Why Christian Schools - Part 3: What's the Harm?

by Dick Buckingham
Administrator

I know we would all agree that education is one of the most important elements of our lives.  From the time we are born until the day we leave this earth, we are continually learning from a variety of sources.  One source of education, which I will call formal, is highly valued and we strive for the best possible formal education for ourselves as well as our children.  Therefore, decisions about where I place my child to receive this education and by whom are some of the most critically important decisions I make as a parent.

We are told in scripture that if we “train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not part from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)  Training (or education) is the process of molding the mind, heart, and character of a person.  Just like a potter’s hands guide and direct the final outcome of the piece of clay to be a pot or a vase or a cup, so a child is molded by the various teachers in their lives as to how to think, act and respond in and about the world.  As Christian parents, it is our greatest desire that our children understand and know truth as revealed by God, be well trained in how to think like God thinks, and act the way God desires His children to act. 

However, there is a problem with public education.  Proverbs  1:7 enlightens us that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”  And again in 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  God’s Word makes it very clear that if we try to separate the knowledge and love of God from the rest of what is commonly called truth, it is not truth, because our understanding about God is critical to the understanding of the world.  If reality about the world is that it includes God, (and it does, He is the reason why everything exists both as the sole cause and purpose) then anything called knowledge that is considered separate from Him is not true knowledge.  One of the criticisms that has been leveled at Christian schools over the years, is that they shelter children from the “real” world.  Since Scripture defines true knowledge as being entirely dependent on an understanding of God at the beginning, Christian schools do anything but exclude reality.  We teach children to see the entire world along with the truth that God is Creator and Sustainer.  This criticism also assumes that we must expose our children to the things they will encounter in their lives as adults in order to adequately prepare them for the ideas, attitudes and wrong actions in the world.  Sending our children to the Christian school doesn’t prevent them from seeing and experiencing wrong thinking and evil actions in their neighborhoods, communities and the world.  There is plenty of contact with these without giving them a daily immersion of it in the government schools.  To be brutally honest, it is the public schools that are sheltering children by not teaching them an accurate view of the world because they must, by requirement, exclude God.

In the first blog of this June series, I made the case that public schools harm our children (and us) by instilling within us a worldview that is at best secular-humanist and most likely much worse.  Our worldview is what shapes how we think about everything and how we act and respond.  Those who were the founders of public schools knew that it was possible to change a culture, to transform a nation by simply teaching the children to think the way the founders wanted them to think.  As the children grow up and become the movers and shakers of the society in business, politics and life, they will automatically instill the kind of worldview that was taught to them as children.  Many of the dramatic cultural shifts that we have experienced in our society can at least be in large part traced back to the worldviews that were established about one generation ago.  For example, those who hold the most influence today are the ones who grew up in the generation of love and peace we commonly connect with the hippy movement.  “Free love” (sex),” make love not war”, were some of the prominent sayings of the people of this decade.  Is it any surprise then, that promiscuity, divorce, and sexual extremism are some of the key things we are fighting losing battles over in our society today?  And why do you think the choice drug of the hippies, marijuana, is becoming more and more acceptable in today’s society?  This did not just happen accidentally.  It happened as a result of the worldview change of a generation.

Education is designed to influence children’s minds and hearts.  We take our children and put them under the care and protection of adults who are called upon to impart the truth and knowledge they believe is important.  We place them in a room of peers who exert a great deal of influence to conform to the thinking and mind set of the whole.  All of these things place a significant amount of pressure upon our children to agree with and accept everything they are told without question.   Therefore we shouldn’t be surprised, as alluded by Voddie Baucham, that when we send our children to be trained by Caesar, they come out acting like Romans.* That is the purpose and design of education.

However, if we desire our children to think like God thinks, and act the way God desires us to act, then we are going to have to send them somewhere else to be educated.  Many parents choose to teach their children at home, to make sure the worldview of their children agrees with their own.  Others choose to send their children to Christian schools because they know the teachers and the things taught are more in line with the things of God.

What harm is public education for your children?  Plenty!   As parents we only get one shot at raising and educating our children.  Once they have been taught and trained, it is next to impossible to counter or change their worldview.  If we send them to Caesar, they will be Romans.  Therefore we want to get it right from the beginning.    What will you choose?

* “We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.” ― Voddie T. Baucham Jr., Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God

The Transition to Middle School

by Jennie Smith
Secondary Principal and Mom to a 7th Grader

In one week, my oldest child will be a junior higher.  I spent this past weekend getting him ready.  We had long talks about what he might encounter.  We bought school supplies.  We packed things away and I tried to cram every bit of wisdom I have into two days.  How does a secondary principal get her child ready to enter the land of the secondary student?  Here are some of the ideas I felt it was important to cover with my son this weekend.

