It would seem only right to tell you at the beginning that I have never attended a Christian School. My earliest education was received in the old Madison elementary school, the property of which is now owned by Grand Rapids Christian High School. The secondary school which I attended was Grand Rapids South. Even at the college level I did not matriculate in a church-related college. Instead, I attended the University of Michigan college of engineering. Only after this did I receive degrees from Hope College and Western Theological Seminary. Finally, I was awarded a master’s degree by the University of Chicago. Consequently, I have no personal Christian·school background.
Since this is the case, the question quite naturally arises as to why I choose to place my children in the Christian school. I must confess to you, candidly, that when I first made that decision I did so chiefly on the basis of expediency. Not that I knew nothing of Christian education, for in the providence of God, I was placed in a position where I had learned something of the basic concepts which undergird the Christian school movement. My earliest introduction to the real facts of Christian education came at the University of Chicago. There I came into contact with a group of Christian-school personnel, both teachers and administrators, who were summer students in the graduate school. One in particular, a Christian-school principal, became my close friend. From him I learned more of the philosophy and practice of Christian education than I had ever known.
I had known little about either the philosophy or the practice of Christian education prior to that time, though I had been reared in Grand Rapids, and therefore, in the midst of numerous Christian schools. If I may digress for a moment, I think we often assume that people at large know much more concerning our schools, and for that matter concerning our churches, than they actually do. Perhaps if we were to realize how basically ignorant they are of the real facts which appertain to Christian education and to the Christian day school, we would endeavor to acquaint them with the real nature of Christian education, of its philosophy, of the application of that philosophy in educational methodology, as a matter of public relations, if not as an attempt to make them realize the value of Christian education for their children.
Two or three years ago I delivered the “kick-off” address for a capital funds drive for one of the Christian schools. At that time I set forth some of the values which I believe inhere in the education of our children in schools which are based upon the covenantal concept. One of the men who was present, participating in the drive, introduced himself and commented, “I am so happy you chose the subject you did tonight, because I have been sending my children to this school for years, because the church said this is where I ought to send my children, but 1 did not know why I was sending them here, other than that my church told me this was the thing I ought to do.”
I, too, was afflicted with this basic ignorance of Christian education when I came into intimate contact with Christian-school personnel at the University of Chicago, and I suspect that this was the beginning of serious thought on the subject for me.
Somewhat later, when the time approached to enroll our first child in school, I was faced with the practical decision of where to enroll our child. I have said this decision was made on the basis of expediency, and so it was. The church we then served was situated in a community where I personally felt the school system was not fulfilling its proper function. Many people quite obviously disagreed with me; the school was the center of community life and held in high esteem by many. As far as the physical eye could see, it was an excellent school, relatively new buildings, the finest of equipment. Heavy industry was located in the area, so that the school wanted for nothing in the way of physical plant or equipment, while taxes were relatively low. There were gymnasiums, shops, athletic fields, and I suppose, everything that secular educationists regard as important.
Nonetheless, I felt the academic level of the school was low; therefore, I reasoned with myself something like this: I must live in this community, because I serve the church here; I believe that God wants me to be here at this particular time, because he has blessed the church very richly. At the same time, God surely does not intend that my children should be intellectually stunted, because of the school situation in this community. On that basis we enrolled our children in the Southwest Christian School of Grand Rapids.
Only later did I become convicted of the need for Christian instruction and the obligation of parents to provide it. Only later did I come to realize the importance of this kind of education for the children of covenant-keeping parents. These convictions lie near to my heart; I shall set them before you briefly.
As I tell you what I want in the way of education for my children, I shall be using the personal pronoun “I,” but you will understand that I do so only for illustrative purposes. I am actually setting forth the desire of every parent to whom God has granted grace to perceive the necessity of Christian instruction for his children.
The first thing I want my children to receive is a sense of the sovereignty of God over all of life and over all the creation which He brought into being by the might of His power. This may appear as little more than a pious generality, but it can be translated into educational philosophy and practice in concrete terms.
