INTRO
In her book �Christian Teachers in Public Schools,� Gloria Stronks discusses the call of a Christian teacher in the secular classroom. Schools are a large central part of a child�s life. They have a large influence on the development and choices students make in life and the values they come to form. Thus, schools are a large part of what shapes the society of tomorrow. For many students it is the only place where they come to find identity, meaning, or a valuable direction for their lives. For all others it plays a fundamental role in their development. Students come from a variety of backgrounds and �if teachers can�t work toward helping children and adolescents to choose a worthwhile life that is valuable to themselves and to others, there is often no one else left to do so. � There is definitely a need for Christian teachers in American Public Schools, but is there a place for them? How can a Christian live out their faith in service by the beliefs they hold to be true?
Stronks stated that many teachers recognize a call to teaching. She qualifies the call by stating �there are few places in which one is likely to get so little worldly honor as when teaching in a public school, but there are also few places in which heavenly fruit is so much needed. � However, teachers are often at odds with what it means to be a called to teach in a public school. �Many teachers lack the understanding necessary to struggle with the issue. �
Vocation is not a subject directly discussed in teacher education programs. The St. Olaf education department is composed of numerous Christian, warm-hearted, service oriented staff members. Yet, a professor I spoke with from the department commented, �I never thought about being called to teaching� I wonder how it would affect the way I taught if I thought of it as one.� Thinking about what it would mean to consider his a job a call, he generously offered me a discussion on his emerging thoughts on the subject. However, after consulting with other members of the staff he could find no written material relating to the call or vocation of teaching.
There are numerous obstacles a Christian teacher must overcome in living out their calling. Without discussion, guidance, or support a Christian teacher could easily get lost. Stronks mentions that among those who recognize a call to teach, �the activities of the school day often interfere with all that responding to such a call implies. � She discusses how even devote Christian teachers often become so involve with lesson plans, controlling the classroom, and getting to know the students, that they don�t think about the meaning of the call.
�Many teachers are also uncertain bout what state and constitutional laws allow them to say and do in public school and, as a result, do all they can to avoid giving offense. � The full exercise of their rights is not always realized. Some teachers �admit they lack the courage to address the issue. � Many �feel a loneliness� in their faith or a desperation in the inability to discuss their faith to aid their students.
Stronks mentions that there are many teachers who �would like to talk about their faith with other teachers but rarely engage in conversations about what it is to teach Christianity in a state supported school. � Because of this lack of support �many cease to align their educational practice with their Christian commitment. � It is very easy for a teacher to be absorbed by the objectives of state without much bearing on their objectives of faith. What is a teacher to do?
There are numerous specific difficulties and obstacles a Christian teacher must face. I don�t think the words of a book or two hidden from ordinary bookshelves is enough for their purpose as Christian educators. With the importance teaching plays in the development of our youth and future society, there ought be some form of organization for Christian teachers. It could involve formal discussions of legal concearns as well as curriculum development and fellowship. It could provide guidance into a more developed Sunday school or confirmation-type program where teachers could bring their Christian perspectives and insights that related to the subjects they taught. The program could help teachers relate their faith to their teaching station and curriculum planning. In her book, Stronks provides many great ideas. However it is a book in need of community
Before diving into the specific roles of Christians called to teach, there needs to be a place to start from. A few things need to be clarified. In reading, �Work in the spirit� by Miroslav Volf, I was drawn by his definition of work. He stated, �Work is an honest, purposeful, and methodologically social activity who�s primary goal is the creation of products or states of affairs that can satisfy the needs of working individuals or their co-creatures, or (if primarily an end in itself) an activity that is necessary in order for acting individuals to satisfy their needs apart from the activity itself. � What caught my attention may not have been encompassed in his main theme, but none-the-less spoke strongly. What are needs? We have a variety of things we call needs, but what are our needs, really? Needs often remain hidden, until they emerge in catastrophic ways.
In his articles �Protestant Vocation Under Assault: Can It Be Salvaged?� and �Constrictions or forms of love,� D. Schuurman had defended Luther�s notion of �special relations. �If one gives to someone more remote at the cost of one�s own given sphere of operation they are stealing from whom God has positioned them to serve. � Yet through caring for those near to us �vocation extends love outward in ever widening circles. �
As creatures that are inter-related to one another, these expanding circles meet up in an expression of the that spiritual state which stems from us. The larger picture, often gives us a more dramatic look at what is needed or lacking in our own spheres of operation. Reflecting on societies ills, we can learn to better relate to our own �special relations.� By doing this, we can more properly extending love outward. While problems in our relations are beginning to emerge in such suburban schools as Columbine Colorado, they are most clearly revealed in inner-city public schools. To fully see the needs of society and the education system, I think it best to look deeply into where the needs most clearly reflect themselves.
�There is no music in South Chicago.�
Learning enviornment
In East St. Louis, �Seventy-five percent of the population lives on welfare of some form. Fiscal shortages have forced the layoff of 1,170 of the city�s 1,400 employees in the past 12 years. � In his book Savage Inequalities, published in 1990, Jonathan Kozol lists some startling facts about the results poverty has on the lives of children in various inner city environments.
