Previous | Next 

PERSONAL OPINION
Back to school

John H. Redekop

For many, especially those between four and 18 years of age, the September transition to another school year is one of the crucial rites of passage. For those of us who have made education a career, the September transitions mark our progress from initiation to retirement.

During the last few decades, the challenges of September have taken on additional significance. Traditionally, the school was seen as the extension of the home and the bearer of community values. In most of Canada, this included teaching and reinforcing Christian beliefs. Times have changed. For example, at several elementary school “Christmas” programs which I have attended in recent years, there was no reference to Christ, Christmas or anything religious.

Increasing numbers of Christian parents are extremely uncomfortable with the new, dominant non-religious and even non-moral emphases at Christmastime and throughout the year, and have opted for alternatives. These have included Christian schools, home-schooling and correspondence programs. These trends are accelerating.

Parental disenchantment with public schools will likely increase in coming decades. Quite logically, parents don’t want to be part of an educational environment in which schools and parents are in opposition, struggling to be the dominant ethical influence on the children. In many Christian circles, such fundamental tensions are becoming major agenda items. Rightly so. The mandate of the Christian church includes religious training which extends far beyond the traditional Sunday school. The home is basic, of course, but its impact is weakened when public education stands in opposition.

My own elementary schooling was of the highest order. For most of the years, I was taught by first Mr. Adolph Jantz and then Mr. Jake Neufeld, two men of God who taught well. In addition to incorporating Christian values when appropriate, they took time to sing Christian and suitable secular songs with us, and they consistently modelled the highest values and ethics. On Friday afternoons, we often had outstanding sing-a-longs.

Pedagogically, those elementary school years would today not be given high scores. One teacher taught all eight grades plus a handful of high school students in one room. He was also the janitor. Physically, the little square Lobethal School building left much to be desired. Athletic facilities consisted of a swing and a baseball diamond. Our library was pitifully small. Yet, the overall results turned out to be truly amazing. Lobethal pupils of those years grew up to be informed, respectful, and law-abiding citizens. They entered the adult world filled with a sound work ethic, committed to high morality, knowledgeable about Christianity as well as other religions, courteous and determined to succeed. Not surprisingly, their success rate, measured according to various criteria, was high.

My high school years were all spent at the Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford, B.C. The experience was academically strong, spiritually first rate and socially healthy. The more years that pass since I left that school in 1951, the more I deem its impact to have been significant. Again, the greatest strength of the school was its fine teaching staff, whose academic strength and spiritual commitment left their mark.

My post-high school education, which spanned 11 years at five institutions (one religious and four secular), forced me to face reality in new ways. At times, my early years at a public university threatened to precipitate serious spiritual trauma. The impressive intellectual stimulation and impact were counterbalanced by a usually subtle, but generally persistent, challenge to Christian beliefs. As a young student, I found myself admiring most of my professors but often disagreeing with their religious and ethical views. I found that tension hard to process.

My subsequent 39 years of mostly full-time teaching, four in high school and 35 in six post-secondary institutions (three secular and three religious), have reinforced most of my early perceptions. This September, as I have again gone back to school, they have once more come into clear focus. I shall summarize several major ones which may be useful to students today. They would have been helpful to me many decades ago. Of course, there are many exceptions to these generalizations, but they seem still to be generally valid.

In secular schools, one is encouraged to search for the truth, but one is often looked down upon if one claims to have found truth, especially religious truth. In religious schools, the search for truth is significant largely because it is assumed that the discovered truth will be embraced and affirmed. In secular schools, inquiry, especially in non-scientific realms, focuses more on the question stage than the answer stage. An answer discovered is meaningful particularly because it leads to new questions. The question stage seems to be the resting stage. In Christian epistemology, the questions are useful mainly because of the answers they yield. The answer stage tends to be the resting stage, at least until subsequent inquiry produces better evidence and answers. In secular education, the instructors generally do not assume that they ought consistently to model a particular set of ethical values in their teaching and general lifestyle. For Christian instructors, teaching and living are part of the same cloth. Discovered truths are values to live by. Finally, I have found that Christian instructors, from biologists to ethicists, are much more likely to provide alternative explanations and a broader spectrum of ideas than their non-Christian counterparts. If you question this assessment, you may want to check some instructors’ libraries.

Each September, as many of us go back to school, let us sort out again what it means to be Christians in an increasingly secular, at times anti-Christian, society and commit ourselves to support that which is truly best in education.

John H. Redekop is on the faculty of Trinity Western University and is a member of Bakerview MB Church in Abbotsford, B.C.

Previous | Next 

Last modified September 27, 1999.

© 1999 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.