1. Christian Education Philosophy
by
Brad Tebay
Without my prescription eyeglasses, I see a poor representation of the world. It is
a blurred image of reality not a true reflection. In a like manner, mankind has a way of
perceiving the world, of understanding the world, by the mindset they adopt.
Unfortunately, like my poor vision, much of the world has adopted the spectacles of
humanism, which rejects the authority of God and the truth of His Word, putting its hope
in man as the ultimate authority. Within this ideology, humanists have infiltrated the
educational system. They have removed the Bible out of the school. They have rejected
absolutes, much like the times of the Judges where “everyone did as he saw fit” (Judges
21:25b). They have condoned open rebellion, such as students’ fallen attitudes to their
educators. Humanists have refused to recognize the validity of religious experience due
to its lack of empirical substance. They have renounced the moral dignity of man by
implying that we are no better than animals. By contrast and fortunately, there is another
way to observe the world. It is through the spectacles of God’s perspective. For the
Christian, and specifically the Christian educator, it is this view that is paramount. It is
this view we must adopt and continue to adopt in order to please our God. As Romans
12:1-2 states:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your
bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual
act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to
test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
This Christian worldview must influence our vision of education. Therefore, I want to
present a new viewpoint of the goal of education, the nature of the learner, the role of the
teacher, the nature of the learning process, and the selection/scope/sequencing of the
subject matter from a Christian worldview.
First, as educators we need a proper picture to guide our teaching; we need a
proper goal or purpose of education. Without vision people perish spoke King Solomon
sagely (Proverbs 29:18). If we are aimless, it is like shooting an arrow from a bow at
nothing for if you aim at nothing, you are bound to hit it.
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2. The goals of education from a Christian worldview are two-fold. One, we aim to
nurture. In this sense, we aim to transmit data and information. We desire to show how
to know an idea or do a task. Consider the example of Jesus, who sat on the Mount of
Olives, teaching His famous Sermon on the Mount. As Jesus nurtured, so we need to
teach knowledge. What a delight it would be to have our students respond as did the
recipients to the Sermon on the Mount: “When Jesus had finished saying these things,
the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and
not as their teachers of the law” (Matthew 7:27-28). Happily, I am delighted when my
students are “amazed” by understanding a concept. Hence, one picture of education is to
nurture students.
Besides nurturing students, we aim to lead students. Teachers with a Christian
worldview want to see our students impacted and changed by what we teach. As James
penned in his epistle:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it
says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a
man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes
away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks
intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this,
not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what
he does (James 1:22-25).
James observes what really counts: not just hearing but applying knowledge to our lives.
For example, in the Grade 5 curriculum I instruct my students to appreciate their heritage
as Canadian citizens. Moreover, I help them recognize their identity in Christ as
believers in Christ. For instance, knowing that they are children of God helps them have
confidence to pray to their heavenly Father. Thus, another picture is to lead students into
an application of instruction.
Second, besides the goals of education to nurture and lead, we need to understand
the nature of the learner from a proper biblical perspective. First principle, man, though
God’s supreme creation, is totally dependent upon God. In Scripture, the comparison of
man to sheep is very fitting because sheep without a shepherd will stumble into all
manners of dangers. In the same way, people need the Lord to guide them, as Psalm 23
describes only with the Lord as our Shepherd can we have our needs properly met. As I
observe my students, I can see sheep-like tendencies in them where they make right and
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3. wrong choices. Fortunately, as educators, God’s light-bearers, we continually direct
them back to God. As Solomon says, “Remember your Creator in the days of your
youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find
no pleasure in them’" (Ecclesiastes 12:1). We need the viewpoint of being totally
dependent on God.
Besides a dependence on God, a second principle of the nature of the leaner is that
all are sinners. According to Dr. Ollie E. Gibbs, he states articulately:
“Because of man’s rebellion, he has been totally and thoroughly affected
by sin. This does not mean that man is utterly incapable of anything good
or valuable, but that all aspects (thinking included) of his nature are to
some extent marred.”
