because they do not generally produce a better quality of Christian. Granted, the environment of a Christian school does shield its students from the most brutal influences of the secular school environment, such as rampant drug use and open promiscuity. It also grants Christianity a normative status, so that a student’s faith is not overtly and constantly under attack. Nevertheless, graduates of Christian schools do not seem to be noticeably more spiritually minded than Christian graduates of public schools. The real test is in what happens to Christian school students after they graduate. How many of them are walking with the Lord five years later? The proportions do not seem markedly higher for Christian school alumni than for other Christians of the same age.

A third reason that Christian schools are declining is the massive amount of resources that they consume. Hiring qualified teachers and maintaining excellent facilities takes money—lots of it. Both parents and churches have grown fatigued by the constant expense, but somebody has to bear the cost. Though exceptions do exist, few churches are actually able to operate a Christian school at a profit. Budgets are often balanced on the backs of teachers, who are pitifully underpaid. Consequently, hiring qualified faculty becomes exponentially more difficult, with the result that unqualified individuals are sometimes placed in the classroom. This in turn affects the performance of the school, and declining performance only exacerbates the problem.

In view of the foregoing, does the Christian school still have a place? If so, what is the contribution that it should be expected to make? A preliminary answer to these questions can be deduced from two observations about the nature of the Christian faith.

First, Christianity is a religion of text, and Christians are people of the Book. True Christianity derives its entire faith and practice from the written Word of God. No authority is higher than the Scriptures.

Second, Christianity affirms the priesthood and soul-liberty of the believer. Among other things, this means individual Christians are responsible to know and understand the Scriptures for themselves. Spiritual authorities may help believers to interpret and apply the Scriptures rightly, but they may not take over the duty of Christians to know and obey the Word of God.

These two considerations have powerfully shaped Christian ministry. They have led to massive dissemination of the Christian Scriptures. No other ancient document was as widely copied as the Bible. No other book has been as widely translated, printed, and distributed. Throughout Christian history, believers have given their lives to protect, translate, and publish the Scriptures. This work has been paramount because Christianity is a religion of text.

Since Christianity is a religion of text, it can thrive only where believers are skilled readers. In order to know and apply the Scriptures for themselves, Christians must be able to read and understand with precision. This is not so much a matter of any special unction as it is a matter of good preparation. The tools for understanding the Bible are not significantly different from the tools for understanding any serious literature.

Biblical Christianity survives only where people read skillfully. Necessarily, then, every Christian church has an interest in ensuring that its members are skilled readers. Unskilled adults, however, usually resist efforts to foster new intellectual skills. This leaves children and teens as the target constituency for fostering the proficiencies that are necessary in order to prepare skillful readers.

What are those skills? The ordinary reading and understanding of serious literature requires, at minimum, a mastery of the disciplines known as the Trivium. Grammar deals with the way that words are connected so as to constitute communicative units. Logic examines the relationship between ideas to determine whether one idea necessarily arises from or gives rise to others. Rhetoric structures communicative units so that the connections between them are readily followed and grasped. The Trivium ought to be the core of a Christian school curriculum.

The standard interpretive method used by Protestant readers of the Bible is called “grammatico-historical.” The idea is that texts must be understood according to both their grammar and their historical location. Historical interpretation assumes and relies upon knowledge of history. To the Trivium, Christian schools must add history.

The Scriptures contain literature from a variety of forms and genres. Skilled readers must be comfortable dealing with diverse sorts of writing. This skill is gained only by broad exposure and wide reading. Literature has its place in the curriculum of the Christian schools.

For generations, Western Christians have relied upon public institutions to prepare their children. Over the past several decades, however, public education has de-emphasized literacy in favor of ideology. Unfortunately, Christian schools have spent much of their effort constructing and emphasizing an alternative ideology rather than fostering excellence in those skills without which Christianity cannot survive.

Does the Christian school have a future? The above observations imply that it does, if it takes seriously the work of preparing Christian readers. Most of a twelve-year curriculum could be derived from these considerations alone—and other considerations could be offered that would justify a fully liberal education in the arts and sciences.

Christian schools do have a future and they ought to be perpetuated. They have no reason for existence, however, if they merely offer “less of the same” thing that students can get in public institutions. Christian education ought to be different. The difference should not lie in making every course a stale tract for Christianity. The difference ought to lie in the gravity with which Christian educators take their task and in the thoughtfulness that they foster in their students.

