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Christian education

Math: why are we learning this anyway?

Back in 2021, math teacher David Shuster gave this presentation to the parents of his students at Trinity Classical School in Bellingham, WA. **** How can you and I best work together to help your children learn mathematics? Actually, I don’t really want to talk about that. I think, in pursuit of the “how,” we sometimes lose sight of the “why,” which is something often especially elusive in mathematics. As I’m teaching my students in their proofs for geometry, we need to always work with the goal in mind. If you don’t know where you’re headed, how are you going to get there? My hope is that talking about the “why” of math will naturally illuminate the “how” of math. So that will be the main part of my talk, and then maybe we’ll briefly revisit the “how” towards the end. So, why should we, as Christians, learn math? If there is no good answer to this question, then the student who says “Uggh, I’m never going to use this anyway” is making a good point. Life is short; memento mori!1 Don’t waste your life staring at numbers. Now of course the why of everything is to become more Christ-like. Yet if we look at Christ’s life, it doesn’t seem like there’s that much math in it. “If you have 5 loaves of bread and 2 pieces of fish, and divide that among 5000 people, then the remainder is 12 basketfuls...” The Bible is full of theology and history and philosophy and language and even music. But it seems like the most math you get is those seemingly skim-worthy census counts or tabernacle dimensions in Exodus, etc. It is in there, for eternity Raise your hand if you know what the Ten Commandments are. If you know who Moses is. If you know what the Tabernacle is. If you know who Bezalel is. Well, God was telling Moses about Bezalel and God said, “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge, etc.” Now go read Exodus and notice that much of that Spirit-filled ability, intelligence, and knowledge was very mathematical and quantitative. Bezalel spearheaded the building of the Tabernacle which serves, inscribed in the everlasting Word of God, as a reminder that God dwells among His people. Bezalel used math to eternally preach the beauty of the Incarnation of Christ. We may use buzzwords like “financial stewardship,” but we forget the potential significance of practicality. We often forget that the real core of the Christian battle is fought on the ground in the most mundane moments of life. And, as with the behind-the-scenes character who helped build the Tabernacle, those mundane material moments are etched into eternity. Math fosters logic Ok, but what if I don’t want to be a Tabernacle-designer? Ah, ya got me. Let me tell you about the second reason we should study math. It develops principled thinking. Are you glad you can figure out what 2+5 is? What’s the use of learning it? You can just use a calculator. But the language of math forms our ability to think abstractly and recognize patterns. In fact, let’s look at what happens when the mathematical way of thinking is missing. Among the majors in college some odd ones tend to score very low in tests of mathematical and statistical skill: public administration and journalism. Now look where that got us. I’m not insulting anyone. I am saying that we desperately need godly journalists and public administrators who can logically pursue objective truth. In fact, whoever you are, you need quantitative discernment now to even read the news with wisdom. Studying math builds a deep intuition for the objectivity of truth. Math echoes our faithful God I sometimes like to watch grappling matches. And now and then I’ll see a wrestler who is about to get choked, and he just looks so incredibly calm. Calm wrestling. That’s what we do in math class. Uh, except no chokeholds. So often, that calmness allows us to notice openings and turn the tables instead of struggling in a futile and unproductive way. We learn to wrestle calmly even when uncertainty hangs over our heads. Because we know that our reality is upheld by a firm foundation, we know we can learn to love the pursuit of pure truth without fearing that our ground will give way. These characteristics of math are largely due to the structure deeply built into the content of math, which is reflected in its highly structured language. In philosophy, literature, and theology, the grammatical/ linguistic/literary structures, and the argument constructions, rely on consistent ways of moving symbols around to create meaning and to move from truth to truth. And math does a particularly good job of honing in on that skillset because the rigid language develops a keenly patterned way of thinking. Studying mathematics trains a principled pursuit of truth. But does the structure of mathematics become a circular cage? G. K. Chesterton said that: “Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom.... Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite....” What Chesterton just described as math and reason is its form in the fallen world divorced from its Creator. But when math and reason are contextualized by the liberal arts and, most importantly, grounded in a relationship with Christ, they take on a different tone. To return to Chesterton again, children have a natural sense of wonder when they see patterns in nature. Why does the sun always rise? Why do apples not cease to fall from trees? There is something miraculous about regularity, even in mathematics. We often take “1+1=2” for granted. Yet the patterns and consistencies of reality do not exist fully ex-nihilo. Rather, each of these consistencies reflects the faithfulness of God. The order and the logic behind the universe must be understood as a creative act of God, as a constant outpouring of His nature. And when we see reason as a creative outpouring of God’s nature, math’s true beauty becomes visible. Rather than having an either/or relationship with imagination, reason joins forces with imagination. And so, because math is God’s creative act, poetry is built into the language of mathematics. Out of His nature, God spoke nature into order, and mathematics is the patterned language that we speak back to Him to echo His faithfulness. Math points to the magic undergirding it all Thus in a fundamental way, math is myth. I don’t mean that it’s false, but I mean that it orients us around the regularities that we can behold but cannot grasp. Therefore we must strive to see poetry in the logical, and logic in the poetical. As we draw connections between different areas of mathematics, we see how the fabric of mathematics is skillfully woven by God to help us behold what is beyond us. For the Christian, reason is that fragile little vessel which allows us to chase the horizon on the infinite sea of poetry. The structure, pattern, the consistency of the mathematical language, this is the rigidity of that little wooden boat we’re in. And this little wooden boat is the interface of the infinite. And as we learn to see God’s order and infinitude reflected in every horizon, mathematics is transformed. For the Christian, math is patterned praise, a cosmic liturgy. And so when all this comes back around to the practical, we can find reason to praise God when calculating our taxes. No, I’m serious: in an ashy wasteland, even the littlest green sprout of God’s truth can be greeted with thanksgiving. So, to reiterate: Math is practical – it has eternal implications. Math is principled – it trains a drive for truth. And math is poetic – it is our way of cherishing and proclaiming the creative consistency that God perpetually speaks into reality. Conclusion Therefore, and this is the part to take notes, please make sure your kids get enough sleep. Make sure they have a quiet space because math is a little bit meditative. Whenever possible, ask them to help compute budgets or sketch out geometry behind fencing projects. Play games, think about riddles. Do regular things with math eyes on. Also consider your own attitude, as a parent, about math. If you’ve had a bad experience with math in school, try to take on the Christian vision of mathematics as something beautiful. Many things in life, attitudes included, can be inherited. Endnotes 1 “Remember death”...

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Christian education, Sexuality

The Sexual Revolution: a glaring gap in our kids’ education?

There is no series of historical events that have impacted every human being living in the West – and beyond – more than the Sexual Revolution. And yet, while many of us may be familiar with the term, few can explain what the Sexual Revolution really is and was. Legal abortion; digital pornography everywhere; the LGBT movement; hookup culture; gender ideology; threats to religious freedom – all are either an aspect or a direct result of the Sexual Revolution. It has also shaped virtually everything that emanates from our screens, from popular TV sitcoms (which had a hand in mainstreaming revolutionary ideas) to mainstream Hollywood films, produced and directed by the revolution’s most powerful storytellers. A sexualized West We live, in short, in a culture that has been effectively conquered by a revolution we know very little about – because unlike the American or French Revolutions, our society was overthrown from within. As the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard noted: “A passionate tumultuous age will overthrow everything, pull everything down; but a revolutionary age which is, at the same time, reflective and passionless leaves everything standing but cunningly empties it of significance." Those who brought about the Sexual Revolution did not attack government buildings – they initiated the “long march through the institutions,” eventually occupying powerful places of influence virtually everywhere. When I arrived at university and lived on campus, I left a church community for what was, at first, a fundamentally foreign culture. For the most part, my peers had not consciously rejected the tenets of Christianity. Aside from traditional mentions of God at certain solemn occasions like Remembrance Day ceremonies, they had grown up in a world that was shaped, not by Christianity, but by the Sexual Revolution. So hookup culture was not simply uncontroversial, but standard. The idea that someone could actually oppose extramarital sex, or homosexuality, or pornography was for most of them simply weird. I had grown up shaped by the Christian community I was a part of; most of them had grown up in communities in which Christianity was a part of family history, a generation or two in the past. Not treated like the pivotal event it was At the Christian school I attended, I learned the history of the Bible; church history, and the great stories of the Reformation; the bloody history of the twentieth century, and of Canada’s great explorers and leaders of the past. Despite much insistence from some quarters that students do not learn about the injustice of the residential schools, I learned about those, too, as well as the history of a local Indigenous group (the Sto:lo). But while we learned a little about the consequences of the Sexual Revolution – evils like abortion were covered in Bible class – we learned nothing about the Sexual Revolution as a historical event that had transformed and shaped the society we lived in, and that would impact nearly every aspect of our lives not only on campus, but beyond. For many people, the study of history can seem tedious or useless. But if we wish to understand the cultural moment we find pressing in all around us, an understanding of the history of the Sexual Revolution is absolutely essential. The ideologies of the Sexual Revolution now form the basis of nearly every field of study in academia, and Christian university students often have no idea that what they are learning in education, law, psychology, or anthropology is actually based on the work of ideologues such as Margaret Mead or Dr. Alfred Kinsey. They will almost certainly hear arguments made against Christianity based on revolutionary research and junk science. To know the history of the Sexual Revolution is to have an invaluable context for what is taught in secular universities, and to possess a greater confidence in the Christian worldview. Then the lightbulbs go off Each summer at the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, I teach a course on the culture wars to dozens of university students and high schoolers. Every time, as I’m speaking, I see shock and realization spread across their faces as many of the things they have been taught click into place. “That makes so much sense!” they tell me. And when the summer ends and they head back to their places of learning, I get messages throughout the year: “One of my fellow students is citing the Kinsey Reports to attack the Christian view of sexuality. Can you email me the titles of some of your sources?” “Thank you so much for your course this summer. It helped me understand everything my prof was saying in my mandatory sexuality course!” These students, armed with the historical and cultural context necessary to understand what they were being taught, were thus prepared to defend their own worldview. In academic institutions often openly hostile to Christian belief, this context provides an invaluable confidence. 3 resources to help us understand As revolutionary ideas spread even into many religious institutions, this history becomes even more essential to understand. As George Orwell once noted: “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” Unfortunately, the Sexual Revolution is as much a part of American or Canadian history as World War II or the Cold War – and its daily, real-world impact is more keenly seen and felt. I believe that for students to be forewarned and forearmed, they should be taught this history before they enter university. There are an increasing number of valuable resources available. For higher grades, Carl Trueman’s Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution is a valuable analysis of the intellectual forces that brought this revolution about; Gabriele Kuby’s The Global Sexual Revolution is an important worldwide view; I attempt to explain how our current society came about in my own 2016 book, The Culture War. The material is, of course, difficult – but considering the state of our culture, I do not think age 16 is too young to begin preparing. Increasingly, people are not rejecting Christianity because they do not believe in the historicity of the Resurrection or because they find theism intellectually challenging. They are rejecting Christianity because they believe that biblical standards are cruel and that God is loveless. To understand that, we must understand the history of the Sexual Revolution. Jonathon Van Maren blogs at TheBridgehead.ca....