It means, first, that I want my children to be taught not merely that two plus two equals four, but that two plus two equals four, because God built that kind of world, a world of order, a world of mathematical certainty. 1 want this fact emphasized and reemphasized in the education of my children, so that whether they are being taught the rudiments of arithmetic or the application of the formulas of differential and integral calculus, they will be reminded, at each step of the way, that these formulations are possible, because God fabricated these principles into the very structure of the universe, and that all mathematical formulation is possible, because and only because God created that kind of world.
Second, I want my children to be taught that history is something more than the blind, aimless fumbling of men and nations. They must be taught that God has a purpose in history, and further, that history cannot be interpreted apart from this fact, that God has a plan for his creation, and a purpose for the race of men which is being worked out in history. Indeed, that history is the unfolding of the plan of God for man and nations.
I want them to perceive in the rise and greatness of Egypt the purpose of God in the nurture and preservation of his people in the time of Jacob, Joseph and the some four hundred years which followed.
I want them to perceive the purpose of God in raising up the Roman Empire, in establishing a large area of law and order, so that following the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, the New Testament Church could have its beginnings in a mere handful of men, and yet send the Gospel across the whole of the then-civilized world. I want them to see in the fall of the Roman Empire, the fact that when God had finished with them, and with his purpose in them, he permitted their moral corruption to bring about the collapse of the empire. I want them to know that Rome fell, not so much because the barbarian hordes swept down upon it, but much more really, because of its internal corruption, immorality and lust. I want them to see the fall of the Roman Empire as an example of the judgment of God being executed throughout all history, upon both men and nations.
I want my children to know that this great nation, where God has set us down in his marvelous providence, came to be founded, not by fate nor an accident of history, nor above all, as a result of Marxian dialecticism, but rather, because God selected certain choice souls, men whose lives were bound up in Christ, and sent them to the wilderness shores of the North American continent, here to found a great nation under God.
Further, I want my children to know—and if this be treason or bigotry as these terms are loosely employed today, let those who will make the most of it I want my children to know that these men were not Jews, not Roman Catholics, but Calvinists, even as you and I are. They must understand that the kind of nation which we have, its social order, its economic structure, its religious freedom, was born out of a faith like unto our own.
This knowledge, widely disseminated and made vital in the hearts of God’s children by his grace, is our only hope of retaining the blessed heritage which has come down to us as a church in the midst of American society. Our children must be taught, contrary to the views of secular sociologists, economists, and political scientists, that whatever is good in America, politically, economically and socially, is rooted in the faith and life of our earliest forefathers who gave birth to this nation in its incipient stages.
I want them to know that our physical and material advantages are not unrelated to spiritual fact, but that, on the contrary, the only real and vital facts, underlying all we count as blessings, are spiritual facts.
I want my children to realize that the so-called “scientiflc wonders” are in reality the marvels of God’s creation. I want them to know that it is the highest aim of scientific investigation to glorify Cod by bringing to light the wonders which God fabricated into the structure of this marvelous world and the universe of which it is a part. I want them to know that no matter how far they go in scientific research, no matter how deeply they dig, no matter what they uncover or discover, all they shall ever succeed in doing is to bring to light more of the wonders of God, built into the very structure of the universe at its creation.
More, I want my children to know the nature of the problem which we face as individuals, as a church, and as a race. I want them to know why Cain killed Abel, why man slays man, why wars are fought, why multitudes have died in concentration camps, why men are kept like animals in the labor camps of the Communist sphere of power, why men cheat and lie and steal. Specifically, I do not want them misled by the fallacy that this results from the vestige of the beast in man, or that ignorance, lack of education or Jack of culture can begin to explain what is wrong in the world.
I want them to know that man did something terrible in the infancy of the human race when he sought to overthrow the authority of God, and that man, as a race, is still engaged in the unholy pursuit of seeking to dethrone the God of the universe and to ascend to that throne himself. I want them to know that every evil, misery, ache and pain in the world can be traced to one primary source, which is man’s defiance of a righteous and holy God, and his attempt to live in rebellion against God.
Of equal importance, I want my children to be taught that the key to mankind’s dilemma is to be found in the person and work of Jesus Christ, that he is the One and only One who is able to set man at peace with God, the One and the only One who can transmit the power of God into the life of man, reconstructing, regenerating, and redirecting man and the course of his life, pointing him godward. elevating his liIe to its highest plane, until at last, as God’s children, our lives are hid with Christ in God.
