Christian Education

The following is a post I made recently on Blackboard for one of my Higher Ed grad courses concerning the topic of Christian Education, both its definition and its purposes. The question referenced is simply "What is the purpose and definition of a Christian education?"

Regarding the question and the issues brought up regarding Christian Education, I think that it involves the nature of Christian "culture", which invovles rules and customs that we have developed that try to exeplify our understanding of Christ's life, which is called Christianity. What happens with Christian "culture" is that we now have "Christian" music, "Christian" television, "Christian" businesses, "Christian" jargon, and of course "Christian" education. I wrestle with why this needs to be, and why we cannot do education that is just simply excellent. Maybe it is a result of modernity that we are a system of classification and segregation and labels, which causes us to have this "Christian" culture when instead, I believe, we should really be aiming at avoiding this "culture" stuff and live a life wholly submissive to Christ. I think the toughest part about doing it this way is that Christianity ends up looking different for everyone....or should I say, so as not to seem like I am promoting loose theology, Christianity is not a forumula (no cuss words + guys with short hair + in bed before midnight + no secular music = heaven).
Now that the "culture" is removed from things, I think Christian education takes on a new look than we might otherwise know it from our experiences. I think Dave Guthrie (and Steve Garber) has a great view of what Christian higher education should be, which can be used for all levels in my opinion. Basically, this means allowing students to see more deeply and more clearly the world in which we live. As Dave has been quoted as saying in the past, the goal of higher education, and in my opinion Christian education in general, is "to cast a vision of life, for your whole life, for the rest of your life." When viewed this way, "culture" is not an interference and the actual practice of educating becomes far less systematic. Someone in the earlier responses (forgive me for not remembering, I think it was John) said something about worldview being important in Christian education. I think this is exactly what Dave G is talking about. Obviously every educational system is in the business of forming a worldview in its students, Christian based education is just far more upfront about it than others. Therefore, whether we call ourselves Christian becomes less relevant than if we are really educating "Christianly."