Purpose
It is the purpose of the Christian school to teach that the Lord Jesus Christ
is to be preeminent in all of life, including education. For over three hundred years, the
schools of America supported the Christian faith. As the tax-supported public school came
on the scene, it was staffed in overwhelming numbers by Christian teachers who
communicated the essence of their faith in spite of a system that by the specific
determination of its founder, Horace Mann, was intended to be secular.
Significant changes began to appear
in the second decade of the twentieth century. John Dewey and William Kilpatrick presented
a philosophy that attracted the "emancipated" minds of their day. They denied
absolute values, supernatural revelation, and wisdom of experience. This philosophy has
shaped the thinking of the great majority of the school administrators in this country
today. Therefore, there is a clear, critical difference between the Biblical and the
secular viewpoints on a subject. Even though the facts of knowledge are identical for
both, the Christian school teaches that no subject can be taught in the totality of its
truth when the Creator is denied or ignored, which is the case in the secular school.
Now we read concerning the "new
breed of teacher" as follows: "Relativistic moral attitudes with strong personal
commitment."
"Morality is a statistical rather than an ethical concept, i.e. is what the group
thinks is moral." (Can Our Schools Teach Moral Commitment? by Joseph S.
Junell, page 446, Phi Delta Kappa, April 1969)
It is
increasingly
evident that the schools of the United States today are not supporting the faith and
commitment of Christian homes. After lamenting the widespread rebellion against authority
that characterizes college campuses and family circles, we must seek the source that has
instructed the younger generation in these patterns of thought and action. No such
investigation is complete until the philosophy and instruction in contemporary American
education is examined. Those who question the role of the high school, junior high, and
elementary classroom in these developments are urged to give special attention to the
impact of instruction in literature and social studies.
During the school day the teachers
are in loco parentis, in the place of the parents, which makes the parents and
teachers partners in the education of the students. Parents, though, are ultimately
responsible for the education of their children (Proverbs 22:6). Therefore, it is time for
Christian parents to seek and support education to the glory of God. The only educational
institutions that are committed to this Biblical standard are those Christian schools that
specifically instruct their students to bring into captivity "every thought to the
obedience of Jesus Christ." (II Corinthians 10:5) |