Whose education is it anyway?

Last updated on: September 2, 2015 at 9:13 am by Gill Robins

Whose education is it anyway? 2015-09-02T09:13:17+00:00 Gill Robins

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As the government assumes an increasingly quasi-parental role in education and as the western world tightens its embrace of liberal secularism, what is the role of Christian parents? What should be taught in schools and how much influence should parents have? Is there a place any longer for expressions of religious faith in the public square?

Education doesn’t, of course, begin when a child starts school. Education begins at the moment of birth and the Bible is clear that the responsibility for raising and educating a child rests with the parents. Even though most parents work in partnership with professionals in the modern world, the words of Deuteronomy still hold true: ‘These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up’ (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). So how does this inform Christian parents’ decisions about schooling?

Whatever the choice of schooling (home school, a Christian or church school, or a secular school), home environment will have much more influence over your child’s life than what happens in school. And while school may influence a child’s spiritual life, it won’t determine it. It’s at home that the biblical principles by which you want your child to live are discussed. It’s at home that you talk about contemporary culture and why your faith appears counter-cultural to your child. It’s at home that you model for your child the humility, servanthood and kingdom values that Christ modelled.

When there is a conflict between what children see and what they hear, they will always follow what they see – actions really do speak louder than words. So it’s what children see at home that creates the benchmarks against which they evaluate what they meet outside of their homes. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that ‘We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us’ (2Corinthians 5:20). The first place that parents need to be bold and brave ambassadors is in the home, as they help they children through school and college life and as they teach them to walk with God, using the Bible as their authoritative guide against which to measure all that they hear, see and do.

Christian parents who choose a secular state education for their children have an added element to their parenting role. Children will work in community alongside others who define ‘family’ very differently from them and alongside others who live within very different moral frameworks. Curriculum content may often be in direct opposition to biblical principles. Parents need to keep lines of communication open and learn to listen between the lines, helping their children to navigate paths crowded with conflicting ideas. They also have to model respect for people with different views and demonstrate how to disagree with views, but still respect the person who holds them.

But there’s another dimension to being a Christian parent in a learning community. Jesus told His disciples that ‘God is not a secret to be kept’ and that we’re here ‘to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth … to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world’ (Matthew 5.13-14, The Message). So in a world drained of God colours and which is increasingly hostile to expressions of faith, how can Christian parents be salt and light?

Even if we are unable to speak about our faith, we can still live in community with caring hearts and servants’ minds. We can serve our schools by getting involved. We can use whatever platforms are available to suggest positive alternatives to curriculum content. We can ensure that our interaction is always honouring to the God we serve (including on social media) and we can get involved in school governance.

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. The Message paraphrases those verses like this: ‘But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely’ (Galatians 5:22).

That offers a powerful blueprint for missional living in a school community. And as Paul points out, whatever the law of a land about expressions of Christian belief in the public square, there’s no law against such living.

The issues raised in this blog are explored further in 12 articles published at http://christiansineducation.co.uk/for-parents

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