Debbie Jensen, MA, has served at Scottsdale Christian Academy in Phoenix, Arizona, for over 20 years. She has been a guidance counselor for 15 years.
Kristen Bouse, MA, has served for years at Scottsdale Christian Academy as a guidance counselor. She is a licensed professional counselor.
We have determined what issues we believe we must take a definite stance on and what issues we believe are “neutral” and should be referred back to the home and the church for people to decide for themselves.
Homosexuality, abortion, death and dying, politics, differing religious beliefs—often these topics strike fear in the hearts of teachers when they come up in a classroom. However, dealing with difficult issues in the classroom is something that every teacher has to face at one time or another. A teacher’s personality, background, experience, subject matter, and comfort level with the topic affect whether the teacher avoids such issues or sees them as teachable moments. In order to help teachers deal with issues appropriately, Christian schools should provide direction and training so that teachers can be prepared to address issues as they come up. It is important for Christian schools to foster an environment of grace in which students and teachers feel free to ask questions and voice opinions about any topic. At Scottsdale Christian Academy, our mission is to “produce fully armored students who show evidence of the grace of God by remaining true to the Lord with all their heart, mind, and soul and exemplify the name ‘Christian’ as they change the world for Christ.” Therefore, providing a setting where students feel safe to address difficult issues is an important part of educating and preparing students.
This process begins with a commitment by the Christian school to determine its stance on these difficult issues and to prepare teachers for addressing them in their classrooms. At Scottsdale Christian Academy, our administration created a document called Position on Critical Issues. Every family, as well as every staff member, signs a copy of this document, indicating an agreement with the position. We have determined what issues we believe we must take a definite stance on and what issues we believe are “neutral” and should be referred back to the home and the church for people to decide for themselves. Defining the issues gives a foundation for staff members to use in addressing these issues as they come up. The teachers can clearly articulate the views of the school. However, it is necessary to provide teachers with training on how to talk about these topics. It is also important to enable teachers to know how to refer students back to their families and churches without stifling the students’ natural curiosity. A statement in our work agreements reads, “In the spirit of preserving unity among the academy family, the teacher will seek to avoid the controversy, which can result from discussions of debatable topics that tend to divide evangelical believers. A student is to be referred to his/her local church if a debatable topic arises of a theological nature.” It is essential to provide teachers with training on how to carry out this agreement in their classroom. Scottsdale Christian Academy provides teachers with ongoing training through in-services on topics such as biblical integration, Christian worldview, and such books as TrueFaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch (NavPress, 2003), as well as through individual consultation with teachers on specific topics as needed.
Within a classroom, teachers find that these difficult questions come up in various ways. At times the teacher initiates them, and at other times a student brings them up. They might come up in English class in the context of the literature that students are studying. They might come up in a history class as the students review current events. They might arise in any class as a prayer request when someone in a student’s life is being faced with one of these issues. Bible class is an obvious place where teachers address many topics. Sometimes the topics are part of the actual curriculum, but often Bible class is a place where students feel the most free to ask their questions and explore the answers. It is easy for any teacher to fall into the trap of telling students what they should believe when these topics come up, especially in the midst of the hundreds of other details that teachers must attend to in order to keep their classroom running smoothly each day. However, it is very important that teachers help students explore issues from all perspectives. Teachers need to be comfortable about stating their own beliefs and the beliefs of the school, but they should also help students look at differing beliefs. This open atmosphere must be cultivated throughout the year with all lessons so that when a difficult issue arises the atmosphere is already established and students know they will be respected by the teacher and their classmates.
Teachers need to be comfortable about stating their own beliefs and the beliefs of the school, but they should also help students look at differing beliefs.
Another aspect of developing a place where students feel safe in discussing difficult issues relates to the students themselves. A Christian school needs to take great pains to teach students how to show grace to one another when these hard topics come up. Even if a teacher takes the time to address something in class, other students can squelch the conversation by laughing, making fun of the topic, or putting one another down. This belittling might happen in class, or it might happen later when the subject comes up again. Teachers should not allow this type of behavior in class and should know that they can set the tone by what they allow to happen in their classroom. It is also important to note that students often feel freer to address hard subjects when they are in smaller groups such as Bible studies, accountability groups, and talk groups. Because of that fact, it is important to provide those types of smaller groups so that students can share more openly if they feel intimidated by the large group in a classroom and don’t want to appear different or ignorant about a topic.
Schools also need to promote one-on-one relationships between teachers and students as another way that difficult questions can be addressed. In surveys at Scottsdale Christian Academy, most students stated that they feel comfortable talking about difficult topics in class, especially when the topics come up in a natural way within the context of the class. Students definitely perceived that they can bring up topics with certain teachers but not with others. They also saw that their fellow students could react in a way that shuts down a conversation. While most feel comfortable talking about difficult issues, many don’t think that they have had enough opportunities to do so.
Homosexuality, abortion, death and dying, politics, differing religious beliefs—these topics don’t have to cause fear in the hearts of teachers, nor do teachers need to avoid them at all costs. Christian schools can empower their teachers through training and support so that the teachers are prepared to deal with these difficult issues. Teachers need to realize their calling to enable their students to explore hard topics so that the students can be ready to stand firm for the Lord when they leave the Christian school environment. Students need to take a supportive stance toward one another when these difficult issues come up. Overall, a Christian school has a vital role, along with families and churches, to develop students who “exemplify the name ‘Christian’ as they change the world for Christ.” A Christian school cannot do so in an atmosphere of legalism or condemnation, but keeping at the forefront this goal of developing students will lead to an atmosphere of grace in which all faculty, staff, and students can look at difficult issues through the lens of the Word of God and find answers to their hardest questions.
Making Schools Safe for Difficult Questions 9.3