The Benefits of a Christian School Education

Cléa Rathbun

My son started his academic journey in kindergarten in a Christian school not far from our home. We could not have had a better teacher for him. His teacher was kind but firm. She was as concerned for her students’ spiritual condition and growth as she was for their academic progress. Above all, she was a disciplemaker and a faithful teacher of the gospel. Any time our son needed some extra teaching moments (there were lots of those throughout the year), she would point him to the cross. It became a common saying at our house to be “under the cross” whenever one needed instruction and correction. With the global interruption of COVID, the school year was cut short, and most of the lessons had to be done via Zoom, but we are forever grateful for this teacher’s investment in the life of our son.

Teaching is formative and indoctrinating. It has spiritual ramifications. Teaching and learning occur against the backdrop of a worldview. If teaching is not purposefully biblical, what takes place is teaching based on a secular mindset, worldview, and perspective. From my personal experience growing up in Brazil, my own observations and experience of the models provided here in the States, and as a parent, I see many benefits in the Christian school setting as an effective system that provides sound Christian education for our children.

MY EXPERIENCE GROWING UP

I grew up in Brazil, receiving most of my elementary education in the Brazil public school system. Christian schooling, as we know it here in the States, was not an option, at least not in my hometown in the Amazon, and homeschooling was a very foreign concept.