Wednesday, June 22, 2005
the big bad wolf
Yesterday, a new family moved into the house next door to ours. My daughter was overjoyed because they have a six year old daughter, and she has been praying that a girl her age would come to live in the empty house. I stood on the front porch and talked to the mother about her family and the neighborhood. She told me that she had three children, and the oldest was fourteen. "He thinks he is so grown these days," she said. "It is difficult when they get that age." She glanced across the street with hesitation. "He is really excited about that high school." I could tell that she was anxious.
"Really?", I said. "I teach at that school." She smiled. "I know I'll be asking you how he is doing," she said. I nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him, and if he starts doing things he should not be doing, don't worry. I'll let you know."
The truth is that it is scary to send your kids to school. The first time I let my son climb up in one of those McDonalds play structures, I felt this wave of terror the moment I realized that in an instant, my child had disappeared into a maze of colored tubes and I had no idea where he was or if he was okay. I pictured him doing something stupid, and falling backwards - or getting stuck. I had visions of him crouched in the corner of some tube, crying, while big kids crawled over him unconcerned. I felt the same sense of uneasiness on his first day of school. All of a sudden, this child I had been with every day since birth was gone. When he came home, I checked his backpack for a note. I was expecting some sort of play-by-play to tell me what book they had read, how many times he had used the bathroom, how much snack and lunch he ate, what he played on the playground. To my disappointment, the teacher did not write daily notes like that. So, I did what mothers do. I joined the PTA. I volunteered in the school. I brought snacks to the classroom and I worked in the school library.
There is a great deal of talk among Christians about how evil and depraved public education is. It is said to be part of a conspiracy, a liberal agenda, a sort of complex and carefully designed system to slowly brainwash students and turn them into atheist humanists. Public education is the big bad wolf. It is out there, prowling, waiting to destroy us.
There is a huge Christian media backlash when a school does something like decide to call the Christmas party a "winter celebration". The controversy that occurred last year over the "We Are Family" video is a good example of the way Christian leadership approaches the public school system. In everything I read, there was an assumption that this video was being sent to schools and it was going to be shown to all students as a part of a tolerance awareness campaign. The truth is that there is no national network or campaign (other than No Child Left Behind testing) that local schools are compelled to adopt. Even if those videos had been extremely subversive and offensive to a Christian belief system, they would have been just another resource that gets mailed to teachers and thrown or filed away. Unless the local school system decided to adopt a curriculum that included the video and require that it be shown, it would be completely up to the teacher to decide whether or not they wanted to show it. Teachers have lots of material to cover. We get all sorts of free things from corporations and organizations. If it looks like a lesson plan, chances are, it is going to just get trashed. With all the pressure to teach academic objectives, singing cartoon characters are just not going to make the cut (unless the video came with free stickers - in which case the stickers would probably get used). Last year, the only free thing I used was a set of ink pens and journals from Turner South, and I only used those because they were free school supplies and my kids are always asking for paper and pens. Yet, all the coverage I read about the "We are Family" cartoon approached the debate as if this video was somehow going to actually be shown in public schools across the country. Just because something is made available to the public schools does not mean it will be adopted or implemented.
The truth about public education is that it may be the single most accessible government institution. There is very little federal, or even state control over a local school. The vast majority of the decisions that affect what I teach and how I teach it are made by the administration of my school as it responds to the leadership of the school board - a board which is comprised of locally elected officials. Schools and school boards have a series of state mandated tests, and a general set of state objectives that must be met. Everything else - from what holidays are observed on the calendar, to what is served in the lunchroom, to what materials are in the library. to dress codes - is decided locally. This is why it is deeply disturbing to hear entire Christian organizations or denominations debating whether or not to advocate that people of faith abandon the public education system. Without the presence of Christian families and Christian parent advocates, public education will lose the support and guidance that it needs.
I've read and heard arguments that it is simply unsafe and unwise to send innocent, defenseless children into a "battlefield" like a public school. The rationale is that we would not ask children to enter a dangerous mission field alone, so how can we advocate that they attend an institution as dangerous as a public school. Yet, we send families into missions all the time. Children should not be entering a school alone, they should be entering it with the support and involvement of their family and church. I would never suggest that it would be enough for parents to simply stick their child on a school bus in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. What I would like to see is a commitment from local churches and families to make an investment and become involved in the leadership of public education. As Christians have left the schools, the PTAs are shrinking, and many schools are struggling to find volunteers. There is a huge difference that can be made, and local families and parents have great opportunities to influence their school.
Getting back to the image of public education as the big bad wolf, suppose that the story had a different ending. What if that wise little pig heard that there was a wolf in the neighborhood and decided that the best thing for him to do would be to move as far away as possible? The only houses left would be built of hay and sticks and would be easily blown down. There would be nobody to shelter, guide, or help the little pigs who lacked a solid foundation. They would have ended up as dinner, and the wolf would have been free to roam and do whatever he pleased. Luckily, their wise brother knew how to build a house strong enough to stand firm and large enough to protect them all. Under his leadership, they were not merely protected from the wolf, they were able to be defeat him all together.