Life is threatened from before the children even leave their mother�s womb. �Of 66 cities in Illinois, E. St. Louis ranks first in fetal death, first in premature birth, and third in infant death. � The child�s opportunity for a healthy life improves little. �Of every 100 children, 55 were incompletely immunized for polio, diphtheria, measles, and whooping cough. � Improper medical treatment is supplemented with an unhealthy environment. �In 1987 when the city�s garbage pickups ceased, the backyards of residents have been employed as dump sites�Public health officials are concerned the garbage will attract a plague of flies .� Railroad tracks still used to transport chemicals run through the city. Fumes that pour from the vents and smokestacks at the Pfizer and Monsanto chemical plants contribute to the fact that �E. St. Lewis has one of the highest rates of child Asthma in America. �
The educational opportunities for these children are limited by these environmental conditions. �Soil samples tested at residential sites in E. St. Louis turn up disturbing quantities of arsenic, mercury, lead, and steroids dumped in previous years by stockyards in the area. � Health experts note, �by the time the poising becomes apparent in a child�s sleep disorders, stomach pains, and hyperactivity, it�s too late to undo the permanent brain damage. � The poison is �chipping away at the learning potential of kids who�s potential has already been chipped away by their environment. �
Other factors influence these children's freedom of education and equal opportunity for success. Schools are broken. �In 1989 Martin King Jr. High School and East St. Louis Senior High School were closed more than once for sewer damage. � Classes are large, with �around 35 students in K-12. � Teachers are short. �In 1989, 280 teachers were laid off, along with other school employees. � Kozol also notes that the school system �has been using more than 70 �permanent substitute teachers who are paid only 10,000 yearly, as a way of saving money. �.�Classes lack proper equipment. �Chemical supplies in a city poisoned by 2 chemical plants are scarce. � And poverty destroys the spirit�s chances of progression in society�s structures.. Children with bleeding gums & bad teeth �live for months with pain that grown-ups would find unendurable. The gradual attrition of accepted pain erodes their energy and aspiration. � Teachers in low income districts often feel like they are �Cut off from educational developments in modern public schools. �
South Chicago has similar problems. Kozol argues that when we look at the �bat-mans� or heroes of television who go in and revive innercity schools, we aren�t being realistic. We tend to focus on such teachers �because it is consoling .� In reality, teachers tend to be old not young and �some only come in three days a week. � �On an average day in Chicago 5,700 kids in 190 classrooms come to school to find they have no teacher. � In a number of classrooms Kozol visited in South Chicago, children �seemed to be involved doing nothing. � Sometimes there is not an adult in the room. An interviewed kid commented that in automechanics class �it took 16 weeks before he learned to change a tire. � One teacher of the district commented, �it makes no difference. Kids like these aren�t going anywhere. � Another teacher from Chicago South Shore High comments, �If a kid comes in reading, says an English, he goes out not reading. � �This degree of equanimity in failure, critics note, has lead most affluent parents in Chicago to avoid the public school system altogether. �
Isolation
�People speak of getting lost in E. St. Lewis as a nightmare. They are afraid to get off the highway. The nightmare to me is that they never leave that highway, so they never know what life is like for all the children here. They ought to get of that highway. � The highway we refuse to leave are the formed securities by which we move to isolate ourselves. The critics of Protestant vocation lacked sight of vocations truthfulness, yet they did recognize valuable ethical concerns. These critics felt that vocation �fails to recognize the fallen character of social structures and of the people in those vocations, legitimizing what is in fact disobedience to God. � John Yoder felt that, �from the time of Constantine, the duties of one�s office, station, or vocation, became the source for ethical guidance rather than the teachings of Christ. �
We rest in the ideals of the �American dream.� If we work hard, we can make our dreams come true. We include in that that if we work hard in our own individual paths, the structures of American society allow us success. People who do well for themselves in society or see hope for their own success tend to honor society�s social structures. It worked for them. Patriotism is good. The existing structures are therefore good and infallible. Such people stay on the highway.
It would seem to me that in a Christian�s patriotic allegiance, the established values of state should not contradict the values of God. These combined values should work in bringing about proper societal structures. There should be an alignment such that it truly is �one nation under God.� This does not necessitate a state establishment of religion, but establishment should not contradict Christian principles. The problem is, there oftentimes seems to be a deified structural patriotism in much of American culture.. The enforcement of these structures comes to resemble a religion as people are often blindly conformed to them or believe in their infallibility. Instead of pledging allegiance to the ideals of freedom, opportunity, and the diversity and value of individual gifts, we look to the structures. We concern ourselves with advancing in these structures such to say we are intelligent, �good citizens� or valuable. We have brought these structures judge our worth and ability as well as the worth and ability of others.
People, especially the successful or those employed or merely those of us seeking survival in the structures come to cling to these structures for their personal security rather than venture a bit deeper into the abyss in their calling as fishermen and servants. When the structure�s fallibility is seen, it threatens our place of security. We seek to patch up or close those holes in many ways continuing our blindness. In this way we lack sight into those who have fallen through the cracks and of our own identity.
Included in this need for security is a sense of moralism or retributional belief, where we loose the diversity of individuals and the gifts they possess. We promote obedience to these structures and abandon, judge and condemn the oppressed, disadvantaged, and individuals. We look at how well persons align with the structures, instead of how well the structures align with them. Seeking security and progression in the societal structures we isolate the children who exist in less privileged learning environments as well as the misfits, or those who do not align with the �status quo.�
Illinois Bluffs surrounds the East St. Lewis in a semicircle. Towns on the Bluffs are predominantly white and do not welcome visitors from E. St. Lewis. James Nolwlan, a professor of public policy at Knox College says, �their physical separation helps rationalize the physchological and cultural distance that those on the Bluffs have clearly tried to maintain. People on the bluff overwhelmingly want this separation to continue. � Towns on the bluffs do not pay taxes to address flood problems in the Bottoms �even though these problems are generated in large part by the water that drains from the Bluffs. � Slightly before Kozol�s visit to the town, a bridge was shut down denying kids access to the fair in fear that they might mug someone. With the homicide rate �100 times that of similar sized towns � there is a fear of violence. The CEO of one of the large companies on the edge of town and developed an �evacuation plan� for his employees.
