Joseph P. Blake was born and raised in Philadelphia. A reporter with the Philadelphia Daily News for 22 years, he’s on a leave of absence from his job as a marketing manager for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. He’s currently helping out as program director at the Blair Christian Academy in Philadelphia.
"Every day is a struggle, and there’s a struggle every day." That, according to some, could be the motto of every teacher in an inner-city Christian school. If so, what of suburban Christian school teachers? Could their motto be, "Every day is Thanksgiving since I teach wonderful students in a lovely, pristine environment"? Probably not.
The truth is that all Christian schools, both suburban and urban, face challenges in simply motivating students to learn, for students on both sides of the county line often come with problems—emotional, social, physical, spiritual—that teachers must address in order to educate.
At the recent Mid-Atlantic Christian Schools Association (MACSA) 50th Annual Convention in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, hundreds of Christian schools teachers, administrators, and board members from Vermont to West Virginia assembled. They shared stories of classroom scenarios in both suburban and urban schools that made you laugh or weep.
A line was drawn, however, because of demographics. For instance, Timothy Academy in Philadelphia is predominately Latino and African American. Its principal, Richard Hamilton, has challenges that his suburban counterparts, mostly white and more secure financially, don’t. "We have different needs," says Hamilton. "Even the materials we use must reflect something students can identify with. If the people they see and read about look nothing like them—that’s a problem."
Across town is Blair Christian Academy, a K–12 school in a middle-class section. The differences in the two schools are mainly physical and geographic, since the same challenges face both schools. Still, although both face poverty, safety concerns, negative peer pressure, and parents uninvolved in their children’s education, the problems are far less severe in the suburbs.
At the MACSA convention several teachers whose rural or suburban schools are predominantly white said their biggest challenges are getting students motivated and focused. Urban schools must also take on the issues mentioned above in order to educate their students at all. According to Dr. Karen R.S. Jenkins, executive administrator of Blair, "Almost all our parents are working-class, and I place the emphasis on work. They sacrifice to send their children to a Christian school but often lack time to take an active role in that investment. Many of our children," she continued, " leave school at 3 P.M. and are unsupervised for several hours. When their parents get home, they simply want to rest." Dr. Jenkins says that students, especially in middle school, exploit the situation by not doing well. Clearly, there are no easy answers.
In essence, though both urban and suburban Christian school teachers face challenges, all agree on one thing—teaching in an atmosphere soaked with the love of God makes the challenges easier to handle, and every child—urban or suburban—has the ability to be great.
Urban and Suburban Christian Teachers 2.3