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Christian education

A call to teach

“Inviting applications!” the ad calls out. It goes on to list four teaching positions that need to be filled, and tries to paint an inviting picture of the location and supporting community. The problem is, it is drowned out by many others exactly like it. Look in any Reformed church magazine and you will likely find the majority of the advertising space devoted to one thing: job postings for teachers. What has been an occasional challenge for some schools has broadened to become one of the most pressing challenges for almost every Reformed school in the country, with little hope on the horizon for change. Since each school is independently run, it has been a challenge to get a clear picture of what is causing the teacher shortages and whether there is potential for collaboration by the Reformed community to address and reverse this trajectory. Thankfully, work is already being done behind-the-scenes to change this. Going beyond anecdotal stories LCRSS League Coordinator John Wynia If there is one man who has a finger on the pulse of Reformed education in Canada, it is John Wynia. Wynia’s own education began with homeschooling in his elementary years, a Reformed Christian high school, and an Education degree at Redeemer University. He then served as a teacher at Reformed schools in southern Alberta and southern Ontario, before taking on the full-time position of League Coordinator for the League of Canadian Reformed School Societies (LCRSS) in 2018 where he is still serving today. There is no other position like it in the country, dedicated entirely to coordinating and blessing Reformed school societies in Ontario. I met with Wynia to learn more about the teacher shortage and what‘s already being done. Wynia shared that when he started his role as League Coordinator in 2018, his very first “League Learning Day” with schools in Ontario was devoted to this problem because it had been a huge challenge for a few years already. “Anecdotally it is a problem. You can see it in the advertisements in the various periodicals, the Clarion or Christian Renewal or whatever it may be,” Wynia shared. And it isn’t limited to a particular denomination. “Rehoboth Christian School, the Free Reformed schools, Heritage Christian School, they all reported similar challenges.” Wynia added that even in the case of the schools that are reporting they are fully staffed, it is often because they asked a mom, or a retired teacher, to come back to teach part-time. “They are making do.” The 2018 meeting highlighted the need for better data, to go beyond anecdotal information. And it sparked an initiative called “Teach With Us Ontario” (TWUO). The TWUO team started gathering information from schools about enrollment, the number of teachers, attrition rates (the number of teachers that leave each year), reasons for teachers leaving, and more. They also developed a teacher appreciation program, found a teacher champion for each school, and made a webpage – LCRSS.ca/teachwithus – that featured videos and stories about the blessing of serving as teachers. It didn’t take long before schools from western Canada expressed the same need and TWUO morphed into TWUC  – “Teach With Us Canada.” Kent Dykstra, Principal of Credo Christian High School in Langley, BC, served as the primary contact point for gathering data from Reformed schools in Western Canada. Although the data doesn’t account for all Reformed schools, it is likely representative. They found: Enrolment is increasing steadily, from 4,593 students in 2014-2015 to 5,252 this past year in the schools counted. Generally speaking, more students require more teachers. Maintaining the teacher numbers won’t be sufficient long-term if the trajectory of increasing student population continues; There was a slight decrease in the number of teaching staff from 2020 to 2021, and incomplete data prior. The total Full-Time Equivalent Teaching staff was 355.4 in 2021 and 367 in 2020. The attrition rate (percent of teachers leaving the profession in a given year), not including to other Reformed schools, increased from 9.5% to 10.3% in 2021. Wynia explained that these attrition rates are somewhat higher than other professions, and higher than for teachers in the public schools, where it is about 6-7%. Of the reasons for leaving, 4-5% of the total number of teachers leave annually for reasons other than health, retirement, maternity, or going to another Reformed school. A dearth of applications One side of the challenge is making it possible for teachers to stay in the profession long-term. A goal every bit as important is recruiting more people to join the profession, either transferring over from other professions or as their first career. The TWUC team sent out a survey in 2019 and 2021 to grade 11 and 12 students in Reformed high schools, exploring why these students would or would not consider teaching as a career. It found: 37%-42% of students considered a teaching career Far more female students (48%) than male (27%) consider teaching The most important factors cited by students to consider teaching were: “Using my God-given gifts and abilities,” “Desire to pass on a Reformed worldview” and “Desire to make a difference” As for reasons to not consider teaching, the top factors were: “Passion for another profession/career,” “Feeling called to another profession/career” and “Limited opportunities for professional advancement” Although a substantial percent of students consider teaching, these ambitions are not culminating in an abundance of qualified men and women for the job openings for teachers. The opposite is true. From the “Applications per position” chart, courtesy of TWUC, we see that the 37-42% of students with ambitions to teach doesn’t materialize into teachers. Only 4.1-6.3% are graduating from a teacher education program. (The drop off from 2020 to 2021 is likely attributed to Covid restrictions). Another helpful statistic from TWUC’s research is the number of qualified applications that schools are receiving for each position they have open. In 2021, it wasn’t even one application for each opening.  Kent Dykstra clarified that a “qualified” applicant doesn’t necessarily mean they even have a Bachelor of Education degree or equivalent. In provinces that allow people to teach without this, these applicants are also deemed to be qualified. When we factor in the reality that new graduates who are looking for a position likely send their application to multiple schools, that leaves most schools high and dry. Adam Kloostra, Principal of Rehoboth Christian School in Copetown, Ontario – which has members from Free Reformed, Netherlands Reformed, and Heritage Reformed churches – shared with me that their school community has very similar challenges. “I've just begun my fourth year as principal, and I can confirm that each time we post a job opening we're only receiving 1-2 applicants on average per posting. We've been seeing this trend for a number of years now and have instituted a "teacher attraction and retention committee." The same is true for Heritage Christian School, which is one of the largest Reformed school in the country, based in the Niagara peninsula of Ontario. Their principal, Brian Kemper, shared with me that “in past years, there were often plentiful teacher applicants. Now, some years pass by and we don't even get one applicant for a teaching position.” Woke universities The huge gap between interest in the teaching profession from Grade 11 and 12 students and the number of applications being received points to some significant challenges. What is happening? As helpful as data is, to get to the heart of this issue it often helps to talk to the people on the ground. An accompanying article “Report from the Front Lines” was graciously compiled by six current high school teachers, in an effort to give their honest reflections on the blessings and challenges of serving in this vocation. The benefit of frank and anonymous data is that it is more likely to cut to the heart of the issue. At the top of the list of “cons” is: “Need to jump through a lot of hoops to get trained. Lots of unnecessary/politicized courses and topics to cover, which can get tiring and demoralizing.” I asked one of these teachers to speak to this further. He shared that when he went through university in the 90’s, although it was no small feat to go through six years of study on his own dime, at least he received a quality education from professors who wanted to teach their disciplines well. The same can’t be said anymore. We won’t even factor in the disruptions caused by the vaccine mandates and other Covid restrictions over the past two years. For the past couple of decades, Canadian universities have become bastions of political correctness. It is one thing to jump through a six-year hoop and get a decent education. It is another to withstand six years of sensitivity training and woke indoctrination. A recent study by the MacDonald Laurier Institute, published this September, bears this out. It found that a staggering 88% of professors on Canadian university campuses identify as left-leaning, compared with only 9% who are conservative. And that tiny minority who are conservative are censoring their own thoughts, out of fear of negative consequences. Reformed Christians have very few options for a quality degree in education that is accredited. One noteworthy institution, which has been making an effort to uphold its Reformed roots, is Redeemer University in Hamilton, Ontario. Reformed Perspective’s “Real Talk” podcast recently interviewed the university’s new president Dr. David Zietsma, in which he detailed, in-depth, his desire to lead the institution faithfully and with a Reformed confessional basis.  However, for most Canadians, attending Redeemer would mean moving to southern Ontario and paying substantially more than secular schools (though Redeemer has cut tuition significantly in recent years). Covenant Canadian Reformed Teacher’s College (CCRTC) is another solid option for teacher training. It is also based in Hamilton and has been providing teacher’s training since 1976. They now provide a Diploma in Education and a Diploma of Teaching, and have graduated many students who have gone on to teach in Reformed schools throughout Canada. However, their lack of government recognition – formal accreditation – for their diplomas has meant that graduates have primarily served Ontario schools, one of the few provinces that doesn’t require teachers to have accredited degrees. In recent years, the CCRTC has been going through a rigorous process to achieve accreditation, which would go a long way to attracting students from across the country who desire a solid Reformed teacher’s education. The increasing cost of living Another “con” listed by teachers in the “Report from the Front Lines” article is: “Pay not that good for that much university training – many trades pay better, RN nurses start at around $90k, RCMP make $106,576 after three years, etc., while most teachers start at $50k and max out at $80k.” Although salary was ranked as the least important factor for Grade 11 and 12 students, it doesn’t take long until young adults realize they have massive bills to pay for tuition, living, and potentially also raising a family. These costs have escalated significantly with inflation and a housing market that has more than doubled in price. It is one thing for established teachers in rural communities to continue to get by with salaries of $50,000-$80,000. But it is another thing for those who recently finished six years of post-secondary education with student loans and face a housing market that starts in the neighborhood of $800,000 to purchase a modest family home. As much as someone may want to teach, they have to pay their bills and support their families. At the same time, wages for trades have increased substantially in recent decades. As the teachers shared “5-6 years of university – expensive, especially if you have to move out of town. Lost wages for 5-6 years, and lost years of experience, seniority, working your way up in other careers. Takes decades to catch up to peers (if ever).” Brian Kemper from Heritage Christian School concurs. “Teaching is a demanding calling and wages are not very high. Often, there are teachers who supplement their income with other work/investment opportunities. The high cost of living in the Niagara area is also a significant factor. More people are leaving for other opportunities or to move to other areas.” Reformed schools are supported by families, and in Ontario the entire budget for private schools comes from donations and tuition, as there is no government support. Increasing salaries generally means increasing tuition fees, which are being paid for by families who are also facing the pressures of rising costs and limited finances. “I think there is a desire to find ways to support teachers,” Wynia