However, we need to consider a major difference between education and other civic services. Consider a fireman called to fight a fire. If he is well trained, he just follows well-established procedures and rules for putting out fires. It doesn't matter if he is a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, an atheist, or a New Ager. He sees a fire, he uses proper firefighting techniques, the fire is put out. (Note: I'm not saying that it isn't important for that firefighter to believe in Jesus! What I'm saying is that, on the nitty-gritty level, his firefighting skills are not impacted by his religious faith.)
But what is going on in a school? A teacher is instructing children - young, impressionable children - in issues which she believes are important for the lives of those children. Sometimes we think just of bare "facts," as if the educational process is merely teaching children that 2+2=4, or that George Washington was the first president of the United States, or that water is made up of 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen. No school actually limits itself to those bare facts. No one says a person is "well-educated" if he only knows those types of facts. Most people actually ridicule someone who just knows a lot of facts - we say he has "book learning" but no "common sense," or something like that.
No, a school does not only fill children's minds with facts, but it seeks to help children make sense of those facts, understand those facts, and apply those facts in life. No school - public, charter, private, Christian, homeschool - limits its instruction just to bare facts. Every school wants children to be well-rounded and to live a better life as a result.
That invariably gets into questions of faith, of morals, of worldviews, of basic life questions. What is "a better life?" How do we want students to apply their knowledge in life? What should they be doing with their education?
The problem is that there are genuine differences among well-meaning people about the answers to these questions. For some, a "better life" is defined in economic terms - earning more money, living a comfortable life, etc. For others, the "better life" is one of service to mankind - think Peace Corps or similar service work. For still others, the "better life" is one that is devoted to faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, with many different manifestations of that faith and obedience. And there are other understandings of what it means to educate children for a "better life."
Let's get specific with a very hot topic - the whole transgendered bathroom and locker-room controversy. I'm not going to get into what is the correct perspective here. Instead, let's consider two viewpoints.
- One group of parents sincerely believes that one's gender identity is part of his created nature, and that God has created individuals either male or female. You are born with certain anatomical features, and those define your gender. So it is appropriate that those with male anatomy use male bathrooms and locker rooms, and those with female anatomy use female bathrooms and locker rooms.
- Another group of parents sincerely believes that one's gender identity may be fluid and can change, and is not necessarily the same as one's anatomy. Therefore, someone who is anatomically a male may sincerely believe that s/he is a female, and is thus more comfortable using the female bathroom or locker room.
But what if a school refuses to implement the Obama policy, and requires students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their anatomy? Then the second group of parents will see that as being unjustly discriminatory against children whose gender identity has changed, and will be genuinely concerned about the psychological harm if those children are forced to use different facilities from their own identity.
As I said, I'm not going to get into the validity of either of these perspectives - just to point out that there are two viewpoints on the issue, and that those who hold to one viewpoint are going to be upset by practices based on the other viewpoint. There is no way to avoid that conflict.
Now bring it back to the issue of funding of schools. If I am a taxpayer, and my taxes are supporting a school which promotes the opposite viewpoint on this issue, I'm going to be upset about it. I am being forced to pay for something which is undermining what I believe on this issue. This makes the funding of public schools different from funding of fire departments - there's no disagreement in the best way to fight a fire. But the bathroom issue is just one example of many areas of genuine disagreement which involve education.
- Did man evolve from lower forms of life, or was man created by a higher being?
- Was Abraham Lincoln justified in his actions regarding the Civil War, or did he overstep his constitutional authority?
- And what should we call that war? Was it "The Civil War?" Or "The War Between the States?" Or "The War of Northern Aggression?" Or "The War to End Rebel Arrogance?"
- Should classes begin with prayer and/or Bible reading, and should teachers relate the Bible to what they teach in class?
But for a non-Christian, such an education would not be welcome. In fact, non-Christians would think that it is false teaching to tell children that God created the world out of nothing, rather than to teach them that all things came into existence as a result of the "big bang" and eons of evolution.
When public schools began (with the "Old Deluder Act"), there was a nearly universal consensus in the community that education should be Christian education - that the Word of God would be taught, that children would be taught that they were responsible to God, that in their studies they were learning more and more about what God had created. This was not in dispute.
Today, however, that is no longer the case in our pluralistic society. There is no consensus on such basic matters. So how can a school ever hope to provide an education which will satisfy all members of society? Why should a Christian's tax money support a school where the Christian faith is ignored as a matter of principle (if not openly attacked)? And why should an atheist's tax money support a school where children are taught that they are the creation of a holy, loving God?
There's the dilemma we face with public schools, and that is why we see heated battles more and more frequently involving public schools. What is the solution? We'll start looking at that next month.