The Goal Our Christian School
In today's secularized Christianity, it has been my distressing experience
to discover that Christian parents assume that a Christian school (whether
elementary, secondary or collegiate) should have the same goals as a public
school; the only difference being, we read the Bible and pray. Therefore,
if their child does not test above, or at least on the same level, as a
public school student on standardized, secular tests, then the Christian
school has failed them. From all indications, it would seem that the only
goal a Christian parent has, is the same as a secular parent, which is to
ride around town with a bumper sticker proclaiming how intelligent the
parent's child is! In so doing, the parent, by having produced this child
prodigy, has somehow validated his existence by this practice of
one-upmanship. If our only benchmark of success is comparing grade point
averages, then we (parents and teachers) have failed. "For we dare not make
ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend
themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing
themselves among themselves, are not wise." (II Corinthians 10:12) The
goal of a Christian school is radically different than that of a public
school! Having stated this, the question would naturally arise, what is the
goal of the Christian school? The answer is found in Isaiah 2:3: "And many
people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the
LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Since this is the goal, the wise
Christian school can now develop the needed curriculum to successfully equip
the Christian student in becoming proficient in this God-given purpose for
his life. With this in mind, we examine the Bible for the purpose of what
has been historically referred to as the "3 - r's: reading, writing and
arithmetic."
The first "r" is reading. What purpose does God have in us learning to
read? "And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of
his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words
of this law and these statutes, to do them." (Deuteronomy 17:19) God wants
us to develop the ability to read in order to learn how He wants us to live
and then live that way!
The second "r" is writing. Writing is how we communicate. But
learning to write is not a tool to be used to make money; it is a tool to be
employed in building up the faith of believers. "These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the
Son of God." (I John 5:13)
Finally, the third "r" is arithmetic. According to Webster's 1828
Dictionary, arithmetic means "the art of numbering". With that definition
in mind, we read in Psalms the purpose of arithmetic or numbering: "So teach
us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Psalms
90:12)
The Bible clearly communicates to us the purpose of Christian
education. It is simply to teach His ways so we can walk in His paths.
Failing to have this as our goal will eventually lead us to arrive at the
same destination as the secular school - academic idolatry, with its
attendant results. "And also all that generation were gathered unto their
fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the
LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." (Judges 2:10)
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