offered. “The scholarship idea is a start.” However, “the money has to come from somewhere. We are venturing into this territory for the first time. The desire would be there to provide more support. Especially in supporting their education.” “I can speak from experience of living on a teacher’s salary, paying off student loans, trying to buy a house, though prices aren’t where they are now. We have a good life. We don’t get to do all the things that others do. But that doesn’t bother us.” Wynia added that in the church, where there is a lot of affluence, we have to be careful to not lose sight of what the most important things are. Seeking His kingdom first Kent Dykstra, principal at Credo Christian High School, is curious whether increasing the pool from which schools could recruit teachers would really address the teacher shortage: “It probably would attract some teachers. But if we open up the hiring policy, would it not be consistent to open up the admissions policy? And if we open up the admissions policy you might cancel it out because you need more teachers.” At root, it is evident that teaching won’t stand out from other professions because of the ease of getting into the profession or the salary and benefits. Although all professions can be understood as “callings” when we recognize that all the earth is God’s, the calling for men and women to raise covenant children in the fear of the LORD requires the support of an entire church community and won’t happen unless it is prioritized. “We want people to understand the joy of being a teacher and the calling of it” shared Wynia. “We need to have our current teachers and parents and community pass on the beauty and joy of Reformed education and the blessing to be a part of it. We have work to do on that front.” Adam Kloostra, from Rehoboth Christian School, agrees. “They're in it because they love it and they want to be used by God to serve others - so it's far more a calling than a job. We've started to take this approach in our community and amongst our students – we want our students to consider teaching in Christian education as a calling that the Lord may be leading them towards – so we do what we can to show forth positive attitudes towards our positions here. Our behaviour in relation to our calling definitely impacts our student's perception of the calling.” Brian Kemper reminded me that when a school is up front about its identity it will be attractive to those who want to pursue a meaningful career. Heritage Christian, where he serves, is “a Reformed, parental, covenantal school that equips young people with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes for a life of service to Christ and their community. Teacher applicants know who we are, and when they apply for a position here, they get excited about the Heritage that they are joining.” As discussed further in the editorial for this issue, whether it is teaching or a different profession, the key ingredient is a heart that is seeking first God’s kingdom (Matthew 6:25-34). In the broader Christian community there is often a lack of volunteers to serve in positions of church or school leadership. This points to an underlying spiritual problem that can’t be resolved through practical strategies. There won’t be enough kingdom workers if there aren’t enough people seeking His kingdom first.  Thankfully, there seems to still be plenty of people willing to serve as volunteers in Reformed schools, which suggests that the problem likely has more to do with the challenge of entering and staying in the teaching profession rather than a lack of heart for Christian schooling. A coordinated strategy Recognizing that practical steps can go a long way, some schools are looking at ways to increase their pay scales or offering scholarships to students pursuing a teaching career. As helpful as these efforts are, it was clear to the leadership of TWUC that a larger-scale and more coordinated effort was needed. Covid delayed the progress of this new national effort till the spring of 2022, when an ambitious strategic plan was developed. The plan settled on five strategies and immediately got to work in making all five a reality: Student scholarships/bursaries: Implement a program providing scholarships/bursaries to eligible students. All school boards would have an opportunity to contribute to fund the program. The hope would be that the fund is self-perpetuating once it is set up. Ads would then be put in Christian publications, to make students aware of the opportunity. Surveys could be done to better determine how important a bursary would be for pursuing teacher training. Mature students’ education: Survey Reformed school societies for individuals who are already in a vocation but may consider becoming a teacher, through a mature student education program. This also involves working with the Covenant Teacher’s College to determine the feasibility of a program for mature students. Local awareness program: Come up with local awareness initiatives, such as developing an outline of talents that a prospective teacher should or could possess, survey Grade 11 and 12 teachers for potential teacher candidates among their students, promote teaching as a second career, establish contact with recent grads from any vocations to promote teaching, and more. Teacher in-training registry: Create and maintain a registry of teachers, including students pursuing a teaching career, to ensure good communication and awareness between schools and potential teachers. Professional development: Design and implement programs to strengthen teaching abilities, including mentorship programs and opportunities for specialization. TWUC hopes to develop these five prongs concurrently and begin implementing them next spring. If anyone is interested in helping, they are encouraged to reach out directly to John Wynia at [email protected]. Other schools have also been working on a coordinated strategy. Daniel VanBrugge, a teacher at Timothy Christian School, a large school with students from local Netherlands Reformed and Heritage Reformed congregations, shared that “in our own NRC schools the vast majority of up-and-coming teachers are ladies. Very few men have made the decision to study for teacher right out of high-school.” In response “at least two communities have hosted an "Own-the-Issue" evening that brings together teachers, school leaders, church leaders, parents, and grandparents to raise awareness that the teacher supply is a community problem that will be best solved by the community coming together (as opposed to just the school board trying to brainstorm and address the issue).” And since Netherlands Reformed congregations have direct oversight over schools, their church leadership has also taken action. “Our educational committee at the NRC Synod level has done a denominational-wide study on the numbers high school students considering, or planning to study for teacher. The issue looks like it will remain. It's an important topic.” Broadening the field In Canada, the provincial government sets expectations for who may teach in schools. Most provinces require a Bachelor of Education degree, in addition to a standard undergrad degree. Ontario is an exception, allowing schools to set their own criteria. Ontario schools are increasingly making use of this freedom. Kloostra shared that “Ideally, when an applicant does come along, they have their B.Ed. - but we have found that this is no longer a pillar we can bank on each time a position opens up. So we have several staff members who don't have their B.Ed. and despite not having it, they're doing great things – right on par with teachers who have spent the 5-6 years accomplishing a B.Ed. Other provinces allow exceptions. For example, in BC a school can hire a teacher who doesn’t have an education degree if they can prove that they advertised the position and didn’t find someone more qualified to fill it. The schools have to repeat the process annually but are generally not met with resistance by the government. This allows schools to broaden the range of who can fill positions, but the lack of stability means that not many people would consider it to be a long-term career. Another option to expand the pool of teachers is to broaden the criteria of which churches or denominations a prospective applicant can come from. For example, instead of restricting applications to a particular denomination, a school could welcome teachers who are members of a NAPARC-affiliated church, or some other criteria that maintains a confessional and orthodox Reformed basis. (NAPARC stands for “North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council” which includes the CanRC, URC, OPC, PCA, and RCUS among its member denominations.) When I asked Kent Dykstra about this possibility, he observed that parents and school members are rightly concerned about the worldview of those teaching their students. “There is some flexibility, and some boards and some communities are using that flexibility that is written in their founding documents. Others are changing their documents to reflect that reality, but there is also some sensitivity.” That said, it may not even help. “I’m curious whether opening up the hiring policy would address the problem. It probably would attract some teachers. But if we open up the hiring policy, would it not be consistent to open up the admissions policy? And if we open up the admissions policy you might cancel it out because you need more teachers.”  Financial solutions School societies are understandably very hesitant to increase salaries and benefits because the cost is felt directly by families who are paying tuition, many of whom struggle with paying their own bills. Yet what isn’t often publicly acknowledged is the massive increase in wealth that many Reformed families have experience in recent decades. In the past six years alone, the average Reformed family in Canada has received an extra $1,000-$2,000 in tax-free income every month from the federal government in the name of child care benefits (up to a maximum of $6,639 per child under 6 and $5,602 for ages 6-17 each year, adjusted for income). Others have seen their property values climb into the millions. Lifestyles so easily adjust accordingly. The percentage of a family budget that goes to tuition decreases, especially when compared with what our grandparents and parents contributed. As one very elderly and wise lady shared with my wife when reflecting on raising a family with limited means “after paying for church and school, there just wasn’t much money left for things like shoes.” To be clear, there are many Reformed schools that pay fair, and even generous, wages to their teachers and employees. The fact that other professions have seen massive pay increases does not need to translate into pressure to go beyond what is already fair. A different but related issue that has been raised already in this piece is the “hoop” that teachers have to jump through to become certified – five or six years at secular universities that are offering sub-par educations. There are very few solid Christian institutions, and the two that come to mind require a student to move to Ontario, or pay higher tuition. Some schools have come up with creative efforts, such as providing a slightly higher wage for the first year of teaching, or offering a scholarship to students who are becoming teachers. But as helpful as these are, it is hard to see them actually resulting in more people pursuing teaching. For example, a $5,000 scholarship sounds generous, but it can’t be depended on and doesn’t actually go that far when you consider the cost of six years of full-time studies (including tuition, living expenses, and not being able to work full-time). It would help alleviate the expense, but likely wouldn’t sway someone to proceed if the education requirements are a barrier. One idea that I haven’t heard discussed by schools or TWUC is to offer students who are pursuing teaching a loan (for example, up to $15,000 per year for five years), contingent on them studying at a solid Reformed institution like Covenant Teacher’s College or Redeemer University and maintaining a full course load and good grades. Then, when they take up a teaching position, a portion of the loan can be forgiven for each year of teaching (e.g. a $15,000 signing bonus, with $10,000 being forgiven each year for the next five years). The original pool can be contributed by investors who have the means and want to see more teachers. But the pool can be maintained by school societies who cover the loan repayment. That way, if a school really wants a teacher, they can pay to make it happen. If a school doesn’t struggle with finding teachers, they don’t have to offer to repay any loans. Your ideas welcome What ideas do you have? This article was written to start a discussion in homes and communities across the country. We invite you to share your ideas and insights by sending them to the editor....