Organization
Being organized is a key to success in junior high and high school.  The best way to organize is with a three ring binder, but with the limited time to put things away at the end of class, a child needs a stuffing place.  There are binders now with a built in pocket where a student can stuff papers quickly.  In the first few weeks, sit with your child each night and show him/her where to put the papers.  He will quickly pick up on the concept and hopefully continue on his own.

Locker Life
Learning to live out of a locker and backpack rather than a desk can be a big transition.  On the first day, access to the locker may be limited (due to time) and slow (due to the learning curve).  Send your child to school with his/her binder, a few notebooks, and some writing utensils.  Pack the rest of the

supplies in a bag that can be brought before school the next day.  Then, your child can leisurely set up his locker without the pressure of getting to class.

Supply Overload
Without a desk, the supplies a student needs can weigh down a backpack.  Have your child store extra pens and pencils in pencil box and keep it in his locker.  Extra paper and notebooks can be kept there as well.  That way, when they are in need, they can make a quick stop and be refueled for their next class.

Where to Go
Moving from class to class can be intimidating.  Be sure to attend any open house available and allow your child to take his/her schedule and move from class to class.  Having the path already in mind can assist in alleviating a child's first day jitters.

Growing Up
The topic of conversations begin to change as children enter junior high.  The topics and temptations become more serious and sometimes life-changing.  My husband, son, and I enjoyed breakfast and a "date" to discuss these topics.  We encouraged him to honor God above everything - in conversation and action.  It was important to us to equip him with the tools he needed to grow up from boy to young man.  What topics do you need to cover with your adolescent that will ready him or her to stand firm in the faith?


I thought sending him to Kindergarten was tough, but here we stand, at the brink of manhood.  There is only so much preparing we can do.  Commit in these days to fervently pray for your son or daughter.  Pray that God will strengthen them, encourage them, provide for them, and meet them in the time of need.  I'm excited to watch what God will do as Levi enters the new world of junior high.

School Begins: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by Dick Buckingham
Administrator

Summer is almost over and school’s beginning is just around the corner.  It is this time of year that students begin to look forward to school beginning.  More and more students that I speak to these days can’t wait to get going at school with their friends, teachers and learning.  It is not so much that they are tired of their summer vacation, but they have had ample time to recharge their batteries and they are eager to continue on the quest for knowledge.  This is an exciting time of year when everyone, including parents, is gearing up for a new school year.  But a successful school year start does not just happen.  The best starts to the school year are ones where we carefully plan and prepare our children.  Let me share a few ideas.

Correct summer habits.  During the summer time, children often stay up late, sleep in and generally keep whatever schedule they want.  A wise parent is one who begins to bring back a schedule for his or her children a week or two prior to the beginning of the school year.  Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made, but aren’t able to correct several months of a lack of schedule overnight.  I know it is difficult to communicate to children that it is time to start going to bed at a reasonable hour and getting up earlier to get ready to arrive at school timely, but you will save yourself and your child much difficulty in the first few weeks of school if you prepare them before hand.  Make it fun!  Plan some early morning activities that they can look forward to!

Out with the old.  While we are talking about less than helpful habits, let’s not overlook the tendency our children have to sit in front of the television or video game for long periods of time during the summer.  This is not something that can continue if they are to be successful in school this year.  Help them begin to trim back on their TV and game time and choose to do other things that will help them to stimulate their minds.

Activate their bodies. While children are generally busy and active during the summer, it is helpful to get them moving a little more, getting their bodies awake and ready for a more active routine.  Try to schedule some exercise each day.  In fact, you could combine this one with the first suggestion and plan to go a couple of mornings a week to a neighborhood park when they can play and exercise to get their brains going and fresh.  It will be much cooler then as well.

Feed their brains.  Let’s face it; we all let nutrition go out the window a little during the summer time.  Who doesn’t enjoy the dish of ice cream before bed or the bag of popcorn while watching a movie on TV?  But we also know that what we feed our bodies is what fuels our bodies and our minds.  Start getting your child back in the habit of making good food choices and tone up their eating habits.  The side benefit is that you can get back on the wagon again yourself!

Stimulate their thinking.  I know we really are not supposed to take a break from thinking about things over the summer, but let’s all admit that we do kind of let our thinking and intellectual habits slide as well.  If your child hasn’t been reading all summer, make sure they read a book or two prior to the school year beginning.  Get a book yourself and sit down and read at the same time.  Replace some of the TV and game time with this good and helpful practice.  Nothing can stimulate the mind like a good book.