Children have, are, and will sin. In my experience, I have met some very nice
students who are very compliant, and yet often the dichotomy between home and school
is surprising – the same children at home cause problems. Similarly, the learner is able to
experience enhanced learning in an improved environment, but the environment does not
deliver the individual from his basic problem of being a sinner. I’m reminded of the
Tower of Babel and the circumstances surrounding that event. The people of that time
decided to prove they can be anything they wanted to be without God, so they started to
build the Tower of Babel. Of course, as the Bible makes clear God stopped the whole
process by confusing the languages and scattering the nations. I believe the point is
obvious that people still need the Lord’s deliverance and salvation despite their rich
circumstances. Children, in much the same way, can learn so much better when certain
conditions are met, yet they still retain their basic problem of sin. My Christian school is
blessed with many modern conveniences that aid in the learning process, yet there is still
many students receiving appropriate consequences for the poor choices that they make.
The reality is students are still marred despite the satisfying social, cultural, and
educational enrichments available.
Third, having discussed the nature of the learner as sinful and dependent on God
for life, this focuses us on the roles that biblically-minded educators need to possess. The
roles of the teacher are to maintain and create stability, to act in loco parentis, and to
represent the Truth. Primarily, teachers must help maintain and create stability. Students
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4. will make poor choices that need correction. In his book, With All Due Respect: Keys
for Building Effective School Discipline, Ron Morrish teaches a preventive plan to
discipline. I appreciate his wisdom in recognizing the need to teach and train students
how to operate in a school community. In the book of Proverbs much is said about the
fool and the mocker, which has direct correlations to students. Reflect on these passages:
“When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; when a wise man is instructed, he
gets knowledge” (Proverbs 21:11) and “Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding
him like grain with a pestle, you will not remove his folly from him” (Proverbs 27:22).
Needless to say, classroom management prevents the disobedient, protects the obedient,
and promotes respect. All in all, students need not only training to prevent problems, but
they need correction as problems occur from teachers that observe and care.
Besides maintaining sound classroom discipline, the teacher has the responsibility
to fulfill the role of “loco parentis.” The reality of this role was fully revealed to me as a
grade three teacher in years gone by: when one of my students to my surprise hopped up
onto my knee to share with me a personal anecdote. Besides being dedicated to
providing a quality “nurturing” and “leading” program, I aim to provide an atmosphere of
acceptance, respect, and safety in my classroom, thus assuring my students’ parents that
their children are deeply appreciated. A proper Christian worldview, then, includes
performing the role of “acting in the parents’ places” for the benefit of their children.
Besides the role of “loco parentis”, the teacher assumes the role of representative
of the truth. As a teacher, I have a duty to be a Christian example to my students. I need
to both speak and act Christianly, as the Scriptures declare: “Whatever you have learned
or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace
will be with you” (Philippians 4:9). And …
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an
example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to
preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you
through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on
you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that
everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely.
Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your
hearers (1 Timothy 4:11-16).
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5. Even though these passages refer to distinct ministry positions, I feel there is an
application to being a missionary teacher. Therefore, I take time to pray with my
students one-on-one and in groups for any issues. I strive to keep my spirituality alive in
Christ, so that my students might “… consider the outcome of [my] way of life and
imitate [my] faith” (Hebrews 13:7). I aspire to prepare my students to understand the
world in which they live. For example, mistreatment of others and dishonesty are
rampant in the world, so I work with my students now to build proper friendships and
God-honouring integrity; so that they can relate well to each other now and then later in
life. Furthermore, I endeavor to help my students discern right or wrong. In essence, I
am seeking to translate my Christian worldview onto my students, so they can respond to
conflicting issues in their own lives now and on into their lives. For example, we were
confronted with some of the racism that several Canadian provincial governments in the
last century committed against different ethnic groups. We looked at God’s Word and
recognized that what God requires is justice and fairness for the alien – those that are
different than us. In sum, we, as teachers, have a duty to represent Jesus to our students.
