“I just went to RenWeb to see my grades.  They were all A’s and B’s, with one C, and that one will be raised to at least a B, I promise you!”  Those were the words posted to a social networking website by a high school freshman at Perry Hall Christian School, and they proved to be prophetic.  What parent wouldn’t be thrilled to hear their child express a similar attitude towards learning?  Pride, confidence and determination – these are the values being instilled in our students by our dedicated professional educators, from Pre K3 to high school senior.

In the two years that I have been privileged to serve on the School Board at Perry Hall Christian Schoool, God has blessed our efforts to make His school the very best that it can be.  We have experienced consecutive years with significant increases in enrollment, while private schools, in general, have seen a decline.  New facilities are approved for construction, academic enhancements in place and updated textbooks purchased.  It occurs to me, however, that the greatest enhancement has been experienced through the hard work of our personnel, who have excited our students and encouraged them to strive for excellence, to care about each other and to seek a closer relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

There will, of course, always be new challenges to be faced, but I have confidence that if we continue to look to God to lead us in the right direction, the educational product that we offer will increasingly reflect His glory and His love for His children.

I stood in the hallway with the Head of School and School Board Chairman and prayed for a teacher.  Several weeks prior to that I walked through the halls and classrooms with my daughter and was overcome by a flood of emotions seeing children learning from talented teachers that love teaching but love the children and our Savior too.  I have walked by the sanctuary numerous times where the children were having chapel and I was so moved by the sound of our youth singing, worshiping, praising God. 

Can you imagine walking through the hallways of a public school and hearing music that praises our Lord?  See 2, 3 or more people praying in the hallway for anything God has put on their heart right at that moment?  I am so thankful for a school where these things are the normal, everyday activities and not the exception to the rule.  I am thankful that my daughter can learn in an environment where she will be loved and nurtured not just as a student but as a child of Christ.

If you are on the fence about sending your child to PHCS, or any Christian school for that matter, I challenge you to walk the halls of our school one day and not be amazed and moved by the many things that you likely want your child to be a part of. 

Come and see that the Lord is good.  Psalm 34:8

About a month ago supporters of Perry Hall Christian School were referred to a website which solicits reviews of local schools, both public and private.  We were encouraged to read the reviews that were posted and post our own.  Of course, human nature being what it is, I rushed to the site and headed directly for the negative reviews.  Thankfully, there were not many but one especially negative one caught my attention. 

          I was particularly intrigued because it had been written by a former student who had attended PHCS for four years.  The review started with the words “I hated the school” and that was the high point.  It got progressively worse, from criticisms about classmates’ abilities and teacher competence, to too much homework and then on to what holidays were or were not celebrated.  As I continued to read I couldn’t believe that this child had not had one decent experience at PHCS.  On second thought, it might have been that the negative experiences were so overwhelming that they overshadowed any positive experiences that might have occurred.

          I had already started thinking about what I might write in a review to counter some of this negativity when I stumbled upon the last two sentences.  The student had written “However, if you want your child to attend a school in a very Christian environment, then PHCS is great for that.  Other than that, this school gets NO stars from me.”

          OTHER THAN THAT?   That is why PHCS exists.  Of course, I want teachers to be competent in their areas of expertise.  Of course I want students to succeed academically.  And I definitely want students to have a generally positive experience.  What we want, to quote Alister Begg, are “sanctified scholars with the best minds given to the best of studies with the best of effort.”  However, if their education is not based on a foundation of Biblical wisdom, we might as well not be bothered. 

          So, I’m sorry that our former student had such a negative experience and I will work as hard as I can to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.  However, if at the end of the day, PHCS has the reputation as being the place to send your child if you want them to be in a very Christian environment, I’ll take that.

Pastors quickly learn that although God’s word speaks authoritatively on all facets of our lives here on earth, preaching on some subjects is akin to taking a leisurely stroll through an old, abandoned minefield. It’s not that you can’t, but why on earth would you want to? Just as in secular discussions where the cultural paradigm tries to bully us into avoiding the topics of religion and politics, in Christian circles it’s a pretty delicate thing to broach the topic of where we educate our children.

Speaking with conviction on the importance of Christian education is all too easily misinterpreted as an attack on parents who have chosen government schooling for their young lambs. I bear more than a few bumps and bruises from impassioned discussions I’ve had with other Christian families regarding what I feel is a clear mandate from scripture: that we are to speak of the things of God with our children when we get up, when we lie down, and as we walk along the road – in other words, in every context of each and every day. This is the point that Doug was making below regarding the sheer number of hours our children spend behind a desk at school (16,000+ through 12th Grade!) and the impact that this tsunami of time has on their worldview over the course of their education.

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