Unloading the Baggage

On not tracking unbiblical assumptions into your school . . .

Very few modern Christian educators are fully consistent in their assumptions and practices in education. Given our modern situation, it really has to be this way. Most Christian school parents, teachers and administrators, and homeschoolers, were educated themselves in the government school system. Through various circumstances, they became disenchanted with that system and found themselves involved with private education. Unfortunately, many of reasons for the exodus from government education were simply symptoms of the root problem. And because the root problem is commonly not identified, it is easy to bring unbiblical assumptions over into Christian education. Christian schools and schools may not have the same problems with condoms in classrooms, but this does not mean we have gotten entirely free. 

It is a task of some importance, therefore, for Christian educators to weed out any remaining vestiges of educational unbelief. I have found over the years that the most valuable lessons I have received in any area have been the result of unlearning something or other. This is especially true in education.

I have listed below a few of the more common anti-Christian assumptions found among Christian educators. In different situations, they may take various forms, but all of them have this in common—they are not biblical.

Egalitarianism: it may not be a very popular thing to say (in fact, by this time it may be illegal), but not all students are equally intelligent. God has created all of us to be different, and some of the differences are seen in the area of mental aptitude. We are not interchangeable Legos. But it is an article of faith among secularists (actually it is high dogma) that every child starts at the same place as every other child, that the obvious differences between children are to be accounted for on the basis of environment, and that education is capable of removing these distinctions. Moreover, we have a moral obligation to eradicate such “inequalities.” 

Some may deny that this assumption is shared by Christian educators, so posing one such scenario may be helpful What would happen at the Christian school in your area if they began administering IQ tests to the students, and began placing the students in various academic tracks as a result? Does the word hubbub come to mind? And how many homeschoolers believe that their child can go as far as any other homeschooler they may have read about it they, the parents, work hard enough?

I have said in this space before that the educators cannot put in what God left out. Every normal child can be given a good, rigorous education. But each child will not react the same way to this good education. He cannot. About 50 to 80 percent of a student’s intelligence is genetically transmitted, which obviously has a direct affection effect on the process of education. [See the argument presented by Daniel Seligman, A Question of Intelligence (New York, Carol Publishing Group, 1992)] The unbiblical assumption is the belief that God is fair, as a secularist would define it. But a look at the inequities of creation deals with that.

Discipline: Christian educators commonly make the mistake of assuming that because Christians are “new creatures,” the need for discipline somehow disappears. It does not.

We live in a fallen world, and consequently discipline is a constant necessity in every society. It does not matter whether or not every member of that society is regenerate, as with a school that excludes non-Christians. Nor does it matter how large or small the society is. Lack of discipline is a problem in large Christian schools and small home schools, and everywhere in between.

It is commonly assumed that if the teachers are Christian (and self governed), and if most of the students are Christian (and self governed), then discipline becomes unnecessary. For example, teachers don’t have to be required to get their lesson plans in, students don’t have to be required to pay attention in class, and so on. This is a humanistic pipe dream. Worldlings assume that man is basically good, and therefore all that is needed for man to do the good is to be informed of what it is. The wreckage of the government school shows us that “the goodness of man” is a poor foundation.  

But Christians make a similar mistake if they think a relationship with Christ removes the need for discipline. Self governance should be expected of all Christians. But it is not something that replaces direction, leadership, admonishment, and discipline from leaders. Self-governance is that which enables a student to respond to such discipline in a godly way. It is an unbiblical assumption that our “supernatural” goodness replaces the need for authority in the same way non-Christians assume that “natural” goodness replaces the need for authority.

Integration: There is no subject matter which is autonomous, or free from the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. In him all things hold together. This means that if a Christian education is not seeking self-consciously to impart a Christian worldview, then the result will be a mishmash of God-words and humanism.

Christian educators make two mistakes in this regard. One is the obvious one of stringing subjects together like wash on a line, adding a Bible class or chapel, and then claiming that the result is somehow a “Christian curriculum.” This is nothing more than baptized secularism. Within twenty years, Christian schools which operate this way will be indistinguishable from the government schools of today. It is already happening in some Christian schools (AIDS education in elementary classes, etc.). Part of the reason is that those running such schools do not have a biblical understanding of the relationship between their schools and the civil magistrate. They have no theology of resistance, so they do not resist. 

The other error is the attempt at a sophomoric integration. It is true that in Christ, every subject relates to every other. But this does not mean that the relationship can readily be seen on the surface, by just anyone who glances at it. The task of restoring biblical worldview, and training teachers who are able to impart it effectively, is a monumental task.

But how many educators are trying to do this after having read a book or two? It is fine (and necessary) to start with a book, but this is a task that calls for scholarship. Not everyone is called to scholarship, but educators are. It is an unbiblical assumption that wisdom and knowledge are easy to come by, and that we can enjoy the fruit of seeking wisdom as quickly as we want to demand it.That is not wisdom; it is a 7-11 substitute. 

First published in Credenda Vol. 5 No. 3