There is an article on Christianity Today entitled "Why We Send Our Kids to the Poorest Public School." I think about the main concept of this article all the time. I usually go back and read the article again every six months or so. You should really read it for yourself to understand the rest of my discussion here, but I'll try to summarize. Basically, a Christian mother ends up in a new city and her kids are attending a school that is very different from their previous one. The school is poor and so are the families of the students. Many families are refugees and many students are learning English as a second language.
Of course the traditional wisdom of Americanism says that you should get your kids out of there by moving to a different school district or sending them to a private school. However, this mother explains that her Christian faith told her to stay in that school district. She admits that she wrestled with this and struggled to trust God. And while this article is about a Christian, I think the example can apply to any religion or just anyone who cares about their fellow human beings.
So instead of running away from the "bad" public schools, maybe we should be running to them. By definition of being public, public schools provide an opportunity to reach almost everyone in our society. So we should do what this mom did and a hundred more things that love and care for the families and students around us. Our kids should play together and our families should pray together. We should help families with transportation to sports and other school activities. We should find creative ways to fund these activities. We should use PTOs to help improve academic resources at the school. But go read the original article as it explains all this better than I could.
Overall, the education I want for my child is learning to serve by watching my life and participating with me as I serve others. Ideally, there would be a community of other families helping us as well. The mom in the article didn't do it all alone. I am looking to work together with people in my community to make this a reality. I hope other families across America will take up this calling to care for all those in need, including, but not limited to, the refugees, the immigrants, the families struggling with addiction, the oppressed minorities, the poor, the sick, the homeless, and the fatherless.
OK, that was supposed to be the end of this blog post. But the problem is, while I can write a blog post about all this, I haven't actually done anything. I am still going to post this. I hope it helps to create a conversation about what I should be doing. I hope when I look back on this post in a few years, I will have accomplished some of these things.
Of course the traditional wisdom of Americanism says that you should get your kids out of there by moving to a different school district or sending them to a private school. However, this mother explains that her Christian faith told her to stay in that school district. She admits that she wrestled with this and struggled to trust God. And while this article is about a Christian, I think the example can apply to any religion or just anyone who cares about their fellow human beings.
So instead of running away from the "bad" public schools, maybe we should be running to them. By definition of being public, public schools provide an opportunity to reach almost everyone in our society. So we should do what this mom did and a hundred more things that love and care for the families and students around us. Our kids should play together and our families should pray together. We should help families with transportation to sports and other school activities. We should find creative ways to fund these activities. We should use PTOs to help improve academic resources at the school. But go read the original article as it explains all this better than I could.
Overall, the education I want for my child is learning to serve by watching my life and participating with me as I serve others. Ideally, there would be a community of other families helping us as well. The mom in the article didn't do it all alone. I am looking to work together with people in my community to make this a reality. I hope other families across America will take up this calling to care for all those in need, including, but not limited to, the refugees, the immigrants, the families struggling with addiction, the oppressed minorities, the poor, the sick, the homeless, and the fatherless.
OK, that was supposed to be the end of this blog post. But the problem is, while I can write a blog post about all this, I haven't actually done anything. I am still going to post this. I hope it helps to create a conversation about what I should be doing. I hope when I look back on this post in a few years, I will have accomplished some of these things.
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