Fourth, having discoursed on the role of the teacher, allow me to address the
nature of the learning process from a Christian mindset. There are three aspects to this
process. As mentioned before, the learner needs both the acquisition and application of
knowledge. Education should generally not be static, but rather it should move the
learner to do something about what he learns. I find that the teacher, as well, is always
improving on his/her curriculum striving to make it more interesting but also applicable
to the students. Learning, true learning, comes through the modeling role of the teacher.
As I act out my role as a teacher, students will accept the concepts more readily
especially in the area of faith and discipleship. In the book, Raising a Modern-Day
Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood, Robert Lewis, the
author, explains that boys will become godly men by the use of ceremonies that highlight
significant achievements in their lives. More than this, the author purports that boys learn
from their mentoring fathers primarily. Even the Lord our God made this blatantly clear,
when he commanded the Israelites: “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so
that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as
long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them”
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6. (Deuteronomy 4:9). Last, learning comes as teachers understand the tendencies of
children to be susceptible to good or bad character traits. As a teacher, I need to wean out
weaknesses, or channel them properly, and promote strengths. For example, an
aggressiveness trait can be channeled properly towards academic success. Thus, the role
of the learning process focuses on moving knowledge to action, modeling the teacher’s
life, and building upon students’ strengths.
The fifth component of a Christian Philosophy of Education is the proper
selection/scope/sequencing of the subject matter. There are two key observations in this
section. One, there must be a unification of truth and knowledge. In other words, of all
the subject material that I grapple with and then communicate with my students, I need to
harmonize its tenants with a Christian worldview. This might mean presenting
something antithesis to our faith but then explaining the Christian viewpoint afterwards.
For example, the theory of evolution may be explained, but then the truth of creation is
juxtaposed to it. On the other hand, it might mean rejecting idealisms that are anti-
biblical. For example, personally I could only teach with a clear conscious God’s ideal of
Christian marriage – man and woman united in marriage. Yet another tactic could be
synthesizing curriculum and a Christian truth. For example, in a Chemistry unit I dually
explain what happens in the physical world when solids and liquids are mixed, while at
the same time explaining how Christians need to mix in the world as salt and light or
witnesses for Jesus. Two, there must also be the realization of the paramount importance
of the teacher in the curriculum and instructional process. The teacher is the “living
curriculum.” I strive to live my life as a living letter, a testimony, of how God is
sanctifying my life. Daily and naturally, I share my life with stories and humour how
God is working in me and through me. Therefore, the proper selection/scope/sequencing
of the subject matter means allowing a Christian worldview to be prevalent in my
curriculum and being a beacon to my students of a disciple of Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, we need eyeglasses that help us understand a true reflection of the
world. We need a Christian worldview that influences all areas of our life but in
particular the educational system. To be pleasing to God, a proper philosophy of
education is one that honors God and His Word as authoritative over every aspect of the
educational system: the goal of education, the nature of the learner, the role of the
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7. teacher, the nature of the learning process, and the selection/scope/sequencing of the
subject matter. The goal of education is to nurture and lead the student. The nature of
the learner is one of being sinful but needing God. The roles of the teacher are to
maintain and create stability, to act in loco parentis, and to represent the Truth. The
nature of the learning process requires the acquisition and application of knowledge, the
modeling role of the teacher, and the proper guidance of the learners’ character traits.
Finally, the selection/scope/sequencing of the subject matter surmounts to ensuring that
truth and knowledge are unified plus the fact that the teacher is a living “letter”
illustrating faith and knowledge. A final passage that calls us to continue to adopt a
Christian worldview:
“That was not what you learned about Christ! You certainly heard about
him, and as his followers you were taught the truth that is in Jesus. So get
rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to---the old self that
was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must
be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is
created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright
and holy” (Ephesians 4:20-24).
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