We are divided further in the difference between the quality of schools of the middle class and those of poverty areas. New Tier High school in Chicago is mentioned in Town and Country as an ideal school. It is well staffed, has an average class size of 24, wonderful facilities, and even a radio station. �People move to this district seeking the best for their children, and their children �make good use� of that they are given. � Goody High School lies adjacent. It has no science labs, no art or music classes, an average class size of 39, and bathrooms that don�t work and have no toilet seats.
The reason for the differences of the schools can be �found in part by the arcane machinery by which we finance public education. � Most public schools in the United States depend for their initial funding on tax on local property. �The property tax is the decisive force in shaping inequality. � A typical wealthy suburb draws upon a larger tax base in proportion to student population than a city occupied by thousands of poor people. Thus, the wealthy get better schools. Kozol recognized that property taxes are supplemented by state contributions and federal contributions, however found the amount to be relatively minute. He added that property tax is counted as a deduction by the federal government. Thus, the wealthy get back a large proportion of what they spend to fund their children�s schools. Between mortgage-interest deductions and �property tax deductions this comes to 32 billion dollars. � The rich get more for their students� education in proportion to what they spend. �Thus, the state, by requiring attendance, but refusing to require equity, effectively requires inequality. � John Coons, a professor of law at Berkley University, states this �bears the appearance of calculated unfairness. �
The division between us is a sharp line. The children of poverty are not allowed access to the more equipped schools. In many cases it is an issue of jurisdiction. Yet the fortunate and unfortunate live right next door. �In Urban systems, the poverty districts lie adjacent to richest districts adds a heightened bitterness to the experience of children. � It also displays a lack of accountability and responsibility. In Dearborn Park Chicago, new middle class parents moved in next to the housing project Hilliard homes. The city had refused to build a new school for the children of the project but had accepted the request for those of Dearborn Park. The parents of Dearborn Park, however, �did not want children from the projects to attend for fear the standards of the school would fall. � The Chicago panel on public school policy and finance told the press that �poorer children do not tend to bring the top kids down. � But the middle class parents �would prefer to see those children get their schooling in a metal prefab in a junkyard rather than the new beautiful schools. �
Looking for solutions, many try to incorporate the impoverished into the established structures. Many business minded authors look to find ways for students to survive amongst their limitations. They urge us to settle for �realistic goals� by training kids like these for nothing better than their corporations have available. �Urban school, they argue, should dispense with �frills� and focus on �the basics� needed for employment� Emphasis in suburban schools should focus on college preparation. �
The truth is not pleasant, trapped in their ill-equipped schools a shop teacher states that the students trained for jobs in �fast food places�Burger King, McDonnell�s. � In St. Lewis �10-15% of the students are in truly academic programs� 10% go to college. � In Chicago �10% of students drop out before high school, 60% drop out during high school, and 27% of high school graduates read at the eighth grade level or below. �
The truth is hidden. �On TV they show a lot about the crimes committed here in E. St. Lewis. Do they show the crimes committed by the government that puts black people here, �a student comments. In a denial of accountability and efforts to maintain our security, we try to hide or disguise the problems and issues. It is often done in hypocrisy of moral exhibition in our enforcement of the retribution system. �Placing the burden on the individual to break down doors in finding better education for a child is attractive to conservative because it reaffirms their faith in individual ambition and autonomy. But asking an individual to break down doors that we have chained and bolted in advance is unfair. �
In desperation many good hearted people hope not to provide any unnecessary truthfulness to the path an individual has to progress themselves. In relation to the financial issues surrounding the educational process, �There is a concern, even among some black authors that �the children not hear too much about this, because begin to regard themselves as �victims� and such �victim thinking,� it is argued, may then undermine their capability to profit whatever opportunities do exist. �
We look to promote ways by which those in the �cracks� can lift themselves up. �In recent years, some of the corporate leaders in Chicago who oppose additional school funding and historically resisted efforts at the desegregation have attempted to present themselves as allies of children. For instance they hire celebrities to sell kids on the wisdom of not dropping out. �. � America says work hard get wise, and it�s reflected in your grades. You can then become successful. But you have to do it yourself. These corporate leaders get their A and made it appear that they did their ethical duty. They are often called successful, intelligent, moral contributors to society. But they are either ignorant or corrupt.
By the spirit of secular humanism in a doctrine of retribution we condemn those who �fall through the cracks� of our established structures rather than dare blasphemise our misplaced patriotism. �Governor Thomson tells the press that he will not pour money into East St. Louis to solve long term problems. East St. Louis residents, he says, must help themselves. � He continues his response, �What in the community is being done right? �� An echo from a local football coach retorts, �it�s harder now because in those days it was clear the enemy you had to face�No one could persuade you that you were to blame. Now the choices seem like they are left to you and, if you make the wrong choice, you are made to understand you are to blame. �
As they are condemned, the values and abilities of the students gets buried with them. The superintendent of the E. St. Louis schools says �Gifted children are everywhere in E. St. Louis, but their gifts are lost to poverty and turmoil and the damage done by knowing they are written off by their society� Many of these children have no sense of something they belong to. They have no feelings of belonging to America. � As America looses its identity with them, an E. St. Louis student asks a teacher what the word salvation means. The teacher shows him how to sound it out then tells him, �use your dictionary if you don�t know what it means. �
I can�t help but be reminded of one of my earlier theology classes in which the majority of students were looking to fulfill their religion requirement. The professor presented the views of Augustine on grace and asked the students if they agreed or disagreed with him. The majority of the class disagreed with him on the grounds that they felt humans had the ability to choose and do the good on their own.