Notes

1 For references see William J. Reese, “Soldiers of Christ in the Army of God: The Christian School Movement in America,” in Leslie Francis and David W. Lankshear (eds), Christian Perspectives on Church Schools (Leominster, England: 1993), 274.

Hymn 1:1
Behold the Glories of the Lamb
Isaac Watts (1674 –1748)

A new song to the Lamb that was slain. Rev. v.6-12

Behold the glories of the Lamb
Amidst His Father’s throne.
Prepare new honors for His Name,
And songs before unknown.

Let elders worship at His feet,
The Church adore around,
With vials full of odors sweet,
And harps of sweeter sound.

Those are the prayers of the saints,
And these the hymns they raise;
Jesus is kind to our complaints,
He loves to hear our praise.

Eternal Father, who shall look
Into Thy secret will?
Who but the Son should take that Book
And open every seal?

He shall fulfill Thy great decrees,
The Son deserves it well;
Lo, in His hand the sovereign keys
Of Heav’n, and death, and hell!

Now to the Lamb that once was slain
Be endless blessings paid;
Salvation, glory, joy remain
Forever on Thy head.

Thou hast redeemed our souls with blood,
Hast set the prisoner free;
Hast made us kings and priests to God,
And we shall reign with Thee.

The worlds of nature and of grace
Are put beneath Thy power;
Then shorten these delaying days,
And bring the promised hour.

Discussion

Strong point…
Unfortunately, Christian schools have spent much of their effort constructing and emphasizing an alternative ideology rather than fostering excellence in those skills without which Christianity cannot survive.
Though I don’t buy the “survive” part. Replace it with “thrive” and I agree completely.

FWIW, last year, my kids began attending a Christian school where the trivium is the core of the curriculum. We feel very blessed to be within almost-reasonable driving distance of an option like that.

Want to point out, tough, that another huge factor in the decline of the Christian school is homeschooling. Not equipped to put a number on it but I have to think that a large percentage of homeschooled kids would be in Christian schools if homeschooling was not an option (many are only homeschooled because a Christian school is not available nearby).

And the beauty of that is that the homeschool can teach the trivium. It’s tougher for parents without that background to teach it to their kids, but you have the same problem in schools… teachers who want to teach classical rarely had a classical education themselves.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

A second reason that Christian schools are in decline is because they do not generally produce a better quality of Christian… Nevertheless, graduates of Christian schools do not seem to be noticeably more spiritually minded than Christian graduates of public schools. The real test is in what happens to Christian school students after they graduate. How many of them are walking with the Lord five years later? The proportions do not seem markedly higher for Christian school alumni than for other Christians of the same age.
That would be because the students are not necessarily Christians to begin with. Many, if not most schools, accept students based on the parents signing a SoF and agreeing to uphold the policies or the school, and only the custodial parent/guardian is required to sign.

Christian schools use Christian curriculum and have a Christian staff- that is why they can call themselves a Christian school. But they do not have a regenerate student body.

The problem with education overall is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded] the modern assembly line/manufacturing model . Until we deal with the fact that the traditional classroom is a dinosaur, reform is pointless.

This applies to how Christian schools operate- quality materials and inspiring teachers need not be cost prohibitive. Many homeschoolers have learned that given quality materials, enthusiastic guidance, and minimal supervision, children can and often will become autodidactic.

“First, Christian schools have not typically produced a better academic product than public education. True, the average test scores from Christian school students are higher than those of public school students. That is partly because public schools are required to accept students (including special education students) whom Christian schools uniformly reject. Take the top ten percent of graduates from the typical Christian school, and compare them to the top ten percent of graduates from the typical public school, and you will likely find that the public school graduates are better prepared.”

You could argue the academic gap between Christian and nonChristian is wider at the university level than at the day school level.

I am a product of the Chrsitian School. I was never in the top 10% of my class. I have 2 of my kids in public school and two in a LCMS school. My oldest will be a junior at the public school and is in the top 10%. I have to say that I know she is much more prepared then the average Christian school kid. There are good Christian Schools out there, but there are many sub-par ones. Dr. Bauder’s idea here is good. We would consider that as an option if we could.

