Complimentary Story
January 2024It is no secret that public schools in the United States are struggling. I don’t believe that administrators and teachers know where to go next, and many families are beginning to ask themselves if public school is the best option for their children. I know a handful of faithful Christians teachers who work diligently in public schools to educate their students and to share the gospel with them in any way they can. Their ministry is important, valuable, and eternal; God calls us to be a light in a world filled with darkness, and the Christian public school teachers I know shine brightly.
I myself am a trained public educator, with quite a few years of experience both as a substitute teacher and a paraprofessional. But, I choose to teach at a classical Christian school instead of in the public schools. In this article, I'd like to tell you why and also explain how a classical Christian education might be an excellent fit for your family.
Let me begin by introducing myself. I teach at the historic Baldwin Christian School (BCS) located in Baldwin, Wisconsin. BCS is about as rural as you can imagine, surrounded by cornfields and cattle. On the way to school, we pass farms boasting alpacas, goats, horses, cows, sheep, and chickens — and we only live a few miles away! I teach the fine arts courses, including music, art, and creative writing. I love my job.
First of all, I get to talk with my students about the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ died and rose again, as often as it fits into my lessons. This is such a sweet and wonderful blessing, and this is what makes the education at classical Christian schools distinctly Christian. We operate from a biblical worldview, which means that our policies, practices, and beliefs are all based on God’s Word. Practically, if one of my students is having a rough day, I’m free to pray for her and encourage her to trust in God’s goodness. In my fine arts classes, we discuss how we can draw and sing to God’s glory, and then practice those skills with an eternal perspective in mind.
Second, we teach a classical curriculum. Classical education differs from modern education in a number of ways. A classical education follows the stages of a child’s development more closely, allowing students to first learn the basics of each subject (grades K-6), then to integrate the basics (grades 7-9), and finally to write and speak about what they’re passionate about (grades 10-12). The goal of a classical education is to produce students with a noble character and a love for learning. As a teacher, I try to speak less and ask questions more. I encourage my students to pay close attention to the world around them and to observe and think before they act. In the academic subjects, students learn how to form each letter correctly before they go on to writing sentences; they memorize math facts before they move on to complex word problems. We truly leave no child behind, meeting students where they’re at instead of arbitrarily placing them in the grade level corresponding to their age. When you combine this with a Christian education, the goal becomes whole character formation, a service-oriented heart, and rightly-ordered loves, beginning with love for God and neighbors.
Third, I enjoy being a part of a Christian community. I can connect with other families on the essential things in life; I know they’re striving to put their faith in Jesus first, just as I am. I also know that the parents of my students are praying for me, as I pray for them and their children as well. I love being able to help parents fulfill God’s instructions to them: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children...” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7a). Finally, because we all attend a variety of churches, there’s enough diversity in our beliefs that we learn how to get along with people who are different from us.
Why might a classical Christian education be an excellent fit for your family? If your children currently attend a public school, and you’re seeing the effects a worldly education is having on them, their classmates, and the nation as a whole, a classical Christian school is something your family could consider. As I mentioned above, attending a classical Christian school provides me and my family with biblical teaching, the educational tools that promote a lifelong love of learning, and a caring faith-based community. Classical Christian schools aren’t counter-cultural for the sake of being counter-cultural, rather, we seek to educate students in the best way possible — the way that fits in with God’s good designs. This is something in which the public schools have no interest.
A classical Chrisitan school might also be an excellent fit for your family if you’re finding that homeschooling isn’t providing your children with the structure or social interactions they need. That was where my family and I found ourselves a few years ago. Homeschooling was our first choice. We liked a lot of the aspects of homeschooling, and sometimes we still miss our quiet days at home, but we realized that we needed another option. BCS has been that excellent second option for us. We still do our education together, but now we have an everyday structure and community in which to do it. Even if you’re not a teacher like me, classical Christian schools welcome parent involvement, as we believe parents are still the first authority in a child’s life. We seek to come alongside parents as helpers commissioned by them to raise up their children in faith and obedience to Jesus.
If you'd like more information about the Baldwin Christian School, please visit our website. If you'd like more information about classical Christian schools, you can visit the Association of Classical Christian Schools’ website: ACCS — Link: https://classicalchristian.org/.
If you’d like to read the essay that inspired the classical Christian movement, you can find it here: “The Lost Tools of Learning” by Dorothy Sayers — Link: https://www.pccs.org/academics/what-is-classical-education/(scroll down to More resources).
BaldwinChristianSchool.org