Probably the biggest role in shaping American Children as a teacher, it seems, would be to teach them the meaning of grace. Kozol quotes a preacher in Chicago, �There�s something here that�s being purified by the pain.� All the veneers, all the facades, are burnt away and you see something genuine and beautiful that isn�t often found among the affluent.�
Luther explains that being spiritually poor means. A person �must not set his confidence, comfort, and trust on temporal goods, nor hang his heart upon them and make Mammon his idol. � He states, �we should evaluate things on the basis of the heart. �.Luther relates to this idea saying, �We should use all temporal goods and physical necessities, the way a guest would in a strange place, where he stays overnight and leaves in the morning. � He states, �We should not be overly concerned whether we have something or nothing, much or little. � He continues that �in our heart we should be able to leave house and home, wife and children. �We don�t want to get off the highway.
VALUES
We are beginning to get a glimpse at the American values which are shaping our system. Certainly if all of our countries tax money was thrown in a big pot and distributed equally, there would be no problems with poor schools. The rich would never let their children�s' education go down the drain. Yoder had rejected Luther�s idea of giving priority for the well being of �special relations� or those close to you. He felt that it is a �cover for egoism, nationalism and other tribalisms and for legitimizing concern for only oneself or one's narrow circle of special relations. � Yoder�s concern is easily seen, yet Schuurman defended Luther�s perspective, implying that Yoder lacked a full understanding of vocation's implications.
In vocation�s language Luther does not refer to a child as �my child� but instead as �the child you have begotten.� �Vocation extends love outward in ever widening circles.� For a teacher, these stories of the inner city display the values which are formed in American society. It displays the fallenness our spiritual condition and our lack of concern for neighbor. The teacher�s station involves a large segment of where a person's values are formed. A big part in the formation of this value system is the schools and the directive they provide. The problems displayed in the inner city are not unique in this situation. The same problems exist on every level. The problems are most obvious when we look at the inner city, but they are beginning to be seen clearly even in suburban schools as well. In teaching �God�s child� through our various stations both inner city and suburban alike, we should be teaching and caring for God�s child as God would be teaching and caring for them. This is not an individualism or secular humanist approach, but a value system of unity and care beginning with our spheres and extending to the larger whole.
Our misplaced values and formed dependencies cause our neglect in the concern for the oppressed and the diversity of each individual. We isolate them and each other. We loose track of our call in our struggle to exist. This can be witnessed even at schools like St. Olaf. A black student was distributing flyers during diversity week. A white student threw it on the ground without reading it. The black student saw it and commented. The white student replied, �I don�t have time to read it, I have a chemistry test to study for. It�s important. � The black student was upset, �isn�t diversity important!� They parted in hostility.
These values are seen in the larger community in St. Lewis. Kozol states that occasionally � the possibility is raised by somebody in E. St. Louis that the state may someday end the isolation of the city as an all-black entity�However no one with power in state has ever contemplated it� First of all no one in government wants to bus them to nearby schools. � I recently read that �The $165 million Mars Polar Lander was supposed to have landed on the planet's south pole on Dec. 3 to probe the barren Martian surface for signs of water -- which, if found, could have provided vital clues on whether life ever existed there. � We know life exists in St. Lewis and the bus ride is around 5 miles. We value our own personal or segmented advancement in the established fields so much that we neglect our communal advancements and the diverse individuals that compose it. We would rather have superman be the one to save then for salvation to occur.
Secondly in ending this isolation in East St. Louis, �no one intends to force these towns to open up their neighborhoods to racially desegregated and low-income housing. � �When people ask, �What should we do with E. St. Louis they don�t speak about the people, they are speaking about the land. � Kozol relates this experience of his with three students between 7 and 11 years old when driving with the daughters of Charity who run a mission in the area:
�This here squirrel is a friend of mine,� says little sister.
None of the children can tell me the approximate time that school begins
One says five o�clock. One says six. Another says that school begins at noon�. Smokey can�t decide if he is in the second or third grade�. Smokey says his sister was raped and murdered and then dumped behind his school�. Smokey�s sister was 11 years old�.?????????????????????
�She was my best friend� Serena says..
�She was hollering out loud,� says little sister.
I ask when �Smokey says, �last year.�
Serena then corrects him and says �last week�.�
�I hope her spirit will come back and get the man��
�and kill the man,� says little sister.
�Giver her another chance to live,� Serena says�.
�I love my friends� Serena says..
�Snakes hate rabbits,� Mickey says for no apparent reason.
�Cats hate fishes� little sister says.
�It�s a lot of hate� says Smokey.
PART 2 THE STATION
Public schools are state institutions serving a fundamental purpose. Luther states, �God himself has ordained and established this secular realm. For without them this life could not endure. � Public teachers are employed as instruments of the state. Most concerned teachers in America fear crossing the lines regarding the separation of church and state. Some simply fear approaching controversy. Others lack insight into the legal demands. In either case, the legal rights of Christian students are often neglected. In defining the the role of their station, Christian teachers need a proper understanding of the relationship between their faith and the requirements of the state. Luther states that we must �distinguish between secular and spiritual, between kingdom of Christ and kingdom of world. Once these two have been confused instead of being clearly and accurately separated, there can never be any correct understanding in Christendom. �
Christians are permitted and called to secular positions. A teacher�s station is dictated by various laws of the state. Luther states �outwardly according to his body he is related by subjection and obligation to the emperor in as much as he occupies some soffice or station in life. � Schuurman would contend that �vocation used properly does not legitimize corruption, but acts as an agent or catalyst to shape the duties of various offices and bring them in line with God�s will. � A Christian may carry on all sorts of secular business with impunity- not as a Christian but as a secular person�while his heart remains pure in his Christianity, as Christ demands. � However, teacher needs to recognize the state�s limitations, as well as his position as an instrument thereof. Luther states, �The temporal government has laws which extend no further than to life and property and external affairs on earth, for God cannot and will not permit anyone but himself to rule over the soul.� Schuurman reminds us, �if the duties of one�s station contradict the will of God, Christians must yield to God and reject those duties. �
While I saw no mention of his specific address to teachers, the position of teachers holds some similarity to that of princes. Luther wrote ��that it was the elector�s duty to provide for the �salvation� of his subjects and to keep the �wolves� from destroying them. � A teachers station would include the role of caregiver and protector. This would be a protector of the child�s own unique developing person and gifts. It would be a protector of children�s legal religious liberties and freedoms to exercise their faith. It would also be protection from misguided philosophies or attitudes which unjustly blind the student from the possibility of religious views. In other words to keep open the possibilities of faith within the structures and methods of secularism while giving a loving concern for the child�s person and development of his God given gifts.