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Christian education

Report from the front lines: pros and cons of teaching in a Reformed high school

It is one thing to hear from school administrators, boards, and parents about what is contributing to a teacher shortage. But how do the teachers themselves feel about serving in the career right now?  What follows are the thoughts of six high school teachers with 104 years of teaching experience between them. It’s worth noting that teachers in different schools or provinces may well come up with different answers. What’s on offer here could provide direction for schools trying to figure out how best to retain current teachers. My hope is that it will also be a great encouragement to those considering the profession.  Pros of teaching as a career: Can be very satisfying helping covenant kids grow in the Lord and helping parents fulfil their baptism promises – it’s very meaningful work (Eccl. 5) Often excellent communal support – all pulling together for a good cause – many allies Good support structures in place in daily school work – administration, parent committees, learning assistance department etc. Great colleagues who share the faith and worldview make for a pleasant work environment Job stability, including when the economy is suffering and jobs are harder to get Lots of holidays – off when your kids are off, and in good seasons (like summer months) Easier on the body – manual labourers can get worn out elbows, backs, knees, etc. More noticeable by middle age (assuming teachers take care of themselves) Decent wages – similar to a lot of government jobs – fairly close to public school teachers (about 90%) Benefits can be quite good – comparable to similar careers Indoor, climate controlled, clean, comfortable work environment especially nice in winter months – great resources and access to good supplies Good hours – never have to work odd hours, weekends, awkward shifts, unless you choose to (but there is a lot of work outside of school hours that needs to be done) Can make extra money, do bigger projects, go on long trips in summer holidays Some flexibility in when you want to work (go home sooner and work at home in the evening, e.g.) Good variety – can teach different age groups, courses, etc., and room to change things up over the years Potential for lots of fun – many of the activities or topics are quite enjoyable Kids can be easier and more fun to work with than adults – enjoyable to be around, lively and enthusiastic, great sense of humour – keeps you young (but can be exasperating, too) Freedom to come or go – sign contract yearly or choose to go elsewhere if you want, rarely any long-term commitment. Cons: Need to jump through a lot of hoops to get trained – lots of unnecessary/politicized courses and topics to cover, which can get tiring and demoralizing 5-6 years of university – expensive, especially if you have to move out of town – and lost wages for those 5-6 years, and lost years of experience, seniority, working your way up in other careers, requiring decades to catch up to peers (if ever) Pay not that good for that much university training – many trades pay better, RN nurses start at around $90k, RCMP make $106,576 after three years, etc., while most teachers start at $50k and max out at $80k Exhausting to be working with 20+ students all day – overstimulating and draining making decisions non-stop and trying to attend to them all, and especially hard if you’re an introvert (as quite a few teachers seem to be) Many students are getting harder to teach – less respect, less attentiveness, less willingness to work, more distractions outside of school Multiple students with learning issues mean more adaptations and modifications to ensure they are all included – this can take a lot of time and work Often lots of longer hours – marking, report cards, etc. – especially if there are large classes or if the course or grade level is new Can be pressure to teach new grades, courses, etc., which means you often cannot get familiar with one grade level or one set of courses (esp. in smaller schools or when there is lots of staff turnover) Government curricula changes regularly, forcing rewrites of course outlines, and the various bureaucratic hoops can get tiring and cause disillusionment Can be emotionally draining when you have troubled or struggling students A very public job – everybody in the community knows you and could have opinions about you (either good or bad). ...

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Christian education

KINGDOM WORKERS WANTED... for frontline role

THE APPEAL IS REAL: This ad may not be genuine, but it's still been ranked among the best ads of all time. In 1900, British explorer Ernest Shackleton was said to have posted this in London’s The Times newspaper to recruit crew for his 1901 expedition to the Antarctic. The appeal is certainly real: it recognizes that there are things more important than money and a comfortable life. (It misunderstands that the “more important” isn’t fame or honor.) Extensive training required, lower pay, high expectations, few advancement possibilities. Opportunity for eternal impact. ****   When I started my undergraduate studies at university, I was on track to become a history teacher. It didn’t take long before I fell off that track. I’m not alone. The feature article in the Nov/Dec 2022 issue includes an encouraging statistic: based on surveys of grade 11 and 12 students that were done in 2019 and 2021 in Reformed Christian schools, about 40 percent of students considered teaching as a career. Yet good intentions don’t necessarily translate into reality. Reformed schools are reporting that the number of qualified applicants that they are receiving dropped from an already-poor 1.2 applications per opening in 2020 to a dismal 0.76 in 2021. Ouch. Canadian businesses are feeling the pinch of a worker shortage this year. But this is nothing new for Reformed schools, which have struggled with a lack of teachers for years now. With many different school communities all operating independently across a huge country, it seemed to the editorial team at Reformed Perspective that the issue of teaching and teacher shortages would benefit from some investigative research and extensive coverage. A common theme Listening to the thirteen individuals who graciously shared their insights with me as I worked on the feature article, I began to see a theme arise: A carpenter shared that he decided to teach and exit his former profession after being told by a client “I don’t really care what it costs, I just want my neighbour to be impressed.” He didn’t want to build structures that are just for showing off. He wanted to do something “with permanent value.” Convicted by a sermon about seeking God’s kingdom rather than his own, his journey led him to serving as a high school shop teacher. Read his full story in the Nov/Dec issue. A successful consultant with a degree in chemical engineering shared “I saw the need for Christian educators, listened to some advice of those much wiser than me, and decided to give teaching another chance. It was the best decision of my life to date.” You can find his testimonial in the Nov/Dec issue as well. Six high school teachers shared their thoughts about the pros and cons of their profession. At the top of the list was “Can feel a lot of satisfaction helping covenant kids grow in the Lord and helping parents fulfil their baptism promises.” While interviewing John Wynia and Kent Dykstra – two of the leaders behind “Teach With Us Canada,” a relatively new effort to address the teacher shortage – I pressed them on the question of the salary discrepancy between teachers and many other professions. They politely pushed back, reminding me that their surveys showed that those who pursue teaching are motivated less by financial gain and more for advancing God's kingdom. A school administrator who devoted many years to serving in Reformed schools before working in an interdenominational school, said he was struck by, and impressed with, how the interdenominational school spoke of teaching as a ministry. This wasn’t something he heard in the Reformed teaching context. What is “kingdom work”? These perspectives challenged me to consider some terms that get thrown around but are rarely defined. Is teaching a calling? A ministry? Kingdom work? Which careers do these terms apply to? Only pastors? The mission statements of Reformed schools make it clear that a teacher’s role is deeply spiritual in nature. But isn’t it dualism to elevate spiritual missions over physical or practical ones? Our Reformed heritage is hesitant to distinguish some professions as “callings” when we know that every task and job can be a means through which we honour God and further His kingdom. I have seen first hand how Christians can faithfully serve in God’s kingdom in many different realms and careers. My dad was a plumber all his life who has blessed countless families (including my own) with his skills and services. A school can’t stay open without plumbing! The same is true of my mom, who cared for our family of ten her whole adult life, never making a penny from her hard work. Likewise, I have seen very honourable people who were motivated to expand their business for financial gain. But their motivation was not selfish. It was for God’s kingdom. Because of their kingdom hearts, I can get paid a salary to work for Reformed Perspective, and many other worthy causes are given the means to exist. Does teaching belong in a special category when it comes to importance in the Christian community? We need more, but not just any Well, next to parents, teachers often have the most influence on our lives. Pastors have commented that they notice the difference of serving in a congregation where the youth attend a Reformed school or not. Where they don’t, the students are further behind when it comes to their understanding of biblical truths. Because of this great responsibility, it is appropriate that the apostle James reminds us that “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1). Yet alongside this warning, the entire Old and New Testaments include a consistent and frequent calling to teach. But simply being a teacher (or a pastor, or a stay-at-home mom) doesn’t make someone a kingdom worker either. The role has to be filled with someone who actually uses it to further God’s kingdom and glory. We have likely all seen examples of where a pastor, teacher, or stay-at-home mom can cause great harm to God’s kingdom and glory. However honourable the intentions are with starting a Reformed Christian school, that doesn’t mean that what happens inside is going to be kingdom work. Who we serve, not just where The key, then, to whether we are doing kingdom work, is that wherever we serve, we do so “seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Each of us has to make decisions every day again to put God and His kingdom first. That applies to deciding which career to pursue, as well as how to actually fulfill the vocation we have been given. We can move forward with confidence, trusting that God will take care of us. In regard to the current teacher shortage, the feature article makes the problem and some potential solutions clear. What we now need is a willingness from some of God’s children to step up for service: For some, it could be a courageous transition from a career where they aren’t doing much to advance God’s kingdom, even if it translates into less pay or more instability. For current teachers, it may mean choosing to endure some trials (like large classrooms filled with ungrateful children) with joy (James 1:2). For those who need to choose a career soon, it can be a decision to not waste years trying out a variety of studies and careers to see which feels the most meaningful. We won’t find heaven on earth. It may also mean intentionally forgoing opportunities that offer treasure on earth “where rust and moth destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20). For many of us, it may mean cheerfully giving more for school tuition, or as donations to schools, so that they can help cover some of the debt that new teachers incur, and ensure salaries allow a teacher to provide for his or her family. It’ll take courage… and trust When it comes to our choices for careers and how we spend our finances, Reformed Christians have to be mindful of the temptation to be too careful, looking out for ourselves rather than trusting God to provide. As Kevin DeYoung says so well in his book Just Do Something: “We should stop looking for God to reveal the future to us and remove all risk from our lives. We should start looking to God – His character and His promises – and thereby have confidence to take risks for His name’s sake.” He later adds: “We walk into the future in God-glorifying confidence, not because the future is known to us but because it is known to God. And that’s all we need to know.” Speaking for myself, if some of the strategies that are being pursued by the Teach With Us Canada team (see the feature article in the Nov/Dec issue) were in place twenty years ago, I may well have stayed on track and been serving as a teacher today. Yet I’m grateful that the LORD has many places for us to serve, as long as we do so for His kingdom and glory. “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” – Romans 2:7 Mark Penninga is the Executive Director of Reformed Perspective. This first appeared in the Nov/Dec 2022 issue....

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Christian education

Church, Home, and School – A Two-Legged Stool?