I was terrified of the public school, but know that God has done a great thing putting us in the mix of it. I have way more respect for public school teachers than I did before. They have to deal with things that I never put up with at the Christian Schools I worked at. I am not just dealing with the sins. I mean kids and parents who don’t care. In my daughters freshman Bio class, there was a guy who did nothing but text. He was 18 and still taking freshman biology. The teacher would send him to the hall. He told him he would have a conference with his parents. The studen said, “Why? I am 18 and have my own apartment.” Even among that, he is a great teacher and helped my daughter love science that year and that is not one of her passions. She always does well, but has only enjoyed it that one year.

I think many Christian Schools have focused so much on saying they are a better alternative instead of proving it. Following Dr. Bauder’s advice will go along way in actually proving it

Roger Carlson, Pastor Berean Baptist Church

I’m a product of Bob Jones Academy (from pre-school on. I got my BJU ID number at six weeks old!). I’m very blessed to have gone there, and wouldn’t trade the experience. I went on to intern for the American Association of Christian Schools in college, so I believe in Christian education as one option open to parents (along with homeschooling and public school).

One thing that has bothered me is how church-run schools can distract from the church’s main goals. I wish Christians had more of a vision to partner together as groups of churches to create Christian schools that aren’t connected with churches directly. I wonder how many pastors out there with Christian schools, if asked in total privacy and honesty, saw their church school as a distraction.

I have over 30 years experience as a Christian school teacher and administrator and this article has ignited a number of points of interest with me. I’ll try to deal with one at a time.

Most schools find it extremely difficult to assure a regenerate student body. Requiring a signed profession of faith is no guarantee and adding a personal testimony does little to improve the situation. A pastoral recommendation was seldom a guarantee. Because of the problem being able to accurately “judge someone’s salvation”, some simply required that the student be amenable to discipline and the rules of the school.

"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan

[Ron Bean] I have over 30 years experience as a Christian school teacher and administrator and this article has ignited a number of points of interest with me. I’ll try to deal with one at a time.

Most schools find it extremely difficult to assure a regenerate student body. Requiring a signed profession of faith is no guarantee and adding a personal testimony does little to improve the situation. A pastoral recommendation was seldom a guarantee. Because of the problem being able to accurately “judge someone’s salvation”, some simply required that the student be amenable to discipline and the rules of the school.
Agreed. If churches already can’t “assure” an entirely regenerate congregation, what makes them think they’ll assue the professions of kids? It seems like a losing battle.

I liked the approach of BJA, which was to have self-described non-Christians able to come to school for up to a year, then move on if they can’t say they’re a Christian. But I don’t think it was a requirement to attend that you had to say you were a Christian.

[Ron Bean] Most schools find it extremely difficult to assure a regenerate student body. Requiring a signed profession of faith is no guarantee and adding a personal testimony does little to improve the situation. A pastoral recommendation was seldom a guarantee. Because of the problem being able to accurately “judge someone’s salvation”, some simply required that the student be amenable to discipline and the rules of the school.
Which means this
the environment of a Christian school does shield its students from the most brutal influences of the secular school environment, such as rampant drug use and open promiscuity.
and
It also grants Christianity a normative status, so that a student’s faith is not overtly and constantly under attack.
are not necessarily the case. When I went to Christian school, drug use was rampant, and fornication was taking place in every nook and cranny. The student body knew who was doing whom and how often. There were pregnancies and abortions, unbeknownst to the staff, usually because the parents were trying to preserve the status quo, so it wasn’t uncommon for the girl who got an abortion last week to get a Christian Character Award next week.

That was 27 years ago. Do any of us think things have gotten better?

I have no objections to Christian schools as long as parents don’t abdicate their responsibility to educate, disciple, and train their children, and the school doesn’t attempt to make any guarantees about its role in forming a child’s character or equipping them spiritually. That primarily happens in the home, but can be reinforced in a school with consistent values- which is where the attraction to a Christian education usually lies. IOW, the parent assumes that they won’t have to do a significant amount of ‘deprogramming’ when their child gets home from school.