legalities & the state cult
The question of faith in the classroom is centered around the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It states, "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech. "The first phrase is regarded as the establishment clause. The second as the free exercise clause. While opinions are often misguided, the debate around these exists because the protection of some peoples right of expression, is regarded by others as an establishment of religion.
The courts are often inconsistant regarding cases of religious freedom. However, there are three points they remain true to. These are: �Government, including public school system has an obligation to accommodate religion wherever possible,�Religious speech should receive the same protection as other speech,��and �the classroom is supposed to be a "market place" of ideas. �
Accommodation of religion has been a confusing legal issue. �In past court held accommodation of religion means that the government must allow religious exemptions from laws that burden the free exercise of religion. � This would include such things as exemptions to those who have a religious objection to saluting the flag. The court has also held that �government may accommodate religion to a greater extent as long as the Establishment Clause is not violated. � This would include such things as allowing school board�s the choice of paying teachers for leaves associated with religious holidays. The difficulty is that �it is often hard to determine when accommodation required, allowed or prohibited. �
In 1971, the Court developed a three part test, called the Lemon test to determine when accommodation of religious belief violated the Establishment Clause. �If the action of the government is to be considered constitutional, it must have a secular legislative purpose, its principal or primary effect must be one that does not advance or inhibit religion, and it must not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion. � Under this test, reference to God in the pledge of Allegiance was considered constitutional because students were allowed exemptions and actions that only �incidentally foster religious belief� were considered constitutional .
In 1984 Justice Sandra Day O'conor suggested what seems to me a very shaky new test to replace lemon test . �She suggested that govt. actions be considered invalid if they create the perception that government is either endorsing or disapproving of religion. � In other words if it gives the message to non-adherents that they are outsiders. This seems to be a questionable test, for if one were to include God in the pledge of allegiance it could create the perception that government is endorsing deism, whereas if you remove mention of him it could create the perception that you were endorsing atheism.
The courts have also reserved the right to limit religious expression rights. Religious freedom rights are not absolute. �Over the past century the Supreme Court has devised tests to help determine when then government may limit rights that are clearly expressed in the constitution. � If the government wants to limit a right, it �must pass the strict scrutiny test. � It must �show that it has a compelling state interest, a compelling reason to limit the right. � The government must also show that it has �taken the least restrictive means possible to achieve its goal. � Some implications included that students were exempted from activities that they felt hindered their ability to be faithful to their beliefs.
This was changed in 1990 when �the Supreme Court handed down a much criticized decision. � The court ruled that if a law �burdened religious exercise but appeared to be neutral to religion, in other words, the law seemed to apply equally to everyone, that the law would not be subject to the strict scrutiny test. � Instead of having to show a compelling state interest, it would �only have to show it had a reasonable state interest in limiting the constitutional rights of free exercise of religion. �
The 1990 decision left religious and civil rights group outraged. They developed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which stated that �government may substantially burden a person�s free exercise of religion only if it passed the compelling interest test. � The act was passed by the House and Senate in 1993 and signed by President Clinton. However, �in 1997 the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional as it applied to state laws .
�The reason the Court found the law to be unconstitutional had more to do with federalism and state�s rights than with religious freedom jurisdiction. � It seems the ruling was largely in part because the Supreme Court felt that congress had exceeded it�s limit of power and that only the Court had the final say in what the Constitution means. Yet, while the RFRA was ruled unconstitutional as a federal law, �the Supreme Court left room for states to develop their own local RFRAs. � One result is that a state may or may not hold a law which would excuse individual students from lessons that are objectable to the student or the student�s parents on religious ground. �However, students do not have a Federal right to be excused from lessons that may be inconsistent with their religious beliefs or practices. � This holds a dangerous possibility of anti-Christian coercion.
Another important Federal law is Equal Access Act. Passed in 1984, it prohibits schools from discriminating against students on the basis of the students' speech. �The act specifically provides that if a school maintains a "limited open forum" during non-instructional time, that forum must be open to all lawful religious, political, and philosophical voices. � This would mean that if a school allowed meetings or clubs of a non-curriculum nature, that it must allow meetings or clubs of a religious nature. However, these religious functions must be student initiated and teachers must be �non-participants.� Teachers can only be present at such functions to keep order.
Under the equal access act, students are allowed to �express their religious beliefs in the form of homework. � They have �the same right to engage in individual or group prayer and religious discussion during the school day as they do to engage in any other comparable activity. � They may �distribute religious literature to their schoolmates on the same terms as they are permitted to distribute other literature. � They may even use the Public Adress System to anounce religious meetings if the System is open to other non-curiculum usage. Students may �also speak to, and attempt to persuade their peers about religious topics just as they do with regard to political topics. � However with consideration to the establishment clause, �this does not include the right to have a captive audience listen, or to compel other students to participate. �
School boards and school districts are at times reluctant to acknowledge religious freedom rights. In 1995, President Clinton responded to this by directing the Secretary of Education Richard Riley, in consultation with the Attorney general, �to provide every public school district in America with a statement of principles addressing the extent to which religious expression and activity are permitted in our public schools. � In this statement was included a supplement to the Supreme Court decisions.