Finally, I want my children to be taught that all life and all knowledge has moral content. They must be taught that two plus two equals four has a moral connotation. The knowledge that two plus two equals four is as much the tool of the thief, the embezzler, and the scoundrel, as it is the tool of the man who seeks to glorify God in all the relationships, activities and institutions to which he is related.
It is not enough that they should know that two plus two equals four; they must be taught that this knowledge may be used to glorify God or in an effort to defy God, that this knowledge may be used to hurt mankind or to help and lift and bless mankind. I want them to know that every particle of knowledge which may be imparted to them, from the simplest to the most complex, has moral overtones and connotations, that precisely because it may be used for evil, they must exercise extreme caution always to use it for good that God may be glorified in their lives.
To put it another way, my first concern for the life of my son is, not whether he shall split rails or split atoms; it is, rather, that whether he splits rails or atoms, he will do so with this end in view, that God may be glorified. My primary concern is not, first of aU, whether my son performs delicate surgery or butchers hogs, but, whether it be delicate surgery or butchering hogs, I am deeply concerned that his aim and motivation should be the glorification of God.
This kind of education represents an ideal, of course, and we understand that an ideal is never fully achieved. This we do not expect. Our churches do not achieve the ideal; they are not perfect; nor shall they ever be as long as the church remains in the world. Neither are our schools perfect. At the same time, both in the church and in the school we strive for perfection; that is, we strive to achieve the high ideal which God sets before us.
I regret the necessity of the observation that, in at least some Christian schools, the ideal remains not only unachieved but unapproached. We dare not presume that boys and girls in every Christian-school classroom are taught that two plus equals four because God created the world after that pattern. We dare not proceed under the assumption that in every Christian-school classroom history is being taught as the unfolding of the plan of God, with the Church at the center of all history. We dare not delude ourselves with the notion that boys and girls in every Christian school classroom are taught that scientific discovery, invention, and progress can do nothing more nor less than reveal the glory of God, as it is found in the universe of his creation.
Indeed, I know that this is not the case, both as a result of serious discussion with Christian-school personnel and by personal experience with the schools. More than one Christian-school teacher has made this remark to me concerning certain of the Christian schools, “It is a public school with a Bible department, masquerading under the name ‘Christian School.’”
Just a few weeks ago, driving between Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan, with a group of boys and girls from one of the Christian schools, I discussed with them the deterioration of Christian education, as we have seen it in the history of our country, and more specifically in the instance of church-related colleges and universities—how Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Chicago, Rutgers, which once belonged to the Reformed Church, and many other great universities have slipped away from their spiritual moorings and become secular institutions. How, when it appeared that Harvard, the first university in North America, was departing the faith and leaving its spiritual moorings behind, those who saw the danger founded Yale University. Within a few years the institution they founded assumed a tendency and direction similar to that of the institution they were seeking to replace. How as the years passed by one great university after another turned to secularism, sometimes manifesting disinterest toward the Christian faith, and usually, sooner or later, becoming antagonistic toward it.
As we talked about these things together, one of the boys said, “My teacher did not tell us these things.” I asked, “Did you study the founding of these early American universities, Harvard, Yale?” He replied, “Yes, we’ve just finished studying that period of American History.” I asked, “What did the textbook say about it?” He answered, “We don’t have a Christian-school textbook.” I said, “That may be understandable. Christian-school textbooks are not available in many areas as yet, but what did your teacher do to supplement the text?” He said, “Nothing. The teacher did not tell uS that Harvard and Yale were founded as Christian colleges; she did not tell us that they no longer represent the faith on which they were founded. She told us none of these things.”
Well, now, you see, the boys and girls who told me of this situation in their history class could have received from the public school anything which they received in this Christian-school classroom concerning American history. We do not send our children to Christian schools merely to learn what they could have learned in a public-school classroom. That would be pointless.
I would like to believe that this is an isolated example, and I would tend to believe just that, if it were not for what Christian-school teachers have told me of conditions in various schools. When I related the foregoing experience to a Christian-school teacher he merely smiled and said, “She probably didn’t know any better; she probably did not know herself that these schools were founded as Christian colleges, and if she did know that much, she probably did not know they have departed the faith. She probably is not clearly aware of the apostate condition which prevails in many educational institutions bearing n denominational name.”