Christian families and local churches have many opportunities to impact their local schools. Most PTA groups are struggling to find leadership. Political races for school board positions are often uncontested. Parental, business, and local involvement is both wanted and appreciated. As churches and denominations discuss education, I hope that any decision to abandon public education and give up the opportunities we could have to influence and support the children and families in our communities is taken very seriously and prayerfully.
"Really?", I said. "I teach at that school." She smiled. "I know I'll be asking you how he is doing," she said. I nodded. "I'll keep an eye on him, and if he starts doing things he should not be doing, don't worry. I'll let you know."
The truth is that it is scary to send your kids to school. The first time I let my son climb up in one of those McDonalds play structures, I felt this wave of terror the moment I realized that in an instant, my child had disappeared into a maze of colored tubes and I had no idea where he was or if he was okay. I pictured him doing something stupid, and falling backwards - or getting stuck. I had visions of him crouched in the corner of some tube, crying, while big kids crawled over him unconcerned. I felt the same sense of uneasiness on his first day of school. All of a sudden, this child I had been with every day since birth was gone. When he came home, I checked his backpack for a note. I was expecting some sort of play-by-play to tell me what book they had read, how many times he had used the bathroom, how much snack and lunch he ate, what he played on the playground. To my disappointment, the teacher did not write daily notes like that. So, I did what mothers do. I joined the PTA. I volunteered in the school. I brought snacks to the classroom and I worked in the school library.
There is a great deal of talk among Christians about how evil and depraved public education is. It is said to be part of a conspiracy, a liberal agenda, a sort of complex and carefully designed system to slowly brainwash students and turn them into atheist humanists. Public education is the big bad wolf. It is out there, prowling, waiting to destroy us.
There is a huge Christian media backlash when a school does something like decide to call the Christmas party a "winter celebration". The controversy that occurred last year over the "We Are Family" video is a good example of the way Christian leadership approaches the public school system. In everything I read, there was an assumption that this video was being sent to schools and it was going to be shown to all students as a part of a tolerance awareness campaign. The truth is that there is no national network or campaign (other than No Child Left Behind testing) that local schools are compelled to adopt. Even if those videos had been extremely subversive and offensive to a Christian belief system, they would have been just another resource that gets mailed to teachers and thrown or filed away. Unless the local school system decided to adopt a curriculum that included the video and require that it be shown, it would be completely up to the teacher to decide whether or not they wanted to show it. Teachers have lots of material to cover. We get all sorts of free things from corporations and organizations. If it looks like a lesson plan, chances are, it is going to just get trashed. With all the pressure to teach academic objectives, singing cartoon characters are just not going to make the cut (unless the video came with free stickers - in which case the stickers would probably get used). Last year, the only free thing I used was a set of ink pens and journals from Turner South, and I only used those because they were free school supplies and my kids are always asking for paper and pens. Yet, all the coverage I read about the "We are Family" cartoon approached the debate as if this video was somehow going to actually be shown in public schools across the country. Just because something is made available to the public schools does not mean it will be adopted or implemented.
The truth about public education is that it may be the single most accessible government institution. There is very little federal, or even state control over a local school. The vast majority of the decisions that affect what I teach and how I teach it are made by the administration of my school as it responds to the leadership of the school board - a board which is comprised of locally elected officials. Schools and school boards have a series of state mandated tests, and a general set of state objectives that must be met. Everything else - from what holidays are observed on the calendar, to what is served in the lunchroom, to what materials are in the library. to dress codes - is decided locally. This is why it is deeply disturbing to hear entire Christian organizations or denominations debating whether or not to advocate that people of faith abandon the public education system. Without the presence of Christian families and Christian parent advocates, public education will lose the support and guidance that it needs.
I've read and heard arguments that it is simply unsafe and unwise to send innocent, defenseless children into a "battlefield" like a public school. The rationale is that we would not ask children to enter a dangerous mission field alone, so how can we advocate that they attend an institution as dangerous as a public school. Yet, we send families into missions all the time. Children should not be entering a school alone, they should be entering it with the support and involvement of their family and church. I would never suggest that it would be enough for parents to simply stick their child on a school bus in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. What I would like to see is a commitment from local churches and families to make an investment and become involved in the leadership of public education. As Christians have left the schools, the PTAs are shrinking, and many schools are struggling to find volunteers. There is a huge difference that can be made, and local families and parents have great opportunities to influence their school.
Getting back to the image of public education as the big bad wolf, suppose that the story had a different ending. What if that wise little pig heard that there was a wolf in the neighborhood and decided that the best thing for him to do would be to move as far away as possible? The only houses left would be built of hay and sticks and would be easily blown down. There would be nobody to shelter, guide, or help the little pigs who lacked a solid foundation. They would have ended up as dinner, and the wolf would have been free to roam and do whatever he pleased. Luckily, their wise brother knew how to build a house strong enough to stand firm and large enough to protect them all. Under his leadership, they were not merely protected from the wolf, they were able to be defeat him all together.
Christian families and local churches have many opportunities to impact their local schools. Most PTA groups are struggling to find leadership. Political races for school board positions are often uncontested. Parental, business, and local involvement is both wanted and appreciated. As churches and denominations discuss education, I hope that any decision to abandon public education and give up the opportunities we could have to influence and support the children and families in our communities is taken very seriously and prayerfully.
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