A Big Need In Christian Education Today
Another great blog post from Dr. Glen Schultz
As I was thinking about this summer’s Kingdom School Institute, I was reminded of a meeting for Christian school administrators I had attended several months ago. After the morning program, we were asked to sit at tables with people from other schools and brainstorm what ever topic(s) came to mind while lunch was being served.
There were administrators from six very strong Christian schools at my table. Most of these school leaders I knew quite well. After several topics were brought up and discussed, I asked the group if I could ask each each one of them a question. My questions was this. What are you doing at your school to intentionally make sure that every staff member knows, understands and is committed to a biblical philosophy of education?
The responses I received caught me completely off guard. I was shocked to hear that not one of these school leaders had done any intentional staff development on a biblical philosophy of education over the past few years. Of course, they all said that they were careful to hire good Christian educators. One administrator said that even though they hadn’t done any specific training in this area, they were always talking about it in daily conversation.
Since that meeting, I have asked a lot of other school leaders this same question. The answers I have received have been basically what I was told at this luncheon. The reason this is a big concern to me is that everyone in Christian education claims that what sets us apart from other forms of schooling is the philosophy of education that we follow.
When one reviews the many studies that have been conducted on the beliefs/worldviews of today’s Christian adults, he will find that it is estimated that only 9-10% of them have a basic understanding of a biblical worldview. We hear repeatedly that today’s Christians are biblically illiterate when compared to earlier generations of Christians.
It appears that we have been focusing so much of our attention on teaching methodology, technology, and other means of measuring effective teaching that we have failed to understand that one’s philosophy of education is still much more important than all of these other points of emphasis. It is time for a change of emphasis in our schools if we are going to be true to our mission.
I was watching an interview that was being conducted with the late Neil Postman related to his book, The End of Education. In this interview Postman made a provocative statement. He said that all the questions being asked in academia today are “engineering” questions (methods, programs, etc.). No one was asking the most important question, which is, Why schooling?
I hold a strong conviction that every teacher in every classroom in every school integrates a worldview into all of their lessons and teachings. This means that the issue is not whether or not worldview integration is taking place. The real issue is what worldview is being integrated through a teacher’s lessons. To understand what worldview is being integrated can be determined by looking at two other factors.
These factors are:
- the worldview the teacher holds.
- the teacher’s philosophy of education.
If you look at the figure below, you will see what I refer to as the “Worldview Progression.” I believe that the worldview a person holds has a direct correlation to the philosophy of education that he/she will develop. Together, a person’s worldview and philosophy of education will determine what ideas/beliefs/worldview the teacher will integrate in all of his/her teaching.
What does all of this have to do with my opening statements in this blog? It is simple, all Christian schools must intentionally design professional development programs that will guide staff members in developing three areas of their lives that are critical to being effective Christian educators. These are:
- training in understanding and developing a biblical worldview.
- training in a biblical philosophy of education.
- training in effective planning and implementing biblical worldview integration in all of their teaching efforts.
This type of training is not a one-time in-service session. It must be intentional and continual to be effective. After the first edition of Kingdom Education was published, I was asked how long it took me to arrive at the understanding of God’s plan for educating future generations that I had expressed in the book. The person was taken back when my answer was that it took me about 20 years to get to this point of understanding. Because I am continually studying God’s Word and trying to address the issue of education biblically, my worldview and philosophy of education have greatly deepened since I was asked this question in 1998.
So there are some questions we must address if we are going to be successful in our efforts to provide young people with a strong Bible-based, Christ-centered education.
- Is your school doing intentional and continual training in these three critical areas?
- How are you assessing your staff’s worldview?
- Can your staff clearly articulate a biblical philosophy of education?
- Is your staff developing the skills necessary to plan and implement effective biblical worldview integration lessons?
Fourteen years ago Dr. Larry Taylor and I began the annual Kingdom School Institute. Each summer since that initial institute, over 150 Christian school leaders have come together to learn how to develop an intentional, comprehensive 3-5 year plan to infuse a biblical philosophy of education throughout a school’s culture. I would encourage you to consider attending this summer’s institute if you are interested in developing a strong, kingdom-focused school. I believe this is a must for all serious Christian school administrators as we attempt to navigate our schools through today’s turbulent postmodern waters. To learn more about this summer’s institute, you may click on the Kingdom School Institute links in this blog.
This article was written by Dr. Glen Schultz. Dr. Schultz is the author of Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations and several parenting booklets including A Parent’s Greatest Joy, Home Invasion, Shepherding and 20/20 Vision. He has conducted seminars throughout the United States and several foreign countries. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Schultz is the founder and director of Kingdom Education Ministries.