Get their number.  Try to find ways to get them to brush up on their math skills.  For the younger ones, have them count forwards and backwards, add and subtract.  For those a little older, review the multiplication tables.  You can make this fun by doing it with things you are already doing.  Have them add fractions as you are using a recipe to put dinner together.  Have them count the number of steps it takes to make one lap around the playground and figure out how many steps they ran in 8 laps. For the older students, ask them to differentiate the coefficient of the tangent as x approaches 0.  Well, ok, that may be a bit much, but you get the idea.

Structure, move, eat right, and stimulate their brains.  Little things that you can do in the next couple of weeks to get your child’s school year off to the best start ever!  Even I am getting a little excited about the beginning of school just thinking about it!

What is Life?

by Dick Buckingham
Administrator

Every other year, I have the challenging task of working through the difficult course of Ethics with our junior and senior students.  We approach this first from a philosophical perspective before taking specific ethical issues and trying to respond to them Biblically.  This is a challenge that I am increasingly finding more difficult.  The influence from our society and the long-term effect of evolutionary thinking has caused many to curve from truth.  Most of us move about our day to day lives using little more than a feeling as to what is right and wrong.  Indeed, God has given each of us as part of His reflected image a sense about morality.  Unfortunately, due to being marred by sin, none of us gets it right all the time and many seldom do.  As a society, we struggle with changing morals usually by taking a poll or survey and going with what the majority feels is right.  As a result, what is unacceptable now may become acceptable in the near future and often has.  There is a crisis of morals in our world and it is increasing because we aren't doing a good job of instructing our children about some basic absolute truths.

The first and most important truth that we must impress upon our children is that there is an absolute standard of ethics.  It is not one that is subject to polls or opinions, but has been carefully crafted and communicated to us by our Creator.  So often, critics insist that we cannot push our belief system upon someone who doesn't share our belief system.  While most would agree with that basic conclusion, the premise it is founded upon is faulty.  The assumption is that the ethics we say are absolute are the product of men or a religious perspective.  The reality is, they are the declaration of the Maker of us all, and His pattern given to us to function in this world.  It is true, I have no right to foist my opinions upon another and insist they must change theirs to match mine.  But it is God’s right to do so, as both Framer and Judge who will hold accountable.   We may not like what He has to say, but He has every right to say it, press it upon us, and hold us completely to its standard.

A second important truth, that needs to be impressed upon our children, is that life is a precious custodial gift bestowed upon us all by a gracious Creator and He requires us to treat it as would a caretaker, to promote it, maintain it, and treasure it no matter the cost.  So many of the issues we wrestle with in our society today have to do with the definition of life.  Questions regarding the ethics of abortion, suicide, assisted suicide, capital punishment, euthanasia, and more all hang from this one pendulum.   

In a particular year, on a test given at the end of this Ethics course, I asked my students to consider a woman who had been brain damaged due to an accident and required care for just about everything she did including being sustained with food and liquid via a feeding tube.  There was little hope of recovering any amount of significant function that would allow her to be productive.  Yet her condition was not so severe that she required extraordinary medical help to stay alive.  Other than the daily hygienic care everyone usually does for themselves, the only medical convenience was the feeding tube to provide daily sustenance.  The question I asked was, would it be Biblically acceptable to remove the feeding tube from this person to allow them to starve, dehydrate, and die.  Though we had talked about life during this course, all but one felt the Biblical thing to do was to remove the feeding tube.  Needless to say, I was shocked and dismayed.  None of them based this on any scriptural passage or example but upon what they deemed to be a definition of life.  They used arguments based on definitions that true life is only present when one is fruitful or productive.  Some assumed that life is our personal possession and that we may discard it at any time and for any reason.  Others suggested that since life with God is so much superior to this one, ending this life to enjoy that one is justified.  One even went so far as to give me Webster’s definition, as though this was the absolute answer and would settle all question.  The problem is, it doesn't matter what Webster or anyone else thinks about what life is.  The only thing that matters is what God thinks about life and how He defines it.

