Education in Schools

I recently read an article by Dr. Morris H. Chapman, who is the president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee.  In this article, Dr. Chapman suggests the idea of church getting together to create community school to counter secular society's effect on public education.  Here is an excerpt from his article.

"But in celebrating accomplishments like these, I now wonder if our focus in the evangelical community should shift at least in part from training our children during the transition to adulthood to placing greater emphasis on training up a child in the way he should go. I'm not advocating the neglect of what we have already established in higher education, but simply a course correction in an area that seems to have suffered neglect -- the protection and nurturing of the spiritual health and growth of children and adolescents. In far too many public schools throughout the country our children are being bombarded with secular reasoning, situational ethics and moral erosion." (1)

I absolutely agree with Dr. Chapman's assessment of the problems with public schools.  I, however, disagree with his remedy.  He would encourage churches to create their own public school model, driven by their own values.  Now my values are their values, but I would suggest not less involvement in the public schools but more.  I reprinted below the email that I sent in response to Dr. Chapman's article.

Dear Dr. Chapman,

I read with great interest your recent article concerning the need for more Christian elementary and secondary schools. As a Christian who has been a public school educator for fifteen years, the majority of them working in a school that services high poverty, high-at-risk students, I have observed with some dismay the ethical and educational decline to which you referred. The devastating effect our societies lack of a moral center has had on our public school system cannot be over-stated. However, I would disagree with your conclusion that the answer is for the church (or the SBC) to further insulate and remove itself from society.

I cannot help but feel that by building our own schools to teach things the way we want, further abdicates our right to be salt and light to the community around us. In my fifteen years of teaching, I have yet to see the church take an overwhelming interest in being involved with the public education system. Yet, I have heard many Christians, some behind a pulpit and some in the congregation, criticize how schools are run. It would seem that since the "removal of prayer in schools" argument of the sixties and seventies, the church has slipped off into the corner to lick its wounds and has taken an "I'll show you, just wait 'til my dad gets here" attitude. 

If we are to affect real change in society, we need to lose our "separate but equal" mind set, and get back involved. Start by volunteering in the schools. Become an overwhelming presence in the hallways of education. Practice life style evangelism. Don't encourage parents to remove their students from school, but instead encourage parents to be apart of their child's class. Join the PTA and be active in it. These are just some of the ideas I can think of as I am sitting on my couch.

Sincerely,

Matt Stone

(1) Chapman, Dr. Morris A Case for Christian elementary and secondary schools, April 24, 2009, www.sbc.net

Very Superstitious Writings on the Wall

I really don't care for basketball, but I enjoy sports talk radio.  So right now, in the midst of the NBA post season, if I want to hear all the sports talking head talk about the teams I do care about (the Tampa Bay Rays in baseball season, and ,more importantly, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during football season) then I must suffer through the debate over who the most important player is, Kobe or Lebron, and whether either of them can get their team to the NBA finals for the game that all the basketball world would love to see, the Lakers versus the Cavaliers.

It is interesting to note, though, that both teams look to be in quite the fight just to make it out of the playoffs. The rhetoric is so heated that a person would almost think that the success of each players career hung on their achievements in these very games.  However, such talk is not unique to the NBA.  Every year, and in every sport played everywhere it would seem the fate of all existence hangs  on the welfare of any given team. Fans of the Chicago Cubs have been feasting on humble pie for decades.

The emphasis to achieve  greatness has pervaded every aspect of our lives.  A baby born today can enter beauty contests, in a few years participate in Little League World Series, be a part of a  National Honor Society in high school and graduate summa cum laude from college all before entering the work force.  Several aisles of shelves in book stores are filled with tomes on being a better you.

Now before you think that this is just another rant about the growing pressure to succeed, let me tell you that I see nothing wrong with doing your best, and really, nobody wants to be thought of as an also-ran. As the cliche goes, everyone loves a winner.

And really, who loves a loser?

Hmmmmm???? How about what Christ said, "those who lose their life for me and the gospel will save it"?  Or Paul who considered everything a loss in comparison to the knowledge of Christ? Where was the success there?  Obviously, it was in a life committed to the knowledge of Christ and his Gospel.

I worry today that we have been so conditioned to succeed in every aspect of our life, that we have allowed that to taint our Christian life as well.  And in so doing we have made our Christianity little more than a package of superstitions tied up with the twine of faith.

I say superstitions, because we have created rituals and myths to reaffirm our beliefs instead of leaning on faith.  We pass on false stories about missionaries guarded by angels, and watch movies where every problem is neatly tied up by the end of the story.  They make us feel good and convince that we are living successful Christian lives.  But, unfortunately our faith is never challenged and our dependence on God does not grow.

We have been convinced that Christianity is outside the realm of reason.  Worse, we have become satisfied to not even challenge our mind to understand the deeper thoughts of God.  We share in the scolding the the first century church received when they were told that they should be eating meat, but were still drinking milk in their understanding of the faith.

Consequently, instead of going deeper, we just spread the shallowness out further.  It is easy to get to the bottom of the pool when the water is only a few feet deep.  But, this shallowness allows us to feel successful.  We would rather watch movies and read books that give us happy endings, than to seek out that which might challenge our faith.

 Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living.  I would paraphrase it that an unchallenged faith is not worth having.  I echo Paul's challenge to the Corinthians, examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith.