mercredi 30 janvier 2019

Why Many Parents Opt For An Urban Christian Education

By Frances Richardson


Most religions tend to strive towards converting people to their faith. In order to do so, they had to attract people and gain their attention. To this end they establish facilities to perform charity work, to provide medical care and, of course, to provide a basic schooling for young people. To this day schools governed by strict religious principles can be found all over the world although they are no longer missionary in nature. And numerous parents still prefer their children to enjoy an urban Christian education.

Numerous devoutly Christian parents are not satisfied with the schooling offered by government schools. They want their children to get an excellent education based upon the very ideas underpinning their faith. This is not possible in government schools. They have to accommodate learners from every conceivable background, faith and culture and they cannot afford to show preference to any particular religion.

Government schools simply cannot offer any form of religious instruction. They have to cater for students from a wide variety of backgrounds, religions and cultures and any form of religious activities will lead to discontent among parents and church leaders. The answer is to establish private schools that cater only for students from a very specific religion. In recent times, many of these schools have sprung up.

Perhaps it should not be surprising to learn that these schools have soared in popularity. After all, they generally produce much better results than government schools. They have good facilities, they maintain strict discipline and they offer their students teaching by well qualified teachers. The classes are smaller and the staff is motivated. This, parents believe, is the best environment for learning.

It is not just devout believers that are lamenting the poor performance of government schools. Educational experts agree that these schools simply do not have enough resources. They have to cope with very large classes and discipline is often extremely poor. Drug and alcohol abuse even among the very young is common. This type of environment is most certainly not conductive to learning but most parents do not have a choice.

Critics say that religious schools are too exclusive and that they stifle the creativity of their learners because they are so strict about what learners are exposed to. They say that healthy, balanced individuals need to be exposed to different cultures and religions and that religious schools prevent children from becoming true citizens of a society where there is inevitable people from many different backgrounds. This is discriminatory, they argue.

Naturally, supporters of religious schools do not concur with the critics. They say that it is their right to determine the faith and principles according to which their children are educated. In a free society one does not have to agree but one has to accept the rights of others. Parents of children in religious schools generally want their kids to learn in a well ordered, professional environment with a reputation of producing good results.

Private schools, even religious ones, are not exempt from the rules and regulations prescribed by the educational authorities. The basic curriculum prescribed by the authorities must be followed but the school may decide to augment this with religious instruction and other fields of study. It nevertheless seems as if religious schools are here to stay.




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