Between Memory and Vision: The Case for Faith-Based Schooling
Written by Steven C. Vryhof. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. © 2004 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
By Feager A. Pertilla, Former ACSI Board Member
According to Steven C. Vryhof, memory and vision in our culture are in danger. With regard to Christian communities, he defines memory as “their story, their identity, their cultural anchor points” and vision as “their imagined future, their world-and-life view, designed to provide motivation and meaning for a lifetime” (p. xiii).
Memory and vision, according to Vryhof, are deeply rooted in and surrounded by “functional community” and faith-based schooling. He writes, “ ‘Functional community’ is a sociological term that simply means a group’s ability to reproduce itself successfully by passing on its most deeply held values and beliefs” (p. xiv). Effective faith-based schools create functional community.
If not understood correctly, functional community and faith-based schooling could very easily produce schools that are more segregated than exclusive, very narrow instead of progressive, and the very opposite of what God is calling for! Instead, faith-based schools should draw students because of their mission, their perspective, their culture, their value system, and their worldview.
The public school system was established to develop attitudes, loyalties, and values. Horace Mann, the commanding figure of the public school movement, believed in social harmony and public morality through common schooling with an emphasis on justice, goodness, peace, and prosperity. Mann’s “millennium vision” accounted for state-supported schools; new educator associations; the increasing uniformity of textbooks, curricula, and methods; and the increasing demarcation between public and private. All these outcomes of Mann’s vision were laying the foundation for state-controlled schools, according to Vryhof.
The public school movement was to bring order to inequity in schooling at the time. It was to bring about educational standards that would ensure an economically viable population, respect for the diversity of religious sentiments, and the rights of parents to mold their children. “These are functional community issues that first arose in the midnineteenth century, and their importance has only grown with the events of the twentieth century” (p. 38).
Vryhof explains that faith-based schools came as a result of the arrival in America of immigrants who were fleeing not only economic hardship but also intolerance of different viewpoints. They chose to pursue economic opportunities and live according to their religious beliefs. Christian Schools International (CSI), based in Reformed or Calvinist tradition, was formed by immigrants who were distinct people who came into American society and set about trying to preserve the group feeling that they felt necessary for survival.
A common difference between public and Christian schools is the ability of the faith-based schools to focus on a moral vision and to ground such a vision in something that has meaning and staying power. Faith-based schools are most likely to have parental control; a shared vision; an explicit worldview; a reinforcing network of teachers, pastors, and peers; and the gathering together with a common religious and educational purpose.
We now come to the root of faith-based schools and why they’re so important. These schools provide parental choice, which represents empowerment and ownership. As parents become committed to choice, they must also become committed and open to others. As we are committed to our community, our values, our faith, and our worldview, we also need to be able to speak and relate to one another. As Vryhof writes, “Faith-based schooling can and should be one tool available to all parents (not just those who can afford it) in order to achieve … ‘functional community’ ” (p. xvi).
We have come full circle. When we as faith-based educators take memory and vision seriously, according to Vryhof, we find hope in memory because memory is grounded in the past. And we find hope in vision because vision provides context, purpose, and a future to work for!
Leaders Read: Between Memory and Vision 8.1