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Philosophy of Education:
PHILOSOPHY:
Summit
Classical Christian School (Summit) believes any education must
be based on Christian principles. True education flourishes when
parents, teachers, and administrators properly understand the
nature of learning, of children, and of schools.
THE
NATURE OF LEARNING
True learning begins with an awareness of our position in
relation to God, an understanding that all knowledge comes from
Him, and that He alone defines what is right.
Reality
God, having created the universe by His own free will is
absolute, autonomous, and self-sufficient. He is not dependent
in any way upon the created, whereas the created are utterly
dependent upon Him. In creation, He brought all things into
being and causes all things to function together in the manner
in which He decrees, by His design. These decrees are
irrevocable; He alone is in control. While transcending all
things, His providential oversight is not distant, but immanent
and personal. He is at all times, intimately acquainted with and
relates to everything in His universe.
These doctrines of creation and providence clearly set forth the
relationship of the created to the Creator. Neither creation as
a whole nor any part thereof is autonomous. Only God is
autonomous and all creation is wholly dependent upon and subject
to Him. God and God alone is the ultimate reality and determiner
of what is and what is not real.
Knowledge
God is self-referential. He knows himself completely without
reference to any standard alongside or outside of Himself.
Furthermore, God knows all things because He originally
conceived all things. In contrast, man does not conceive things
originally, but discovers what God has eternally known.
Therefore, man cannot truly know anything unless he understands
it in reference to the God who originally conceived it. Thus man
comes to know only by revelation from God. All revelation comes
to man through Christ and all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are hidden in Him.
Ethics
God alone is the standard of what is right and wrong, true and
false. There is no ethical standard that is above or alongside
God. His character is the basis for all ethical judgments.
Therefore, man is only able to determine ethical standards and
judgments according to His Word alone.
Therefore,
every area of true learning must find its completeness as it
converges on God. If Jesus Christ is excluded from our study,
every process of thought will be arrested before it reaches its
proper goal.
THE
NATURE OF CHILDREN
Children are made in the image of God. Because they bear His
image, they have a duty to do so in a manner that honors and
glorifies Him. Children are created by God and given to parents.
They are not the property of the state to work and serve its
will. Rather they are to be educated to fulfill the creation
mandate, which is to take dominion over the earth; and the Great
Commission; which is to go out and make disciples of all
nations.
Children
inherit the sinful nature of Adam at birth and are separated
from God. No amount of education or achievement can change their
hearts or eternal position. Their only hope is Jesus Christ, the
only Savior and Redeemer of God's people. Accordingly, children
need to be admonished for sins common to fallen man (especially
those that pertain to the educational process, e.g., laziness,
disrespect, complaining, and disputing, etc.); taught the
necessity and sufficiency of Christ as Savior; and, equipped to
love and serve Him as Lord with all of their heart, mind, soul,
and strength.
THE
NATURE OF SCHOOLS
God, in His Word, has clearly charged parents with the
responsibility of training their own children. It is not the job
of the church or the state to assume this obligation. Parents
may lawfully assign specific tasks to godly surrogates, but they
may never relinquish the overall responsibility and oversight of
their children's education.
Schools
must therefore operate with the understanding that the God-given
authority to instruct and discipline the children is temporarily
delegated from the parents to the schools. Schools are to
operate as the agent of parents, with their initial and ongoing
authority derived from the parents. |