A popular metaphor for education in the Reformed community is the image of a triangle, a tripod, or a three-legged stool. The legs of the stool are named church, home, and school. If one of them is missing, the entire chair comes crashing down. By keeping this model in mind, we can keep three key institutions functioning properly in the community. The tripod model of education has a long history in our Reformed circles. Its proponents have used it to defend a number of principles related to Reformed education. According to the model, the institution of the Christian school is a responsibility of all members of the church, and therefore should be financed by all. Also, the model assumes that children belong in the school rather than in the home. Families that homeschool their children are not only depriving them of the school’s influence, they are also not supporting their brothers and sisters by sharing the burden of operating the Christian school. The view of education as a three-legged stool has its strengths. Communal support of Reformed education is certainly a positive thing. Also, the model does a good job describing the influences on a child’s education – children are indeed influenced by church, home, and school. (I shall leave it to other writers to debate the impact of the world in this equation.) Tripod limitations However, in my view, the triangle or tripod model of education also has its limitations. If we attempt to use the model to describe the responsibilities of various parties in a child’s education, the model breaks down. It ascribes too much importance to one leg – the school. When schools give themselves too much importance, they can be seen as institutions that have a life of their own. Educational experts, called teachers, gather the children of the congregation together. They assume responsibility for the educational wellbeing of the children in their charge. Parental involvement in education is limited to providing physical nourishment, while the school provides mental nourishment. At best, spiritual nourishment is shared between home and school; at worst, the responsibility for spiritual wellbeing shifts more and more to the school. The school board provides financial resources and takes care of the school building without getting too involved in educational matters. Attempts to involve parents in educational decision-making are easily dismissed. After all, what do parents know about education, anyway? This picture of education is far from what Scripture teaches. The famous passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, which has been used to open many school society meetings, is directed squarely at the parents: “Impress them on your children....” In Psalm 78, we again see the picture of fathers telling their children the great deeds of the Lord. While we find ample mention in Scripture of the role of the church and of the home, we do not find a mention of the institution of the school. Scripture teaches that education is a parental responsibility. And with responsibility, God also gives the means to fulfill that responsibility. In Hebrews 13:21, God promises to equip us with everything that we need to do his will, which certainly includes the education of our children. This means that every parent is, in some way, an educational expert. To be sure, not all parents are equipped to the same degree for specific educational tasks. Part of being responsible is to recognize one’s own weaknesses. Because of this, parents can, and often should, use schools to help in fulfilling their task. But this does not take away from the fact that the responsibility for this education lies at the feet of each parent, not at the feet of the school – and certainly not at the feet of government. Parents come first In view of this, perhaps a bipod model would be more appropriate. The school should not be viewed as a separate entity with its own responsibilities to the children of the congregation, but as an extension of the home. In one sense, we are all homeschoolers. However, the demands of education in modern society are beyond the capabilities, energy, or time of many (if not most) parents. As a result, we bond together as a group of like-minded parents and form a society. We build a building. We hire professional teachers and administrators. We pool our financial resources. We ask for assistance from other members of the congregation who do not have school-age children. We form a school, a Christian school. This view of schooling is in direct opposition to the secular view of schools, which sees schools as agents of socialization. In public schools, children are caught in the tension of the question – to whom do the children belong: the parents or the state? Our schools recognize the fact that the answer to this question is clear – the parents! For example, the parent handbook at William of Orange School states: According to Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 78, parents have the task of raising their children in the fear of the Lord … The same values that are treasured by the parents need a resounding echo in ... class (From the Garden to the City, p 26 and 27). The idea that the school is an extension of the home has implications for our schools, a few of which I want to highlight here. 1. Parental involvement is a must First, it means that parental involvement is not only desired, it is a necessity! We cannot leave the education of our children to “the experts” behind their closed classroom doors. We need to be involved in making ourselves aware of what our children are learning, both by asking our children, but also in perhaps paying a visit to their classroom. Being involved also means giving input on what curricular direction the school must take, and helping to keep the school running smoothly by sharing our talents and time. This parental involvement also takes the form of volunteer work in the trenches – in the classrooms! A strong volunteer culture in a school is a huge blessing to the students. Teachers need to welcome and embrace such a culture. Not only can volunteers make their work easier and more effective, but they are living proof that the parents of the school take their roles seriously. In addition, volunteers have a positive effect on the students, as they see that their education is important enough for their parents to spend time at school. 2. Parent-teacher communication is a must Second, this view of the school highlights the importance of good communication between the school and the home. This communication needs to happen in both directions. Schools have an obligation to keep parents informed of what is happening in the classrooms and around the school. Parents also need to keep the communication channels open. They need to provide information about their children that will help the school make the best educational decisions for them. They need to be proactive in dealing with problems and challenges at school. They need to make their views on curricular direction known so that what is taught in the school can be a reflection of what is taught in the home. Parental schools ≠ parent-run schools However, this model does not imply that each parent has the authority to make educational decisions for the school. Our schools are parental schools, to be sure: but they are not parent-run schools. Instead, they are board-run schools. The difference is a fine one, but it means that parents delegate some of their authority to the board that they elect. As a board (not individual parents), they make decisions for the school that they believe are in the best interests of the community. Although we may not agree with every decision, there comes a time where we submit to the best judgment of our elected board. In addition, this model does not imply that homeschooling is necessarily better than community schools. Our schools allow us to pool our resources and our strengths. Especially at a high school level, few parents can match the breadth of knowledge or experience that is represented by a staff. Our schools provide opportunities for our students that they would not receive at home, such as instrumental music groups, sports teams, and volunteer opportunities. Our schools are a good way for parents to fulfill their responsibility to educate their children. A stool with two legs does not stand very easily. And it is true that if we stood on our own, as parents and church, all of our efforts would come crashing down in short order. But fortunately we do not stand on our own. It is the Lord who holds up our efforts to educate our children in his ways in an atmosphere in which they can be surrounded by his covenant people. Kent Dykstra is principal at Credo Christian High School in Langley, BC. His article, originally titled "Church, Home, and School – A Three-Legged Stool?" first appeared in Clarion (Vol 59, No 21) and then in the January, 2014 issue of Reformed Perspective. It is reprinted here with permission. A Portuguese version is available here. ...