I have no objections to Christian schools as long as parents don’t abdicate their responsibility to educate, disciple, and train their children, and the school doesn’t attempt to make any guarantees about its role in forming a child’s character or equipping them spiritually. That primarily happens in the home, but can be reinforced in a school with consistent values- which is where the attraction to a Christian education usually lies. IOW, the parent assumes that they won’t have to do a significant amount of ‘deprogramming’ when their child gets home from school.
good point, and could simultaneously be argued for public education

[dmicah]
I have no objections to Christian schools as long as parents don’t abdicate their responsibility to educate, disciple, and train their children, and the school doesn’t attempt to make any guarantees about its role in forming a child’s character or equipping them spiritually. That primarily happens in the home, but can be reinforced in a school with consistent values- which is where the attraction to a Christian education usually lies. IOW, the parent assumes that they won’t have to do a significant amount of ‘deprogramming’ when their child gets home from school.
good point, and could simultaneously be argued for public education
I taught in a Christian School for 10 years. It was a board run school which was primarily supported by 5 churches. The church that I attended (one of those five) had an interesting mix of Christian school students/families and teachers, public school students/families and teachers, and homeschool families. In each of these “groups” I saw wonderful, bright students with clear Christian testimonies and a deep understanding of the “Trivium,” as well as a fair share of “scorners,” “fools”, and floaters . The difference? Parental involvement. When the parent took “their responsibility to educate, disciple, and train their children” seriously, the product was almost always top notch, regardless of where they went to school. When the parent abdicated his/her responsibility, the result was just as predictable in the negative direction.

While I agree with the main points of the essay, I agree wholeheartedly with Susan and Micah. Parental involvement is a major influence in a child’s education. This is another point the Christian School must keep in mind if it is to succeed.

Shawn Haynie

Somewhere in the Christian School discussion, I think the reason for the Chrisitian school and/or Christian

education should be considered. Years ago, I heard a leader quoting Proverbs 19:25, “Cease my son to hear

the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.” In our pursuit of Christian education for our

daughter, we always rejected “government” schools for the philosophies lurking in the classrooms. Christian

parents should understand the “molds” to which the child will be conformed. Joe Henderson

Joe,

It is possible to know follow the Word and put ones kids in public schools.

Roger Carlson, Pastor Berean Baptist Church

[JGHenderson] Somewhere in the Christian School discussion, I think the reason for the Chrisitian school and/or Christian

education should be considered. Years ago, I heard a leader quoting Proverbs 19:25, “Cease my son to hear

the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.”
I think KJV has the grammar wrong here, though that rendering is not impossible.

Some alternatives:

Prov 19:27 NKJV 27 Cease listening to instruction, my son, And you will stray from the words of knowledge. (ESV, NASB virtually identical)

Prov 19:27 NIV Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

(Interestingly, Keil & Delitzsch say it translates more like “Cease from hearing instruction if you are going to depart form the words of knowledge.” That is, you might as well quit learning if you’re not going to use it.)

All the same, though I try not to be judgmental, I never have understood why we’d want to educate kids in an anti-Christian context when we could do it in a Christian one. Worldviews are more caught than taught. I’ve seen parents successfully see to it that their kids “catch” the Christian worldview while being educated in a mostly antichristian one, but it’s hard for me to understand why this is worth attempting (given the available alternatives).

I’m heavily biased, though. I attended Christian schools every year after 1st grade. The experience wasn’t always positive, but overall it was. It’s true that many of my classmates are not living for the Lord now. The percentage is better than that of the local high school, though! The elementary school I attended was especially strong in grammar… and I’m grateful for that just about every day.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Roland,

Honestly it depends….Where I live, the closest Christian school that you would be comfortable is over 50 miles away. So that isnt even a choice that I have. Also, I think it is important to note that I was in Christian School all the way through. In my freshman preacher boys class at BJ, Shanes dad asked how many of us came from public and Christian school…very few homeschoolers back then…and it was about 60% from public school.

Aaron,

We did home school for a time. Then the Lord gave us our 4th child with autism. We didnt know he had it…but we knew something was wrong…my wife was going nuts homeschooling and careing for him…I came home one day at lunch and said we had to do something different…..we found th LCMS school that only went to 8th grade….thus why our daughter is at the high school…our youngest needs to be in public school…because like Bauder said…most Christian schools are not equipped to handle special needs kids….Some even dont acknowledge autism

We put our kids in PS, because God sovereignly made that our only choice….it is difficult, but in some areas it is actually easier.

Roger Carlson, Pastor Berean Baptist Church