Revised in 1998, Riley stated that �these guidelines are part of an ongoing and growing effort by educators and America�s religious community to find a new common ground. � Within his address, Riley mentions two other documents related to the formation of the Presidential guidelines. The first was published by religious groups entitled �Religion in the Public Schools, A Joint Statement of law.� The second was �A Parents Guide to Religion in the Public Schools� published by the National PTA and Freedom Forum. Riley suggests that school districts use the Presidential guidelines to �revise and develop their own district wide policy regarding religious expression,� that �principles and administrators to make sure that teachers are fully informed about the guidelines,� and that schools �actively take steps to inform students and teachers about these guidelines. �
In the Presidential guidelines, it is stated, �though schools must be neutral with respect to religion, they may play an active role with respect to teaching values and virtues, and the moral code that holds us together as community. � Reflecting upon the 1990 ruling (that if government action �burdened religious exercise but appeared to be neutral to religion, in other words, the law seemed to apply equally to everyone, that the law would not be subject to the strict scrutiny test. �) and various court cases it appears that the court has failed to recognize it�s own establishment of religion. If you have two opposing absolute claims, and you make a ruling that burdens them both equally, all you are doing is establishing another absolute claim that arises from your own assumptions.
In applying the Lemon test to such cases as a 1984 case in Tennessee, �the courts vision of neutrality is clear. Value neutrality occurs when religious belief is not advocated nor is hostility presented. � They have failed to recognize that �neutrality requires recognition of the fact that any teaching of ethical values stems from a foundational commitment that parallels a religious commitment. �
Much of this centers on the courts definition of religion. In defining the word, the court has made inconsistent claims. In 1890 �religious was involved when one made reference to God or a deity. � In 1967, however, �atheists were allowed to claim the religious conscientious objector status under Federal law. � In this case religion was not defined only by mention of a deity, but by �Ultimate commitment.� This definition of religion became known as the Segar definition.
In the 1972 case of Wrigly Vs Houston, two parents filed suit because their children were being taught evolution �exclusively and uncritically.� In this case the court ruled saying there was �obviously no connection between evolution and religion. � In this case, �the court used the definition of religion base on the 1890�s Davis case that religion means a relationship to a creator. �
The issues is that while advocates of evolution may see no religious objective, they are indeed �based on fundamental assumptions about the world that must be accepted on faith, just as is creation science. � God very well may have actualized an entire different set of physical laws by some miraculous means in creating the world 4000 years ago. Thus, the evolutionary theory could simply be termed a faith in such a miracle. The state would have established a faith in no miracles but instead purely scientific empiricism. As true as it may be or as strong as it may be argued, I doubt courts will go for it.
Personally, I�m not one to see such a black and white contrast between creation and the �facts� which surround the formation of evolutionary theory. I think a metaphysical investigation could see an inter-relation between some of the �facts� of the evolutionary theory and the �facts� of the Biblical creation account. This brings a different option which may be more presentable to the courts. A large part of the court rulings regarding the creation/evolution debate is centered around the perception that creation science has a purely religious objective, while evolution does not. Rather than dismissing all of their �scientific� objectives with this alternative possibility, the two polarities of faith may be seen clearer. One polarity rested in a faith or religion of secularism or atheism and the other being rested in a Christian faith. As it stands, it does appear that the courts have established a religion of secularism.
While Christian claims against the establishment of secular humanism has not faired well in the legal world, one judge has done a fair investigation of such Christian concerns. �Judge William Hand in Alabama decided the parallel between secular humanism and theistic religion deserved serious judicial attention. � Judge Hand dealt with two fundamental cases. In the first, the Jafree case in 1982, Hand declared, �Mobile county full of efforts at teaching or encouraging secular humanism- all without opposition from any other ethic to such an extent that it becomes a brainwashing effort. � He continued, "if court is compelled to purge God is great...we thank Him for our daily food then is must also purge from the classroom those things that serve to teach that salvation is through one's self rather than through a deity. � Hand didn�t win the case, but he established a stepping stone.
Judge Hand�s second case, the Smith case, was both more informative and disturbing. Referring to �Segar definition of religion� which had declared atheism a religious belief, �Hand found we must define religion by factors common to all religions�and not showing favoritism to one belief. � He defined religion as "systems of belief that encompass "fundamental assumptions" about such things as the existence of a transcendent reality, the nature of man, or the goal of man's existence, and the purpose and nature of the universe. " Applying this definition to secular humanism, he said that �it is important to realize that "neutral" thought is in fact based in foundational belief, the functional equivalent of religion. � He added, �when a belief system deals with fundamental questions of reality and man's relationship to reality, it deals with essentially religious questions. � Experts at the trial defined secular humanism saying �the substance of the belief system is that all of reality can be known by human intellect "aided only by the devices of man's creation or discovery...By the force of logic, the universe is self-existing, knowable...Moreover man is the product of biology with no spiritual dimension. �
Hand found teachers and educational psychology experts agreed. �Schools are concerned with interpreting facts for students, � going so far as to say that, �the purpose of school is to develop citizens for a just world� and �to develop a human being. " Hand found that the textbooks they were using established secular humanism. These books made such claims as: �the student must determine right and wrong based only on his own experience, feelings and (internal) values; nothing was meant to be.; and �you are the designer of your life." Hand pointed out how they �encouraged students to believe only they could decide right and wrong. Hand accepted testimony that said they �taught human responsibility self directed verses there is a divine source determining way life ought to be lived.� Hand states, "When texts taught students that they could prepare themselves to make the "right decisions" by working on their self-concept and accepting themselves and believing in themselves, students were indoctrinated into "individualism" to the eclusion of other belief systems. �
The issue of state-established secular humanism raises serious questions to the legitimacy of the call to teach in public schools. Does the state cross the limits which Luther had set when stating �God cannot and will not allow anyone but himself to rule over the soul? � Do the duties of the station of teaching contradict the will of God, forcing teachers to serve an idolatrous religion? Would Luther believe that they should reject their duties? Is the establishment of secular humanism maintaining the structures of society and by our participation show itself in the consequence of inner-city schools? Does this promote the loss of identity? Are consequences emerging in suburban schools such as Columbine Colorado? These students wanted to be stars. The shooters claimed �our parents were good teaching us self awareness and self-reliance. � They were in a school full of successes. Are we pushing it further? Are these consequences of participation? Is this the love we are extending outward? The father of the girl shot in Colorado for declaring a faith in God is now preaching and claiming the answer is �a simple trust in God. �
TEACHER ROLES
I would not find that every teacher�s station would require them to submit to secular humanism, even if it were governmentally established. The offices which don�t require submission leave much room for Christian teachers to act as protectors and caregivers as well as liberators and educators opening students to the possibility of faith perspectives as well as their own individuality. Stronks suggests an alternative to �neutralizing� diversity. Rather than neutralization, Stronks states that a school is supposed to be a "marketplace of ideas." She suggests that teachers should develop means by which students come to recognize their deepest differences. She discusses the need for teachers to �provide the civic framework within which we are able to debate our differences, to understand one another, and work to serve the common good �
Teaching about religion would seem to be one way by which we could come to know each other�s differences. Too often those things which divide us are out of nothing more than ignorance and prejudice. I spend quite a lot of time discussing and debating on the Internet with people of various walks of life. There are a lot of bitter words, expressed hatred, and vengeance against each religious group. Especially I have noted how attacks against Christianity are so often tainted in prejudice containing no insight into what Christians truly believe. The National School Board Council of Attorneys has stated that not only may educators teach about religion, but, �education without appropriate attention to major religious influences and themes is incomplete education. �. The NSBA says teaching about religion can be integrated into history, society, family life, and community life and that it can be tough in special courses devoted to a comparative examination of world religions or religious literature.� They have stated that the �study of religion essential to understanding both the nation & the world...omission of facts of religion can give students the false impression that the religious life of humankind is insignificant or unimportant"
In teaching about religion it is necessary to keep an �objective� curriculum and not violate the establishment clause. This would reqire much thought in developing. The teachers, it would seem, would have to be both knowledgeable and certified in religious studies.
Stronks discusses how Christians might go about acting as cataylsts of change. In doing so, she discusses the �importance of developing a way of thinking that will allow their word and life view to guide their teaching.� She presents the ideas of J.E. Schwartz concearning the various roles or positions a teacher of the Christian faith might play in their station. While I had mentioned the roles of caregiver and protector, Schwartz mentions three other roles Christian teachers often see themselves in as they look to fulfill their Christian callings. One role is the �agent of Enculturation.� These teachers look to be a good influence in the kids lives. They feel that this can occur, however, only if they maintain the good will of the school and community. Therefore, they avoid controversial roles or expressions concerning religion. I would find identity with the other two roles in feeling that this role would be �too accommodating to secularism.� The second role is the �Christian advocate or Evangelist.� �These teachers act as undercover agents or infiltrators seeking ways to provide a Christian perspective on the things they teach, even if they must take risks and test the limits of the church-state separation. The third role is that of the �Golden rule truth seeker.� This teacher would �introduce world-view questions into the study of culture with the purpose of identifying and responding justly to the source of differences among people.� Stronks seems to support the last position, yet recognizing that no teacher fits into just one role.
WORLD VIEW TEACHERS - also eclesical supplementation
The famous mathematician Blaise Pascal once said, �We cannot achieve a definite proof. � He felt that every argument began with an assumption. Stronks relates to this idea in saying �we have known for a long time that knowledge is never neutral. Whenever people teach, they do so from a perspective.� As secular humanism hold one perspective, Christians hold a set of beliefs which shapes his or her thinking and the choices they make. It is important to reflect how their beliefs can be applied in the setting in light of the educational needs and laws of the state �because a Christian perspective influences the way a teacher thinks about every aspect of schooling.� Stronks continues on how a Christian world view can be reflected in their teaching style.
Stronks states that �we tend to think of curriculum as a collection of subjects that are separate and distinct entities.� She stresses that �what students really need is a larger picture of their world and an awareness of how each issue or aspect they are studying fits into the larger picture. � Stronks mentions two purposes of curriculum in Christian schools and offers ideas of how to relate them to public schools. The first purpose is for students to �know God�s wonderful world with all it interconnections and to learn how to take care of that world. �
In teaching of God�s world, Stronks states that �teachers not have to isolate selves from others with different perspectives. � Christian and non-Christian teachers can work in partnership in teaching of God�s creation. This is because teaching of God�s creation can be done without mentioning God directly. �True knowledge, which is God�s knowledge, is built into the structures of creation and therefore different belief systems will overlap. � She accepts a certain natural revelation, saying �God wants us to learn of his creation because it speaks of him. � As one example, she mentions the intricacy of the pattern in peacocks feathers which seemingly serve no reasonable function.
However Christians and non-Christians often have different perspectives on how they view creation. In looking at the differences a Christian perspective brings to an area of learning Stronks presents the ideas of Richard Faber, a math teacher from Dort College. �Christians believe God created an orderly universe�.Much of math is a study of interdependence of structures and concepts of creation, � he states. However the problem is that there is a temptation to �deify math and think these principles rule the universe.� A Christian would find �these principles accurately explaining creation is a testimony to God�s faithfulness�A non-Christian would tend to think math controls the universe.�
Variables and dimensions often influence the picture of how something appears. Mr. Faber uses the example of the Cartesian plane used for measuring distances. He states, �We know it�s not a perfect way to measure distances on earth. The earth is spherical not flat�.This shows are math descriptions are only a partial reflection of the actual creation.� Perhaps he could have brought it even farther with a discussion of math and music. While music follows a mathematical pattern, is there some dimension outside of the sequence which brings it meaning?