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Christian education

Educating Royalty

 We must teach our children to be Kingdom heirs—not just laborers in the marketplace **** “Who are you?” a university student once asked me. Odd question, I thought. I’d handled countless student questions, but this one caught me unprepared. “Uh . . . I’m a professor,” I answered weakly. “No!” he shot back. “I don’t mean what do you do, but who are you?” His question unsettled me. Like most North Americans, I’d been carefully, though not intentionally, catechized since a lad at my parents’ side that the first and most important question we ask adults at first meeting (after getting their name) is, “What do you do?” I’d learned that catechism lesson well, repeating it literally hundreds of times in all kinds of social settings over the years. But that catechism had left me quite unprepared to answer this more fundamental question about my personal identity separate from my place in the market. That grieved me because, as a Christian, I had been better versed in the catechism of secular pragmatism than in Lord’s Days 12 and 13 or the Scriptures. And I knew I wasn’t the only one. The answer that changes everything The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.... – Romans 8:16-17a As I have reflected on that encounter over the years, I’ve realized that the biblical and covenantal answer to the question, “Who are you?” is a glorious one that stands in stark contrast to the secular myth that our employment or “career” defines us. Of course, our work and callings as Christians in the marketplace are important. Providing for our families is a great privilege and responsibility. But the priority of work in both our lives and the education of our children is almost certainly misplaced and overemphasized today in Reformed circles. Our Calvinistic work ethic and sense of vocation – serving the Lord in all things – are a glorious heritage, but in our 21st century context, they have become largely indistinguishable from the middle class idolatry common among our unbelieving neighbors (i.e., having “another object in which men place their trust” ). In fact, over 30+ years of university teaching, evenly divided between secular universities and Christian colleges, I can testify that the one question all parents – Christian and non-Christian alike – ask about higher education is, “What kind of job can my kid get when he/she graduates?” Intended or not, that question reveals deep worldview priorities. And such a question is certainly not the fruit of careful, prayerful parental reflection on what it means to educate covenant children as heirs of Christ who will seek first the kingdom. By contrast, the Scriptures never identify God’s covenant children as people with jobs who happen to hold to a particular religious tradition. Instead, the Bible repeatedly calls us heirs of a kingdom, the adopted sons and daughters of the King of the universe. We are not just Christians who happen to have various jobs or work to do. We are royalty (Rom. 8:14-17, Eph. 1:3-6, I Pet. 2:9). We will reign over all creatures with Christ eternally (Heid. Cat., Q. 32). We are the adopted children of God and fellow heirs with Jesus, with all the privileges of the sons of God (Luke 2:11, Acts 10:36, I Tim. 6:15, Rev. 19:16; Heid. Cat., Q. 34). We are princes and princesses of the King of kings!  We are royal heirs!  And that answer to the question, “Who are you?” changes everything! Like young Prince George, the baby heir to the throne of England and the United Kingdom, a day mustn’t pass that we wonder who we are, why we are being educated, and what we are being prepared to be and to do. We are heirs to a throne and a Kingdom far greater and more glorious than the one in England. The House of Windsor pales in comparison to Jesus’s realm and our divine inheritance! How much more, then, should we, who are heirs of the King of kings and Lord of lords, prepare ourselves and our children to be thoroughly and faithfully educated in everything it means to be a son and daughter of the Creator, Redeemer, and Lord of the Universe. Thoroughly and faithfully educated in everything it means to be royalty. What does that look like? If we understand we are educating royalty, how should that impact how we teach, and what we expect? Then we will understand there is no time for the wicked nonsense about “sowing wild oats” or setting a low bar of expectations for our children. That is the rebellious spirit of prodigals who forget who they (and their children) really are. Those who are in line to take their places in Christ’s kingdom as princes and princesses must expect more of themselves and of their children. “To whom much is given, much is required” (Luke 12:48).  Because we are royalty in Christ, God has king-sized expectations and blessings in store for us and our children – if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. The entire book of Proverbs is Solomon’s instruction to his royal heirs to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth – let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles (Prov. 1:2-6). Such an education must provide much more than an awareness of fragmented facts or specialized work skills for a place in the job market. Again, that’s not to say that facts and skills are not important. Nor is it to say that we should suddenly trade pragmatic, nose-to-the-grindstone sweat of our brows for pious sounding spiritual platitudes. The issues are where does the education of Christ’s royal heirs fit in our list of priorities and what should that education look like. Priorities: We are royalty. So start acting like it.  Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the instruction of the Lord, nor be weary when corrected by him. For the Lord instructs the one he loves, and corrects every son whom he receives." It is for instruction that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. – Hebrews 12:5-7 Those who are fellow heirs in Christ know that His regal ways are not the power-grabbing, lording-it-over-others, self-seeking ways of the ungodly. Far from it. Christ ascended to His Father’s throne only after sacrificing everything for His people and His creation. He gave himself away. His royal way is the way of selfless love and sacrifice. He died that we might die to sin and death. He lives that we might live in glory forever. Sacrificial service for the sake of the kingdom is the mark of true kingship, true royalty. It characterizes our Lord Christ. And it must characterize our Lord’s true heirs in their lives and in their education. As Christ’s royal heirs, we dare not be content to prepare ourselves or our children merely to be cogs in the economic machinery of our secular consumer culture. Even the ancients understood that slaves are only trained to perform tasks. They have no rights of inheritance, no deeper identity. A slave’s identity is his work. But free citizens and royalty, who will dedicate themselves to the advance of the kingdom, must be educated deeply for the day when their royal leadership and service is expected. Similarly, we are called to a higher purpose and bear greater responsibility for how we live and prepare our children for their royal callings. Unfortunately, we have, as the author of Hebrews suggests, forgotten the divine exhortation to educate our children in the nurture and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4, Heb. 12:5ff). We have forgotten in part because we have forgotten who we are. A Royal education: Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning This memory lapse is most evident in how we educate our children today. Education, even that which purports to be Christian, is now often devoted primarily to the goal of producing good little workers for the secular labor force, efficient widgets for our economy’s production line, and little more. That falls far short of the biblical expectation that Christian children be saturated in the instruction of the Lord and grow up knowing what it means to be royal heirs of Christ the King. An education bearing the name of the King ought, at the least, to offer His royal heirs... 1. A comprehensive and integrative understanding of God’s world and of how all things cohere in the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:4-11).  Such an education will give children the “big picture” of how all things, all spheres of creation, are interrelated in the glory of their Creator. The university itself was a Christian invention in the Middle Ages (the earliest established between A.D. 1100 and 1200), designed to give students an integrated Christian vision and foundation for all future learning. That was the original purpose of the classical liberal arts (meaning, the arts of a free citizen). For almost a millennium, Christian universities taught the classical liberal arts or the so-called Trivium and Quadrivium: The Trivium, or the Three Ways, stressed the good structure of language (Grammar), the way to discern truth (Logic), and how to express truth beautifully (Rhetoric)—all to encourage a student’s life-long love of goodness, truth, and beauty in words and language, as typified by the Word Himself in John 1:1-14. The Quadrivium, or the Four Ways, encouraged a life-long love of goodness, truth, and beauty in the use of numbers (Arithmetic), numbers in space (Geometry), numbers in time (Music or Harmony), and numbers in space and time (Astronomy), revealing the unity and diversity of creation and of our Triune Creator Himself (Deut. 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one,” and Matt. 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”). Together, the Trivium and Quadrivium, the original seven liberal arts, offered students essential insights into the harmony and wholeness of God’s diverse world and into the interrelated truth, goodness and beauty of its Triune Creator. They didn’t give students just the facts or skills for a job, but the tools of lifelong learning from a Christian perspective. Unfortunately, today’s arbitrarily selected smorgasbord of academic subjects and randomly structured university curricula, following the modern analytic, scientific tradition, tend to do the opposite: they offer fragmented bits of information with no principle of coherence or relationship. But in God’s economy, the whole is always more than the sum of its parts. An education that does not teach us how to see the wholeness of God’s creation, and to equip us to understand how all things cohere in Christ, inevitably misses the big picture about creation and creation’s God. It is a partial, incomplete, distorted education. Curiously, specialization at the undergraduate level was virtually unknown in North America prior to the late 19th century. University students did not “major” in a narrow academic disciplines or vocational specializations prior to 1879. They couldn’t. “Majors” simply didn’t exist before then. Instead, all undergraduates received a classical, integrated liberal arts foundation. The universities gave them essential tools for learning that applied to all their various callings as sons and daughters, spouses, parents, neighbors, citizens, providers, voters, buyers and sellers in the marketplace, and parishioners. Their work skills and the job training needed to provide for their families were developed outside the classroom in on-site training or apprenticeships done in the context where the work was actually being done. Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Kuyper, C.S. Lewis – all the greatest leaders in our Christian tradition – were so classically educated in the traditional, integrative liberal arts of the Trivium and Quadrivium and practically trained. But pragmatists of the late 19th and early 20th century sold their Christian academic birthright for a mess of modernist career pottage. They turned schools into egalitarian job training camps for the workers of the world and abandoned the Christian pursuit of wisdom and knowledge in the Lord. The schools dumbed down and the church has grown steadily weaker ever since. Reversing that trend will require that the King’s royal heirs expect... 2. Truly godly and wise teacher-mentors (Luke 6:40).  According to Jesus, the teacher – not the curriculum, not the lesson plan, not the technology, not the facilities, not the accreditation, not the tuition rate – is the single most important factor in a child’s education. “A student, when mature, will be like his teacher,” Jesus said. All the other bells and whistles may be nice (though they can often be more of a distraction than a help), but the teacher is key. Yet, in my experience, Christian parents often know more about a school’s university admission rates, or a college’s career placement rates, or tuition rates, or financial aid plans, or sports programs than they do about the character and spiritual health of the men and women who will actually be shaping the minds and lives of their children in and out of the classroom. Sadly, many Christian school administrators and boards aren’t much better, giving higher priority to paper credentials and standardized test scores and bricks and mortar than to the character and spiritual integrity of their teachers. Of course, academic expertise and standardized testing have their place. But parents, administrators and school promotional literature often stress most what actually counts least from a Kingdom perspective. And such misguided emphases have the potential to catechize generations of parents and children in what is least in the Kingdom. The teacher is so crucial, as Jesus says, because all education is fundamentally personal. That’s because truth itself is personal. Truth is a person. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Truth is not some collection of brute facts or scientifically verifiable propositions. It is a living person. Teachers either faithfully represent or embody that Truth before their students or they don’t. Parents or educators who misunderstand this crucial biblical principle put their children and students at grave risk of misunderstanding the Truth and being catechized in lies and ungodliness. No matter how much parents think their child can be a “good witness” in a secular education environment, that child is not the teacher, but the one being taught. And no matter how mature we imagine our children to be (often overestimating), their “cement is still wet.” They are still students seeking to be taught and led into maturity, readily influenced by others older and more experienced. The question is, who will teach them and lead them into what kind of maturity? Moreover, those who think that new distance learning technologies will provide a quality education without putting their children at risk under ungodly teachers make a similar mistake. Learning godly knowledge and wisdom is not a data download. A student will be shaped by his or her teacher, no matter who that teacher is, no matter how the instruction is delivered. Finally, the education of the King’s royal heirs ought also to include... 3. The shaping of our desires for the things of the Kingdom  Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  ... For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. – Matthew 6:25, 32-33 Jesus did not say, “Seek first vocational-technical training, and all that kingdom of God and righteousness stuff will be added later.” Yet to hear parents of university-bound students talk today about their educational goals for their children, you’d think he had. The dominant secular vocational paradigm for higher education has influenced us more on these issues than our Christian schools, our catechism classes, and even our churches. For that, we must repent. Our heavenly Father knows everything we need to live and to thrive, and He will provide them for us by His perfect means according to His perfect timing. He tells us explicitly not to stress over the little stuff. Grasping at college majors and career preparation will not add one penny to our bank accounts, put one more meal on the table, or add one more second to our lives that He has not already ordained. So stop majoring in the minors. Instead, major in God’s priorities: Christ’s kingdom and His righteousness. What our schools and universities must encourage in our covenant children is a deeply held heart-desire for the things of God and of His Kingdom. Conclusion As Calvinists who take the sovereignty of God – the crown rights of Christ – seriously, we cannot, must not, train our children merely to be good little widgets in the secular marketplace who also happen to go to church each Lord’s Day. We vowed to raise them for much greater things at their baptisms. So, “Who are you?” You are the royal heirs of the King of kings; start acting like it. Your children are royalty; start treating them like it. Your children are inheriting a Kingdom; so start educating them for it.  A Chinese translation of this article can be found here....

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Christian education - Sports

A Good Coach is Crucial: the potential and danger of school sport teams

“They’re nice, but not a priority.” Ask Reformed parents about our school’s sports teams and that’s a response you’re likely to hear. It's an understandable answer. With all the effort that has to go into finding and hiring good teachers, and developing curriculum, and fundraising school building projects, there may not be much energy left to think through how our sports teams can best be put to use. However, sometimes that means that the coaches are simply whoever is willing. And being willing is a good attribute; that's a virtue, certainly. But what other qualifications should we be looking for? If we're going to have sports teams in our schools they need to be a priority. And that's because these teams can be a potent force for good in our schools, or just as potent a force for evil. Without proper guidance, school sports teams may do more harm than good to our sons and daughters. Sports are good Sports can do harm? That may strike you as a bit over the top. After all, one of the arguments frequently used in favor of having these teams is that sports are said to build character. There’s a lot of history to this argument. 2400 years ago Plato insisted that physical activity made a man both physically and mentally tough. A little more than 400 years later the apostle Paul linked perseverance (Heb. 12:1), and self-control (2 Cor. 9:25) with athletics. In the 1800’s the Muscular Christianity movement promoted physical activity across North America believing that good Christians could be created by developing good athletes – the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was started by those that believed sport developed character. These last two groups thought that sport was intrinsically moral. They believed that just by playing a sport you would pick up character traits like teamwork, daring, discipline, cooperation, courage, perseverance, loyalty, and self-restraint. Sports are bad The biggest problem with this approach is that these character traits don’t make you moral. Sure, many of them would be useful to a Christian, but how many of them would also be equally useful to a mafia bodyguard or mob hitman? Teamwork, daring, discipline and cooperation? Those look good on anyone’s resume. These traits themselves could be seen as morally neutral. It’s what you do with them that counts. The fact is, rather than being intrinsically good, sport has a tendency to reinforce negative behavior. Without guidance, sports can teach kids that winning is all that matters. Athletes may learn that cheating or cheap play is only wrong if you get caught – kids will even learn how to retaliate without getting caught. They'll start dehumanizing their opponents by viewing them primarily as enemies to be conquered. And left on their own, kids will learn they can get away with griping about the refs too. After all, authority figures only deserve respect when they get the calls right! Sport’s potential This dark side to sport is why it needs a higher priority in our schools. Sport is a moral quagmire for even the most upright players. There are moral challenges every time a student steps out onto the court, field, or ice. Yes, students will be confronted with moral challenges in other areas of school life, but many will be of a more black and white variety. In any of their classes they will have to decide if they are going to do their own work, and their own test…or whether they'll cheat. It’s black and white. Even the students that do cheat know what they’re doing is wrong. They might still succumb to sin, but they don’t have to figure out whether they’re sinning. But in sport there are vast areas of gray. Kids have to contrast caring for their opponent with figuring out how to get past him to score the winning goal. Jostling is involved in most team sports, but how much physical contact is too much? Or for that matter, too little? Just how far do you go to win the game? It is this grayness that makes the playing field either one of the most potentially useful environments for character development, or one of the most harmful ones. An attentive and intelligent coach will force his players to work through these challenges, and will guide them back when they make the wrong decisions. He will bench his best player even if the ref didn’t notice the player’s cheap conduct. He’ll allow players to respectfully query the ref, but nothing more. He’ll explain that without opponents there is no game and won’t tolerate any bad sportsmanship. He’ll sit his team down to discuss the gray moral areas and the challenges present on the playing field. He'll encourage them to fail boldly, to get back up after messing up, and to stop caring how they look. He'll teach them that it really is how you play, and not whether you win or lose that gives God the glory. He'll talk about what it means to be a supportive teammate, and be others-focussed. He’ll teach them to turn the other cheek even when the opposition is playing cheaply or the refs are missing calls. A good coach will brag about how many good sportsmanship awards his team has won. He won’t leave them on their own, and he won’t let them learn the bad lessons of sport. But a bad coach…he'll just let the kids play. Conclusion Sports teams are a lower priority in most Reformed schools and that has to change. It isn’t so much that every school should have countless sports teams but if we are going to have them, then we need to be mindful as to how we are going to run them. It's important enough that if we can't find enough quality coaches, we should consider having fewer teams. Left to its own devices sport can be pretty bad…but in a Christian school, with an attentive Christian coach, it can also be an awesome means for young men and women to develop and grow athletically and spiritually....

