#ExposeChristianSchools

I spotted #ExposeChristianSchools was trending on Twitter a couple of days ago and thought I’d take a look.  I think it is mostly American and therefore difficult for me to comment too directly as it’ll be out of context for me.  However, it is mostly people tweeting who have gone through some kind of christian education who are fighting against it.  To be fair, there are some who are supportive.  The above tweet is an example of what people are saying – and clearly the advice for girls to dress modestly or else…. is wholly inappropriate.

We have sent our own daughters through a christian school here in the UK, from preschool (aged 2 or 3) to year 11 (aged 16) so I think I’m able to comment on this. I will try to be balanced as it is a serious subject and I don’t want anyone to misunderstand.

At our church there was a christian school (since folded in the early 2000s) which I think might have been similar to the kind of school the Americans are tweeting about.  It was a fee paying school and pupils were taught by a mixture of qualified teachers and well-meaning parents.  The children sat in little offices (desks with barriers to separate them from their neighbours) and studied a limited range of subjects at their own pace.  They didn’t take conventional exams and the regime was very strict.  This included behaviour and the school dress code.  There were one or two stories of children being expelled from the school because of some dispute between the church pastor (who was the head teacher) and parents.

There was much said in church life about how wonderful the church school was was and how guilty you [might] feel for sending your children to a state school.  The reasoning, as far as I remember, was because children will be corrupted with false, anti-christian teaching and end up becoming drug and/or alcohol addicts, left wing and the like.  Arguably this was towards the tail end of the “heavy shepherding” period which had been practiced and that I had never agreed with at all.

As any sincere parents, christian or otherwise, we wanted to do the right thing and we recognised how the welfare and wellbeing of our daughters was our greatest responsibility.  We took this very seriously.  We looked at sending our daughters to the church school but, for a variety of reasons, decided against it.  This did surprise a few people and a few queried this but I don’t remember any serious disapproval and I would have ignored this anyway.  Instead we sent our daughters to a different fee paying christian school in a different town and this was, in our view, far better.

Again, I’m trying to be balanced and fair here.

The school was run on a shoe-string.  They were trying to strike the right balanced between being a well resourced school and yet make it accessible for families who had a modest income.  I was often moved through hearing of some families who had clearly sacrificed much in order to send their children to the school.  Some parents remortgaged their homes and lived a very modest, spend-thrift lifestyle or gave up much in order to send their children to the school.  Some used to travel very far each day, just so their kids could attend the school.

While we could nick-pick some points of the school life which weren’t good, the “end products” were generally well behaved children who were on the road to growing into nice people.  Children generally did quite well in their exams and Ofsted (the UK Government Inspectorate) recognised the school as having a caring nature and a generally good, if slightly limited, education.

One of our daughters blossomed at the school.  She loved it and came away with some really good grades in her exams.  Our other daughter really struggled and was in a class which was known for being difficult for the teachers – difficult children, large numbers and so on.  The quality of teaching was questionable and when it came to the point where our daughter needed extra help in the classroom, we had to pay for this.  The school could not accept it had contributed to the problem or that any additional support shouldn’t be part of the package.  The extra support, by the way, was from a volunteer parent, not a qualified or trained classroom teacher.  We took her out of the school and she blossomed in a state school.

Now our two girls are young adults, I sometimes ask myself if we did the right thing with their education.  I also consider the considerable cost as well and the constant pressure we were under in order to earn the money and pay the school fees.  On balance, yes I think we did do the right thing.  However, if I had my time again, I would certainly challenge the school far more, question and challenge them more and be prepared to be more proactive.

My advice for any would-be students/families of a christian school….

• Don’t automatically follow the trend in your community or church circle
• When considering a school, go to some events if you can.  See how the school operates.  What are the “end products” like?  Are the children well prepared for the secular world or are they blinkered and naive?
• Ask lots of questions!!!!!!  Is it oppressive?  Is it dogmatic or more liberal?  How does the school cater for children who aren’t christians, or from parents who aren’t necessarily christians?  Can the school genuinely cope with special needs? Do you agree with the teaching, the pastoral approach, the dress code, how order and discipline is managed?  Are the teachers well qualified?  What is the financial deal, what is included?  How is the school governed, who are the people involved?  Are they representative and skilled in overseeing a school?  Does the headteacher lead the school well?  Have you read the Ofsted inspection reports?
• Talk to parents if you can
• Keep an open mind when you consider a school
• Not all children will thrive in a christian school through different learning styles and needs
• Don’t be made to feel guilty if you decide not to send your children to a christian school, or can’t afford it

As I said, I have tried to be balanced.  Going back to the hashtag #ExposeChristianSchools, many have been seriously hurt through their experience.  Some have been subjected to unreasonable discipline, inappropriate teaching and a downright bad experience.  And yet this can happen in any school, whether it is a faith school or a secular school, private or state funded, boarding school or a day school.

And yet we are privileged to live in a free society, here in the UK, the US and through much of the rest of the world but others live in terror without free speech and conscience.

We can make choices about how we raise our children, how we express our faith (if any) and how this plays out in daily life.  A society which brings children up in a bland way is dull and uninteresting; we need vibrancy, good education, vision and innovation.  We need people from all different backgrounds in society to make things work well, to debate and reason with things.  Now that’s not to say things which are clearly wrong should be tolerated, of course you have to draw the line somewhere.

Wrapping up

We need christian education to be available. BUT it must be high quality, a reasonable regime, with very open governance and accountability.

Being slightly controversial here, I think VAT should be charged (this is the UK tax on goods and services, currently private schools are exempt).

Any comments?