Stronks stresses an �integrated approach� to learning. Mrs. Jadrich, a science teacher states, �my goal is to produce an integrated course, one that cuts across the traditional topics and disciplines found in science�.The traditional approach leaves students with a compartmentalized view of nature. �I have debated numerous times with persons whom support a compartmentalized view of nature and science. They usually stress the need for complete specialization to develop any valuable knowledge or expertise. Yet, in science it is often noted that the inability to describe what is happening in quantum mechanics is brought by the inability to truly isolate a system. Even the way one looks at the tiny particles has an influence on how it reacts.
Lead in questions are useful in developing an integrated approach. �Such questions as �Why does my body feel the way it does?� are examples of lead in questions that can only be answered by a wholistic or integrated view of science.� �Such a perspective,� claims Stronks, �not only brings students to learn and retain information better, but it leaves students with a sense of awe for the creation and lead them to see that they are a part of creation and how they live and what decisions they make will have an impact on all that is around them.�
The science teacher also notes the importance of discussing the limitations of science. Realization of the limitations, can both humility to a students view of humanity�s capabilities. This humility and sight of creations interconnection can keep minds open to contemplation of the workings of God�s spirit and providence within the natural processes.
TIE THIS SECTION IN WITH KOZOL
TIE THIS SECTION IN WITH KOZOL
Fostering a sense of humility and awe for the creation as well as the inter-relatedness of the created world, Stronks discusses the second purpose of curriculum from the Christian perspective. This purpose is for each student to �come to know themselves and the ways in which they as individuals, stand in relationship to the rest of creation.� It is a realization of what kinds of intellegences or gifts they have and the responsibilities that go along with those gifts. Stronks begins discussion of this theme with a look at Theater, an area of study which has often had an uneasy relationship with the church.
Theater has often been said to promote values and lifestyles which are contrary to Christian values. Theater teacher Diana trotter, however, discusses how theater holds many similar objectives to those characteristic of Christianity. �The central questions of both Christianity and theater are �What does it mean to be human? What is the meaning of our life?� She continues that theater teaches compassion and empathy. An actor comes to see through someone else�s eyes. It teaches of our human similarities, of our connection with common humanity. �It forms an imagination, giving the ability to hope for what is unseen and believe in the seemingly impossible.� It teaches how to work together for a common goal. It also �teaches creativity, a great gift of God and a means by which we participate in reflecting God�s image.�
She continues this theme with the thoughts of Sherri Lantinga, a psychology professor at Dort College. Sherri claims the way she teaches �is shaped by the belief that students are image bearers of God. So students should be treated with respect and dignity as people responsible for making good choices and exercising self-discipline.� This is a very delicate place for a teacher to exercise her perceptions. What is a student or teacher ultimately responsible to or for as a Christian? There is a fine line between teaching responsibility and forcing a conformity that oposes integrity or the call to the proper highway of which one to travel. In teaching values I seldomly find the propper means is by force, but rather by grace.
CONCLUSION
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I think the fundamental element in a teachers call is to recognize the individual diversity
Migiore contends that the symbol :�image of God� describes human life in relationship with God and with other creatures. � That is, human beings are created for life in relationships that mirror or correspond to God�s own life in relationships. �That God is trinity of love means that �concern for new community in which there is a just sharing of the resources of the earth and relationship of domminations are replaced by those of honor and respect (Migliore 70).�
Within Migiore�s understanding of humanity created in the �image of God,� there exists a �tension between personal identity and communal participation.� Within this tension, there are two noteworthy polarities of sin. The sin �of the prideful, titanic, and egocentric self�. an active and self-centered idolatry� It is the refusal to recognize the limits of the self and the need that the self has on others.� Secondly is the sin of allowing other creatures to take the place of God in our lives. �This is the sin of self-rejection and it frequently leads to a passive and other centered idolatry.�
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legal
Stronks saw many implications for a teachers role a �golden-rule truth seeker.� While perhaps contained within the roles presented, I would add the teacher role or call of simple caregiver and protector. In regards to the later their official station, a teacher acts as an instrument of the state.
This would be a caregiver and protector of the childs own unique person and gifts simply for who they are and a concern to keep them involved in developing those gifts. It would be a protector of children�s legal religious liberties and freedoms to exercise their faith. It would also be protection from misguided philsophies or attitudes which injustly blind the student from the possibility of religious views or perspectives. In otherwords to keep open the possibilites of faith within the structures and methods of secularism while giving a loving concern for the childs person and development of his God given gifts���
Acting as
To me Sheri�s response means, knowing very little about a student, enforcing conformity, destroying creativity, moving back to problems of Kozol, creating kids to complete assignments for the sake of filling a requirement, lacking any depth or personal growth,
To Sheri, the display of respect and
SO WHAT ARE OUR RESPONSIBILITIES as teachers and as Christians called to service.
From my knowledge of science, that doesn�t work.
Variables, and dimensons can
Perhaps the most discussed area related to the Christian call to teach in public schools concearns the separation of church and state. Yet while it is the most discussed, very seldomly does anyone know what they are talking about. Rather it becomes a debate of various opinions. A teacher needs
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SOME MOLD�..not emphasize these molds�..
The school itself could have workshops itself dealing with teaching about religion in the school. It would have a state objective of dealing clearly with our differences in a pluralistic society rather than existing in our often times ignorant predudice. I could implemen This however needs much fueling, organization, and development to get off the ground. The teachers capable to teach this properly would need