The Goal Our Christian School

In today's secularized Christianity, it has been my distressing experience to discover that Christian parents assume that a Christian school (whether elementary, secondary or collegiate) should have the same goals as a public school; the only difference being, we read the Bible and pray. Therefore, if their child does not test above, or at least on the same level, as a public school student on standardized, secular tests, then the Christian school has failed them. From all indications, it would seem that the only goal a Christian parent has, is the same as a secular parent, which is to ride around town with a bumper sticker proclaiming how intelligent the parent's child is! In so doing, the parent, by having produced this child prodigy, has somehow validated his existence by this practice of one-upmanship. If our only benchmark of success is comparing grade point averages, then we (parents and teachers) have failed. "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (II Corinthians 10:12) The goal of a Christian school is radically different than that of a public school! Having stated this, the question would naturally arise, what is the goal of the Christian school? The answer is found in Isaiah 2:3: "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Since this is the goal, the wise Christian school can now develop the needed curriculum to successfully equip the Christian student in becoming proficient in this God-given purpose for his life. With this in mind, we examine the Bible for the purpose of what has been historically referred to as the "3 - r's: reading, writing and arithmetic."

The first "r" is reading. What purpose does God have in us learning to read? "And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them." (Deuteronomy 17:19) God wants us to develop the ability to read in order to learn how He wants us to live and then live that way!

The second "r" is writing. Writing is how we communicate. But learning to write is not a tool to be used to make money; it is a tool to be employed in building up the faith of believers. "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (I John 5:13)

Finally, the third "r" is arithmetic. According to Webster's 1828 Dictionary, arithmetic means "the art of numbering". With that definition in mind, we read in Psalms the purpose of arithmetic or numbering: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Psalms 90:12)

The Bible clearly communicates to us the purpose of Christian education. It is simply to teach His ways so we can walk in His paths. Failing to have this as our goal will eventually lead us to arrive at the same destination as the secular school - academic idolatry, with its attendant results. "And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." (Judges 2:10)