This may be true; I don’t know; if it is true, it gives rise to a further question, which is not merely what our children are being taught in the Christian schools, but what our Christian-school teachers are being taught as they are prepared for teaching by our church-related colleges. I am not in a position to delve into this question at the present time, but I do think there is a sufficient incidence of questionable instruction in our schools so that the question ought to be raised concerning the preparation of our teachers for their high task and stewardship.
My opinion is that the Christian schools are in jeopardy today. I wonder if this may not be true, at least in part, because Christian education is more popular today than it has ever been before in this country. More people are sending their children to the Christian schools; more brick and mortar is going up; to the external eye the Christian schools are more successful than ever before. Just at a time like this we need to exercise care, lest while we attain to the external marks of “success,” we slip our moorings and depart from the basic principles upon which our schools were founded.
To put it another way, I suspect that we are seeing the encroachment of secular philosophies of education. I see this in two ways. I see it, first, among some of the younger teachers. I make no blanket indictment; that would be grossly unfair. The young teachers of whom T am about to speak may represent a small minority of the total number. Many of the young teachers are undoubtedly young people who are doing a commendable work, and at considerable personal sacrifice. At the same time, too many parents have reported to me the problems they have had with children who were under the care of younger teachers, problems which have often been corrected when the child came into contact with an older teacher.
This has happened in Our own family, and I will speak only for myself, though other parents have cited similar incidents. When our second child reached school age, I had accepted a new charge in another city. She began school, along with our older boy, in another place. After some time I discovered that she was not learning to read satisfactorily. I spoke with the principal, comparing the progress in reading my daughter was making in this school with the progress my son made in another school. The principal replied, “No two children are alike.” This, of course, we all recognize, the factor of individual differences, a basic consideration in educational methodology. In the back of my mind was the thought, however, that no two teachers are alike either. This was borne out when, in the third grade, my little girl came into the class of a middle-age teacher. Before the year was completed she was reading beyond the third grade level.
Where the difference lie? In the teaching methods and in the educational philosophies from which methods of teaching are derived. Were this group comprised solely of educators who are acquainted with variant educational philosophies and methods, I think I could demonstrate that unsound methods have crept into at least some areas of our schools. Having done so, I am sure that I could demonstrate that these methods are derived from a philosophy of education which is antithetical to the Christian faith. Since, however, both board and society members are present, and they make no pretense of being acquainted with the technicalities of educational philosophy and practice, I merely point to the end result, which is that our schools, in at least some places, are beginning to demonstrate a tendency toward the academic weaknesses which are found in many of the public schools. This is more than a question of academic training, for our methods are derived from our educational philosophy, and our educational philosophy is derived from our faith.
This raises the question a second time: How are our teachers being trained? It also raises a second vital question. What steps are taken by administrators and board members to insure the fact that the teachers they employ have a Reformed philosophy of education? Perhaps this is precisely where the problem lies, in the individual teacher, rather than in the training they have received in our church-related colleges. If it can be shown that our colleges are giving proper training, training in a philosophy and methodology which is consonant with the Reformed faith, then only one explanation remains: certain individual teachers have deviated from the training they received. Whatever the cause, the solution is the same; it lies in the active oversight of administrators and board members.
Secondly, I see the encroachment of secular philosophies of education in what I term an inordinate desire for the accreditation of our schools. Admittedly, accreditation is desirable, if it does not demand of us that which our Christian philosophy of education will not allow. This situation is comparable to what our churches teach concerning obedience to civil government. We teach, do we not, that we are to be obedient to the civil authorities, insofar as they do not demand of us that which the Word of God will not permit. So with accreditation. 1£ we can achieve accreditation without violating our Christian consciences in the area of education, then it is desirable. But we must remember that those who set the standard for accreditation may and often do have views of education which are different from and opposed to our own. When, therefore, accreditation agencies demand of us that which we in good conscience cannot provide, we must face the fact that accreditation is not the primary consideration in the education of our children; training them according to the views which we have developed from the Word of God is our goal. We dare not accept the view of the world as to what is sound or unsound, good or bad, important or unimportant.