As soon as we begin to try to qualify what is life and what is not, we have entered a very dangerous area that

opens the door to all sorts of problems.  If life is defined on the basis of how fruitful one can be, then there are many in our society that should be “graciously” put out of their (our) misery because they can no longer or may never have been able to contribute something.  And who is to say what the level of contribution has to be in order to be determined worthy of life?  If receiving life giving sustenance from a tube is the line that we draw, then no infant in the womb deserves to live as they are sustained only by life’s original feeding tube.  Several of them felt if the person themselves had expressed a desire that they not live in such a way, then that was justification for the removal of the tube and starving them to death.  But isn’t that just suicide, and the removal of the tube assisted suicide?  So much of our society believes that life is something that is our personal possession and we are free to do with it whatever we choose.  It is a grave error when we view life is such a way.   Did we do anything to produce life in ourselves?  Did we create it?  Purchase it?  Earn it?  Then how can we claim that it is ours?  If it is not ours, then whose is it, and what is our role in handling what has been granted to us?

In Genesis 2, we see that God determined to fashion man in His own image and He breathed into man the breath of life.  Thus life belongs to God and He alone bestows it as a custodial gift upon each of us.  It is not like a gift that our parents give us which we feel free to abuse and discard as we please.  It is the most precious gift given to anything that God made and our Maker requires us to give it the highest regard and care.  Therefore He gives instructions and commands that we are to hold life in the highest regard and do everything we can to promote and maintain not only our own lives, but the lives of others.

Though I had taught my students this perspective of life from God’s Word, I was unable to persuade them to hold fast against the pressure of our world.  A Christian school teacher cannot do it alone.  A Christian pastor or youth leader cannot do it alone.  As Christian parents, we must understand the high responsibility we have to impress this upon our children.  The influence of the society around them is great and takes all our concerted effort to overcome.

Vacation!

by Jennie Smith
Secondary Assistant Principal

My classroom is quiet today - most of our high school students are off on a week-long educational field trip.  One of my favorite tasks is planning the Spring Trip - this year's trip has barely begun and I already have next year's planned in my head.  I love digging up information on an area and planning out educational opportunities for students to learn outside of the classroom.  These experiences are not just limited to school hours and field trips.  If you would like to add some learning opportunities to your summer vacation, here are some tips for doing so:

1.  Trip Advisor
I always start trip planning with tripadvisor.com.  Put in your destination and you can discover a lot of information about the place to which you are travelling.  One of my favorite links is "Things to Do."  This lists, in order of popularity, different attractions in the area - museums, national parks, hiking trails, and other activities.  Travelers have rated the attractions and have left reviews of the site.  From the reviews, you can get a good understanding if this is an appropriate stop for your family.

2.  The Website
After picking out a few attractions for your family to visit, explore the attraction's website.  Most of the websites will have an "Education" tab - those are not just for teachers!  This will be the place you will find out if there are daily tours, ranger programs, or movies.  Other helpful tabs may be "Plan Your Visit" or "Programs."

3.  Printables
On the website, you may find a "Teacher Resources" section.  Many attractions prepare lessons for teachers to use before coming on site for a field trip.  Explore those - you don't have to show a teacher I.D. to click on the link.  You may find some fun  printables - coloring pages, mazes, word searches - that you can take along with you for some in-car fun.

4.  Late Night Fun
On the Spring Trip, I like to keep the kids busy until late at night.  There are many educational opportunities that can happen after dark.  Is there an IMAX theater with a cool documentary about something local?  Is there a symphony performance or Broadway style show everyone can get dressed up for?  Is there an observatory in the area?  Many times they host public night viewings.  Your kids will be so excited about staying up past bedtime, they won't realize they are learning something too.

5.  Before You Go
Many times Christian parents have to fight against evolutionary ideas when visiting national parks and museums.  Arm yourself with good movies, books, and information before you leave.  Answers in Genesis is a reputable and excellent company that puts out stellar information on many of the amazing sites in our world.  Buy a movie or two for the car ride and help give your children the truth before you arrive at your destination.  Some of the movies can be rented from Amazon.com if you have computer access on your trip.

6.  Themed Vacation
If you aren't committed to a particular place for your vacation, consider making a themed vacation.  For example, the students of FCS are currently on a geology themed experience.  They are visiting amazing rock formations, the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and even taking a float trip down the Colorado River - they are experiencing God's glorious hand and learning something at the same time.  Other ideas:  Wild West, Arts and Culture, Biology, US History, Government.  My dream vacation would be a literature tour of Boston, Massachusetts.  What are some themed vacations you can think of?

One of the greatest goals I have for the students attending the Spring Trip at Faith Christian School is that they would understand that learning can happen ANYWHERE!  Learning can be fun!  Learning isn't confined to the inside of the classroom!  God has given us a great big world to explore and He reveals Himself to us in many ways and there is so much joy in discovering these wonderful treats He has given us.  I challenge you to make your next summer vacation an enjoyable, learning experience for your child.  Give it a try -  may you too experience the joy of lifelong learning!