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Christian education - Sports

Sports teams are important for our Christian schools

Sports teams in a Christian school are sometimes seen as an expendable extra that requires a lot of time and effort. Some may even argue that the energy spent on these extracurricular programs detracts from the Biblical instruction that is our focus. However, team sports can be a very important part of a Christian school and their benefits should not be underestimated. For example, they provide an excellent means to teach Christian living and build Christian characteristics in the personalities of the students. Through these activities, athletic talents and abilities can be developed and recognized publicly. Sports teams can also be an effective way to build a sense of community by enhancing relationships between students, students and teachers, and the school and supporting families. The larger community can also be enhanced through school sports teams as athletics can serve as a method of witnessing. Implementing Christian principles Interactions on a playing field can be a great place to put Biblical principles into practice. The different scenarios that arise supply ample opportunity for teaching moments, especially lessons aimed at attitudes pertaining to a Christian lifestyle. During the sports action, attitudes such as caring for the opponent, playing honestly, and smiling under pressure can all be encouraged. Coaches can instruct their players to keep unwholesome talk from their mouths, to speak truthfully, and to say only things that are up-building to others (Eph 4:25-29). It is one thing to teach these in a Bible class and another to put them into practice in a pressure situation. Sport teams provide a controlled, supervised environment in which to monitor and encourage these proper Christian attitudes. Being a part of a sports team enables students to learn the art of losing gracefully (not trying to place blame on others, not making excuses) as well as winning gracefully (congratulating the other team, giving praise to God, not boasting). Overall, the athletes can be encouraged to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Phil 1:27) and make their faith evident to all. The teaching of respect for sport authorities is especially relevant for young Christians who are in the process of understanding the act of submitting to the authority of God. They can practice this attitude through interactions with coaches, referees and others in such positions. Respect in the sport domain includes following the command to do "all things without arguing and complaining" (Phil 2:4). What a teaching opportunity to put this into practice when the referee makes a call we do not agree with! Being on a Christian team will also help keep the stress of competition in perspective. Students will be taught that winning is not the most important aspect in athletics and definitely not a goal to obtain using means such as cheating or dirty play. Here also, students may enjoy the fact that sports teams in a Christian school will not pressure their athletes to play and practice on Sunday. This is an obstacle that young people face when they participate in community teams which frequently incorporate Sundays into their playing schedule, especially at the higher levels. Nurturing athletic talent Another benefit of the inclusion of sports teams in Christian schools is the development of athletic talent. We believe that we are all given gifts and abilities by God. For some, their strongest talents lie in athletics. When we instruct students to develop their gifts to the fullest, we should strive to provide a means and support for doing so. Sports teams are one way to grant such an opportunity. Public recognition of these athletes is a way to praise God for His wide diversity in granting abilities. This recognition is especially important for students that may excel in the sports arena, but struggle in other areas of school, such as academics. Celebrating athletic talents is also an important lesson for spectators to learn. Sports is a venue where students can be taught to compliment each other and look for the abilities, not the disabilities in their classmates. We must all learn to speak positively about each other and put our emphasis on building others up. Building relationships The third thing that school sports teams do is build a sense of community. This is evident primarily between the students themselves. Sports teams boost peer interaction by providing an avenue for fun. As opposed to class-time, which is primarily for working and being attentive, sports allow for a time of release and downtime. During this less-structured time at school, friendships can be fostered and peer pressure can be motivated towards a positive, wholesome goal. Sports teams also allow for unique interaction between teachers and students that may not arise in the classroom setting. Rules in the extracurricular arena are not as strictly defined, and the teachers and students have an opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level. These friendships can build mutual respect that then transfers back into the classroom, promoting a very positive learning environment. A third area of the community that is strengthened by sports teams is that of parents and school. In our parental schools, this bond is an especially important one to foster. By being involved and supporting the school teams, the parents can stay in touch with activities at the school. Parental involvement also sends a supportive message to the teachers who often dedicate a lot of extra time to these activities. Parental support of the sports teams is also an excellent way for parents to strengthen the bond between themselves and their child. Supporting your child's team shows interest in his or her life. Watching your child play opens many doors for communication. For instance, you can discuss different plays, acknowledge accomplishments and analyze upcoming games. Increased communication, such as this, can only serve to strengthen the parent-child relationship and form a bond between the generations. Witnessing through sport Besides building up our own Christian community, school sports teams can serve as a way to reach out to our neighbors. For some people in our larger community, interacting with the athletes from Christian schools is as close to church as they will ever come. These people see the name "Christian" on our jerseys and scrutinize closely to see if our athletes, coaches and fans behave differently from them. What an opportunity to let our light shine! Our athletes must be taught to put Christian principles into practice and show exemplary sportsmanship. Coaches should discipline themselves to be even-tempered, positive and respectful. The coach can often set the tone for the team and proper Christian leaders should be encouraged to become involved to do this mentoring. A final aspect of our witnessing through sports involves the spectators. The command to say "only what is helpful for building others up" (Eph 4:29) applies especially to this group. Things such as coarse language, constant criticism and disrespect for referees are unacceptable for a Christian spectator. We should be careful to send the right message and let God's love shine through us! There are so many ways to praise God, and opportunities to focus on Him in the realm of sport. School sports teams should be supported by the community so that Christian teaching does take place and proper Christian leadership does occur. It is very important for Christian teachers and parents to become involved. In this way we can instruct and encourage our youth in ways that are pleasing to God. There are many benefits to the physical training that accompanies sports teams and if we maintain the proper focus in our Christian schools, then we can use these means to also promote godly training (1 Timothy 4:7b,8). Let's take the challenge and strive to run the race, not only physically, but also spiritually, so that we may win the prize of the imperishable "crown that will last forever" (1 Corinthians 9:24,25). This article first appeared in the May 2000 issue of Reformed Perspective....

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Christian education

Rating books for the school library

Having just reviewed Escape From the Killing Fields (by Nancy Moyer) for the senior section of our Christian School Library, I thought it would be a good book to use to illustrate how a volume, which has its definite downside, can still remain on the shelves and, hopefully, teach young readers in the process. The story Ly Lorn, brought up in Cambodia, was a teenager when the Kmer Rouge took over. Dispossessed of her city home she was forced to flee, together with her large family, into the Cambodian countryside. Living in a one-room hut, and compelled to work brutally long hours at hard labor, she watched all her siblings and parents die, with the exception of an older sister. Lorn had the advantage of having worked for World Vision at which place workers had introduced her to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Brought to a baby faith in Christ, she, from time to time throughout the book, confesses trust in Him. It is rather confusing, however, to read Lorn's separate accountings of her family member's deaths. They are Buddhist but she does not seem unduly concerned about their afterlife. On the contrary, death is depicted as peaceful and as a place away from the atrocities of the present. The historic pages of Cambodia's holocaust are graphically and realistically portrayed as man's inhumanity to man. Lorn's story, and the story of her fellow Cambodians, is one of much weeping but also one of hope. In the end, she and her sister safely arrive in the US and are helped by a host of loving people. Given shelter they now have the option to worship freely the God Who has delivered them from bondage. There is no clear, happily ever after in the Lord, however. Lorn submits to and desires a traditional marriage. She lets others (an uncle and an aunt) choose her spouse. Nothing is mentioned about whether or not the man is a Christian and his attributes are mainly that he is a hard worker and, later, a good father. Lorn also, again in the last chapter, inflates the work ethic, the importance of education and the possibility of her children attaining well-paying jobs. She even goes so far as to say that it is too much for her to attend church regularly - a depressing statement in view of the turn her life has been given. The paste-up With regard to these rather negative overtones creeping throughout the pages, a short write-up has been pasted into the book. This write-up will be pointed out to the older children checking it out of the library. It is a wise parent who monitors his or her child(ren)'s books. This particular book, for example, can lead to fruitful discussions and much introspection as to whether or not we appreciate our religious freedom enough. Who knows what tomorrow will bring to Canada? The write-up pasted into Escape from the Killing Fields reads as follows: There are a number of things to keep in mind as you read this book. Learn that the history of Cambodia's last few decades is very sad and horrifying. Note that Lorn's story illustrates God's grace. She is shown that salvation is only in Jesus and her life is spared. Remember that Lorn is a very young Christian who (as yet) has very little knowledge of what God teaches in His Word. You see this in the way she speaks of her family's death. You also see it in the way she marries (not using Biblical guidelines for choosing a Christian husband.) You continue to see it in the way she seems to count (in the last chapter), possessions, education and job security as very important. Church attendance, on the other hand, as well as Bible study, appear to be secondary. Do speak with your Mom and Dad about what you've read....

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Christian education

School: who should rule?

