Are Christian schools truly excellent? That is a question I have wrestled with now for some time. Many mission statements and expected student outcomes will proclaim they are about excellence in education, academics,or athletics, but what does that really mean? What does excellence in education look like?
I fear that sometimes school leaders and constituents would have a hard time answering that question. Does it mean that schools have the best looking and updated facilities? Does it mean that students score higher than other schools on the ACT and SAT assessments? Does it mean that the walls are lined with national championship banners?
I do not believe there is anything wrong with those accomplishments, however, I believe the heart of the excellence conversation must center on the why, or purpose for doing this thing called Christian education. We must take a closer look at our schools and ask the question, are we determining excellence by a man-centered standard or Christ-centered?
It would be wise to go back and refresh ourselves with the story of the Tower of Babel, found in Genesis 11. I don’t believe there was anything wrong with building a building back in those days but the issue was, why did they want to build such a tall and impressive structure? Genesis 11: 4 says that their goal was a very man-centered goal, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name…” Therein lies the problem. The intent of the people was to make a name for themselves, not to glorify God. Can that still happen today in the world of Christian schooling? It certainly can still happen today, in our personal life, home life, and in the life of our Christian schools.
Paul David Tripp had this to say, while writing about the Tower of Babel:
“The will of the Creator was that the people He made in His image would live in humble, obedient, and dependent community with Him and be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The problem is that sin causes human beings to hunger for independence and self-sufficiency, to quest more for their own glory than the glory of God, and to live according to their own will rather than the plan and purposes of God…we still build towers to our glory and our independent wisdom, righteousness, and strength.”
My fear is that in some Christian schools, we tout our academic and athletic accomplishments for the sake of potentially increasing enrollment rather than truly glorifying the Lord. After all, how do we know what this excellence we proclaim really looks like in academics, athletics, and the school in general? That question is what I hope to focus on during the month of January.
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