Christian Schools Don`t Always Practice Values They Preach
By Alberta Phillips, Columnist
Austin-American Statesman
As a product of Christian schools, it`s obvious to me that U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige has a few things to learn about religious schools and values.
I agree with his preference, though poorly stated, for schools with traditional values, strong discipline and high expectations. Had Paige stopped there, he wouldn`t have stirred up a hornet`s nest. But he took it further.
"All things equal, I would prefer to have a child in a school that has a strong appreciation for the values of the Christian community, where a child is taught to have a strong faith," Paige said in remarks first reported last week by the Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
He went on: "In a religious environment, the value system is set. That`s not the case in a public school where there are so many different kids with different kinds of values."
Paige spent last week fending off criticism for suggesting that public schools should mimic Christian values and insinuating that diversity has somehow dragged down values of our nation`s public schools.
Frankly, public schools could use a little more values, such as those found in the Ten Commandments. Public campuses shouldn`t be hostile to student prayer as long as it doesn`t violate constitutional protections regarding church and state.
But if Paige believes that Christian schools are inherently good and public schools innately amoral, then he should heed the lesson I learned in eighth grade at Nassau Christian School: Institutions don`t make values-people do.
My parents chose Nassau Christian in Long Island for the same reasons many parents chose religious schools. They wanted their children to get a quality education in a religious setting that stressed Christian values.
From the time I arrived at the school, in third grade, I loved it. The curriculum was superior to what we had in public school, the teachers were more attentive and the campus was safer. I loved daily Bible studies and Friday chapel. And of course, we did a lot of praying-especially on exam days.
The highlight for graduating eighth-graders was the annual school trip to Washington, D.C. But you didn`t automatically get to go. Eighth-graders had to score a B-plus or better in history to go to the nation`s capital. After receiving our report cards, I went to the principal`s office, where the list of those who earned the trip was posted. I searched for my name-"Alberta Phillips"-that should have fallen after "Robin Olsen."
It wasn`t there. I was baffled. After all, I had worked hard and had an A to show for it. Only an A-plus beat that grade, and there were many kids on the list with B-pluses. (Grades were also posted.)
Every day I went to the principal`s wall expecting to see my name. Each day I came away disappointed. I asked my teacher, Mr. Hagemann, about it. Nothing happened.
When mom found out I wasn`t on the list, she made a rare trip to the school. She worked two jobs to afford the tuition, so she didn`t typically go to our school for PTA meetings, basketball games or school wide square dances.
Yes, mom was told, her daughter had indeed earned the grade for the three-day trip. But there was a dilemma: Who would room with the black girl?
After mom`s visit and frank talk with the principal, my name appeared on the list. I traveled with my class to the Washington and Lincoln memorials, the Supreme Court Building, the White House and the halls of Congress. But the experience ripped my self-esteem. I guess deep down I knew all along race was the issue. I reasoned that if Christians found me and other blacks inferior, then it must be so. I wanted to be invisible after that. But as the only black girl in my class, I couldn`t hide in the sea of white faces.
In case you`re thinking that this is something that never could happen in our Christian schools today, let me remind you what happened when all-black St. Sabina Catholic School in Chicago tried to join the Southside Catholic Conference last year.
The Sabina Saints were denied membership to the Southside conference, an athletic league made up of 21 white Catholic parishes. It took an emotional plea from Cardinal Francis George to sway those Christians to admit the Saints.
After racial insults and snubs, the Saints quit the league. Those insults were delivered not just by students and parents, but by school officials.
That`s why Paige should be careful about declaring Christian schools superior in values. That`s also why he shouldn`t criticize diversity, which provided public school students real lessons in values that are missing in many Christian schools.
©2003 Austin-American Statesman. Reprinted with permission from April 13, E-3.