Unfortunately, some administrators and some boards have used the accreditation argument as a lever by which to pry out of an unwilling society certain changes, both as to plant and as to curriculum. The accreditation argument has been used in connection with the drive for gymnasiums. Let it be understood that I find no fault with gymnasiums, printing presses, auto shops, and what-have-you. But I do raise the question whether these secondary things will not soon become primary in the Christian schools, just as they have in many of the public schools where shop courses, personality development, and social adjustment courses are multiplied while young people can scarcely read or write.
This may appear far removed at the moment. We may be grateful that our schools have achieved an academic reputation which is recognized by those outside our circles. At the same time, if such weaknesses exist, we dare not permit them to continue and progress. The issue must be raised as to how far the standards of the world can he permitted to infringe upon the pattern of Christian education, and how far the dictates of secular authorities can be permitted to direct our schools, if they are to remain Christian.
Another practical problem is related to this matter. When one adopts the secular pattern of education, it becomes an extremely expensive proposition. The reason education costs so much in our time is, bluntly, that the public schools are teaching everything but what many of us would call the essentials. And the Christian school in some places has begun to follow this pattern; the things that are secondary tend to become primary.
If you wish a specific instance, I would cite the statement of a school board member from another state. A few years ago the Christian School Society was induced to build a gymnasium at considerable cost. Now this board member has told me that his son has gym classes several times a week, but that the Bible is taught only one semester out of two, because they don’t have time to teach Bible both semesters. So one has the displacement of primary things with secondary things, and at an ever-increasing cost to the covenantal community.
As we walked in the door this noon, a man introduced himself and said, “Next year it will cost me twelve hundred dollars to continue my four children in the Christian schools. 1 want to see if you can convince me that it’s worth it.” Well, I don’t know if I can or not. I am certain that I could if the schools in which his children are enrolled are truly Christian schools. True Christian education is worth the price at any cost, but the question in any individual case is whether the school is truly Christian, or whether it is merely a “public” school with a part-time Bible department.
One problem lies more deeply rooted still. The very foundations of the church and the school are being shaken. I speak now of the question of Biblical infallibility which has recently reared its ugly head. I have no intention of dabbling in the problems of the Christian Reformed denomination; we have enough problems in the Reformed Church to occupy our full time and attention. Still, certain facts cannot be evaded. Though the Christian school is independent of the church, the constituency of the Christian Reformed Church and of the Christian-school movement is largely the same. Because this is true, we must realize that as the church goes, so the school will go also.
Before the last synod the former editor of The Banner, the late Reverend H. J. Kuiper, whom I admired greatly though I did not know him personally, said, “The church is at the cross-roads!” Had he been speaking on the issue of Christian education at that time, he undoubtedly would have added, “The school is at the crossroads.”
If the Bible is not the inspired, authoritative, inerrant, infallible Word of God, the question is not merely, “What will you preach?” but “What will you teach?” If this foundation is destroyed, nothing remains. I am not here to argue the technicalities of the question of infallibility. I do want to call your attention to the statement of the Reformed Standards of Unity. In the Belgic or Netherlands Confession is contained a listing of the sixty-six canonical books. Then the Confession declares, “We receive all these books and these only, as holy and canonical…believing without any doubt all things contained in them…because the Holy Ghost witnesses in our hearts that they are from God…” (Art. V). If we should ever lose this sure faith, if we should for one moment question the authority and the infallibility of the Word of God, there is nothing left.
I would not want to be misunderstood in what I am seeking to say. Sometimes it seems that people deliberately misunderstand. When a criticism is raised in denominational circles, say concerning the function of a denominational board, those in authority immediately proclaim that the critic is “opposed to the work of the church.” As a matter of fact the man who raises the issue may love the church very dearly; he raises the issue precisely because he loves the church so much, and he asks only that the church shall be the church.
This is my position as I raise these issues concerning the present status of our schools. Precisely because I believe so firmly in the necessity of Christian education for our children, precisely because I have a deep conviction concerning the Christian school, I am impelled to raise questions concerning these observable and deplorable tendencies. God has given us a rich heritage in the Christian school movement. What tragedy, then, if we should depart from the basic principles which motivated our fathers and grandfathers to found these schools at great sacrifice. It is for us, who are deeply committed to the Christian school movement to be eternally vigilant, lest we lose by neglect and default the precious heritage we have received.