By JOHN CRABTREE
Guest Columnist
Do you realize that children spend 16,000 hours in K-12 grade? What happens during those hours and what are they being taught?
Are schools instilling in students a lifelong search for greater meaning or just giving students what they need to find a job? Are students on a quest to seek wisdom or are they just being filled with enough facts to score well on tests?
What is education? G.K. Chesterton said, “Education is not a subject and does not deal in subjects. It is instead a transfer of a way of life.”
What kind of way of life transfer do you want for your child at school?
Christian education is clear on this answer. Certainly, it is not forcing students what to think, rather it is teaching students how to think. It starts with a biblical Christian worldview that asks the big questions of life about God, human beings, the universe, truth, and right and wrong.
A common misunderstanding today is that Christian education only deals in partial knowledge and everything that is taught is reactionary and negative. It is common for people to believe that teachers in Christian education are afraid to ask the hard questions and they hide behind “faith.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Francis Schaeffer said, “True Christian education is not a negative thing; it is not a matter of isolating the student from the full scope of knowledge. Rather, it is giving him or her the framework for total truth, rooted in the Creator’s existence and in the Bible’s framework, so that in each step of the formal learning process the student will understand what is true and what is false and why it is true or false.”
The point is that children need the full scope of knowledge to be able to learn how to think. This means they learn through discussion and debate, clashing interpretations and competing perspectives that challenge their points of view. Above all they must learn critical thinking skills to be able to ask serious and truth-seeking questions. Anything less than this approach is only a partial education with a bias toward indoctrination.
Why is this important? Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation is the philosophy of the government in the next.”
Your children are immersed in a certain philosophy for 16,000 hours as K-12 graders in school. Is the vision for education in your school tied to traditional values like family, church, community, industriousness, personal responsibility and a virtuous population?
Christian education calls students to live for something bigger than themselves with a greater purpose than self-satisfaction and self-promotion. The aspirational vision of a greater calling pulls people into the future with great anticipation and hope.
This education is what caught my attention a couple of years ago and caused me to ask the question, “How can I get involved in K-12 education?” I stepped up and into a dutiful service for the sake of the next generation. It is my privilege to serve at Legacy Christian School in Noblesville.
We believe children are human beings made in the image of God and each one has dignity and worth. Parents have the primary responsibility to educate their children and we have the privilege to come alongside and partner with parents in this process.
So, this means both the school and the parents’ partner together to nurture lifelong learners, creative critical thinkers, compelling communicators, and leaders that catalyze generational change as they live out the Great Commission and Great Commandment of Jesus.
Just think what 16,000 hours of learning how to think can do for your children!
John Crabtree is a pastor, educator, and leadership coach. He has a doctoral degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemical engineering. Dr. Crabtree has worked extensively in both ministry and education to help advance strategic initiatives through numerous organizations around the world. Currently, he and his wife reside in Noblesville.