A few years back I was privileged to join my colleague André Schutten in making presentations to Reformed churches and schools across Canada. We were talking about the political and legal challenges we are seeing against parental authority in education, and in preparing for these presentations I did some research into what Reformed Christians believe about who is primarily responsible for the education of children. I had assumed that there was a common perspective about parental authority, in light of covenant theology. I was wrong. Who calls the shots - the Church or parents? The church orders of the Reformed denominations in Canada can be traced back to the Synod of Dort Church Order drafted in 1618-1619. Article 21 of this document stated that: The consistories everywhere shall see to it that there are good schoolteachers, not only to teach the children reading, writing, languages, and the liberal arts, but also to instruct them in godliness and in the catechism. Article 44 adds, The classis shall authorize a number of its ministers… to visit all the churches once a year, in cities as well as in rural districts, and to take heed whether the ministers, consistories, and school teachers faithfully perform the duties of their offices, adhere to sound doctrine… What this means is that churches are assumed to have authority over schools, at least when it comes to deciding who teaches and what is taught. CHURCH In my research I discovered that the Netherlands Reformed Congregations (NRC) in Canada uphold this 1619 Church Order, and as such, have officially church-run schools. But they are a rarity. PARENTS So what do the church orders of the other Reformed denominations say? The Canadian Reformed Churches (CanRC) have Article 58, which states: The consistory shall ensure that the parents, to the best of their ability, have their children attend a school where the instruction given is in harmony with the Word of God as the church has summarized it in her confessions. Parents are entrusted with the authority to have their children attend a faithful school, though churches are to encourage them in this. The United Reformed Church’s (URC) version of the Church Order, in Article 14, notes that elders “are to maintain the purity of the Word and Sacraments, assist in catechizing the youth, promote God-centered schooling…” As such, it is similar to the CanRC Church Order but it does not insist that schooling is in accordance with the Reformed confessions. The 2012 Proposed Joint Church Order of the CanRC and URC churches does a great job combining these by calling on the consistory to “promote schooling at all levels that is in harmony with the Word of God as summarized the Three Forms of Unity.” This creates space for home schooling and also requires conformity to the Reformed confessions. The Free Reformed Churches have a common theological heritage as the NRCs, but their Church Order has changed on this matter. Article 54 states: The Consistories shall see to it that the parents, in harmony with the promises made at the baptism of their children, have them taught at schools where the instruction is in accordance with the Word of God and the Three Forms of Unity. Like the CanRC Church Order, there is explicit mention made that the schooling must be in accordance with the Reformed Confessions. Are the church orders true to life? These various church orders do seem to reflect the type of education that we commonly see occurring among families in these denominations. NRC congregations have set up their own church-directed schools. Apart from the Roman Catholic schools, this model is very rare in Canada today. Members of CanRC churches have started schools where the majority of the students are also CanRC. However, more recently the direction has shifted to working with parents of other orthodox Reformed churches in starting and maintaining schools. URC churches recently came out of the CRC and as a result many of the children still attend non-denominational Christian schools, though a more recent move is towards explicitly Reformed schools like Heritage Christian School in Jordan, Ontario. FRC parents don’t have as many options as they have fewer churches. But they work together with NRC, Heritage Reformed, and parents of other church backgrounds to maintain confessional Reformed schools. All of these Reformed denominations recognize a responsibility for churches when it comes to promoting solid education, but most have moved far away from the 1619 model in which the churches had direct authority and responsibility over schools. Schooling according to the Bible One big reason for the difference of perspective on the role of the church in education is because the Bible has very little to say about schooling. There is no mention of schools in Scriptures. The same is true of education in an institutional sense for children in general. Does this mean that the Bible has nothing to say about education? No. But it does mean that our modern understanding of education is foreign to Bible times. Through the lens of the Bible, life itself is education. In other words, education is not limited to a specific setting or a time in our life. It starts when we are born and never ends. This is important because institutional education has become an industry in the Western world. We associate it with certificates, diplomas, and degrees. But as valuable as these may be, if we think they are necessary for education then the Bible says we are missing the mark. Making the tough choices At the baptismal font, parents promise to raise their children in the fear of the Lord as soon as these children are able to understand. The schooling they choose for their child should be consistent with this promise and with the preaching they get from the pulpit. This raises the question of how far a church can go when there is disagreement between elders and parents of what constitutes “godly schooling.” It is not uncommon for parents in a church to send their children to different schools. And when the consistory addresses the parent’s choice, it can quickly become a sensitive and difficult conversation. In our postmodern world, we don’t like being told that the choice we make is right or wrong. In fact, even being questioned about our choices in education can get our hackles up. This is a sensitive issue. For example, after one of the ARPA presentations about legal challenges in education I was quite surprised when one homeschooling mom told me that this was the very first time she heard some of our points – about the centrality of parental authority in education and the dangers of teaching within the state-directed education system – being made within the walls of the particular church we were presenting in and which she was a member of. She explained that they had tried to raise related issues for years but most people would refuse to consider it. Although homeschooling seems to have strong biblical support, apparently discussing it at her Reformed church was not welcomed. All of the church orders mentioned previously are consistent in ascribing elders with the responsibility of holding parents to account about their decision for how they educate their children. The reality is that in this part of life, as everywhere else, there can be many temptations to pursue what we want rather than what is best. The desire to attend a school that has better facilities, teachers, academic standards, sports programs, shop classes, etc. can lead us to compromise how these things are taught. On the flip side, we are wrong if we think our only educational option is a school that has the name “Reformed” on it or that, in its constitution, says it is based on the Reformed confessions. There is much more to education than a name or a constitution. And from another angle, just because education is being done in the home does not make it godly or quality. The Bible does not insist that schooling has to be institutional (ie within the walls of a school). But it does make it clear that all education has to be in harmony with God’s Word, and our Church Orders make it clear that the consistory has a responsibility in this regard. Questions for the readers In an effort to spark some public discussion about this, I would like to submit the following questions with the hope that some of Reformed Perspective’s readers will respond via letters to the editor or article submissions: While homeschooling isn't specifically mentioned in most Reformed church orders, should we assume it to be implicitly included (as just another type of school)? Or should it be included explicitly? Why or why not? How should consistories go about ensuring that education being done in a homeschool is godly and in line with the Reformed confessions Some Reformed families send their children to public schools (also in places where Reformed and Christian schools do exist). From the context of what is outlined in the church orders, can this be defended? Some Reformed families send their children to non-denominational Christian schools, also in places where an orthodox Reformed school is present. Should the church speak to this through preaching, prayers, and visits? If so, how? Some Reformed families send their children to Reformed schools and believe this completes their parental educational responsibilities. What more is required of them? How can the consistory and Church best go about explaining that to them? Some schools are structured as parental schools but go by the name of a church federation (ex. the Hope Canadian Reformed School). What happens when the direction of the parents/board of the school conflicts with the direction of the church that these parents have implicitly or explicitly tied themselves to (ex. in choice of Bible translations)? What are the blessings and dangers of a parental school going by the name of a church federation? ...

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Christian education, Indigenous peoples

No other gods

The Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #64 is a challenge to Christian churches and schools… and the First Commandment **** Last year Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) published its final report as well an accompanying document with 94 “calls to action.” The TRC report resulted from over seven years of hearing abuse allegations from aboriginal Canadians who had been students in the country’s Indian residential schools (which operated from the 1870s until the last school closed in 1996). The exact extent of the abuse that took place may never be known because the Commission heard complaints but had no power to compel testimony. That meant abuse claims could be heard, but not fully investigated – the accused individuals were never brought forward to either answer for or defend their actions. When the TRC released their 94 calls to action the Liberal Party quickly promised to implement every one of them, and reaffirmed this promise after forming the government of Canada. Promoting truth and reconciliation sounds noble, but the conclusions of this report are radical, promoting one culture and religion over all others. This article will limit its focus to a key recommendation that pertain directly to Christian churches and schools. Requiring native spirituality at school Because some of the abuse occurred at Christian residential schools, some of the report’s calls to action were directed towards Christian schools and the churches associated with them today. Call to action #64 states: "We call upon all levels of government that provide public funds to denominational schools to require such schools to provide an education on comparative religious studies which must include a segment on Aboriginal spiritual beliefs and practices developed in collaboration with Aboriginal elders." By “denominational” schools, the report is likely targeting all religious schools, regardless of their formal connection to specific church denominations. Forcing religious schools to promote aboriginal spirituality, even if such spirituality violates the Christian faith, flows from a consistent message in the TRC report that requires churches and religious institutions to “affirm Indigenous spirituality in its own right.” These institutions are being called on to “formally recognize Indigenous spirituality as a valid form of worship that is equal to their own.” Freedom of religion should mean being free from State coercion If someone were to ask me, or the Christian school I’m a member of, to teach that aboriginal spiritual beliefs are equal to my own Reformed Christian faith, I would respectfully point out to them that they are wrong and there is no way I will comply. Doing so violates the first commandment – it is idolatry. Pagan aboriginal spirituality has little in common with the gospel of Jesus Christ and I’m not going to confuse my children by claiming that the competing faith claims are the same. But Natives are free to try to convince me otherwise, just as I will encourage my neighbors to consider the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. But it is a different matter altogether when the TRC demand that the State compels its citizens to undermine their beliefs by forcing the indoctrination of pagan spirituality. And when the Liberal government promises to follow through, then our fundamental freedoms are at risk. Section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms lists the fundamental freedoms that all Canadian possess and that must be protected from any actions by the State. They include freedom of conscience, religion, and association. All three are involved here - when Christians come together to form churches and schools, they do so protected by the freedom to associate, and the freedom to live according to their religion. When the State forces these churches and schools to promote a religion that undermines their own, these constitutional rights are violated. Natives don’t want to be treated this way Even aboriginal Canadians should speak up against this assault on freedom. In fact, the very same TRC calls to action includes the demand that all faith groups commit to: "...respecting Indigenous people’s right to self-determination in spiritual matters, including the right to practice, develop, and teach their own spiritual traditions, customs, and ceremonies…" So all faith groups may not interfere in indigenous spirituality, but the TRC report, supported by Canada’s government, demands that interference into the religious teachings of all other faith groups. It is a one-way street. This is the very reason why we have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms – to protect citizens from the State including when the State thinks it can tell people what to believe! Conclusion The politicization of the residential schools has made it difficult to get a firm handle of what really happened in these schools. It is indisputable and unjustifiable that abuse occurred. It is also completely inappropriate for the State to require the removal of children from their homes to be placed in institutional care, except in extreme circumstances. Where wrong was done, justice must be served, also when churches or governments are responsible. But we also know that the residential schools were well-intentioned and went a long way towards helping disadvantaged people with education, nutrition, skills, and medical care. When good was done, that too must be acknowledged. Canada’s federal government is not helping anybody, especially Canada’s aboriginal peoples, by endorsing all of the demands from the TRC....