Sir:
I much appreciated the review by the Rev. Fred Van Houten of my book, The Spirit of the Reformed Tradition in your November issue.
Permit me, however, to take issue with his statement that I fail to “appreciate the Christian day schools and their efforts to establish Cod at the center of education.” Rev. Van Houten is right when he says that I claim that separate day schools “are not ideal because of social separation. which is never the ideal for Reformed Christianity,” but he fails to mention what I say in behalf of such schools. I make very clear that a secular education is not ideal either. I say: “One’s philosophy of education—his conception of the goals of education, his scale of value, the nature of the child and of reality, and of the child’s relation to it—ought not to be sacrificed. How can it be any more than his philosophy of life, if it has been thought through? A Christian should seek to honor God and Christian values as Christian values in education just as he does in the rest of life. He may feel required, therefore, to seek a means of educating his children consistent with his basic conviction about life” (p. 162).
In struggling with this problem I say finally that a system of dual attendance whereby some work is taken together in public schools and some is taken separately might be the best arrangement. God’s blessing on your work.
Sincerely,
M. EUGENE OSTERHAVEN
P.S. Incidentally, three of my own children are graduates of Holland Christian High School.
I much appreciated the review by the Rev. Fred Van Houten of my book, The Spirit of the Reformed Tradition in your November issue.
Permit me, however, to take issue with his statement that I fail to “appreciate the Christian day schools and their efforts to establish Cod at the center of education.” Rev. Van Houten is right when he says that I claim that separate day schools “are not ideal because of social separation. which is never the ideal for Reformed Christianity,” but he fails to mention what I say in behalf of such schools. I make very clear that a secular education is not ideal either. I say: “One’s philosophy of education—his conception of the goals of education, his scale of value, the nature of the child and of reality, and of the child’s relation to it—ought not to be sacrificed. How can it be any more than his philosophy of life, if it has been thought through? A Christian should seek to honor God and Christian values as Christian values in education just as he does in the rest of life. He may feel required, therefore, to seek a means of educating his children consistent with his basic conviction about life” (p. 162).
In struggling with this problem I say finally that a system of dual attendance whereby some work is taken together in public schools and some is taken separately might be the best arrangement. God’s blessing on your work.
Sincerely,
M. EUGENE OSTERHAVEN
P.S. Incidentally, three of my own children are graduates of Holland Christian High School.