How I spent my Holy Week

It wasn't a "vacation" at all, but this is like the essay you write when you're back at school after a break. Actually, I was away at school.

Redeemer Christian School is a K-12 classical and Christian school sponsored by Church of the Redeemer in Mesa, Arizona. It is over thirty years old, and like most Christian schools, has gone through many highs and lows. Inner turmoil almost closed the school around 2001. The current administrator, Dr. Denise Monore, came on board about nine years ago, and has stabilized and improved Redeemer tremendously. Enrollment has been consistently about seventy-five for the past five years, and the success of their graduates has been evident in many ways. They were accredited by Christian Schools International five years ago, and I was blessed to be a part of the re-accreditation process last week.

While there are many accolades I could give to this excellent school, I just want to point out one thing. In private education, just a with everything else in America, it is possible to get caught up in the "bigger is better" frenzy. There are no doubt "economies of scale" that would benefit Redeemer's busy faculty (each of whom wear too many hats) or Redeemer's parents and students (who deny themselves a number of "extras" that bigger schools would offer). However, just a day before visiting Redeemer, I heard news of two local districts here in Tucson who are sacrificing class size as well as physical education, music, and art to stay within budget. At Redeemer, I saw small classes and two excellent part time art and music teachers.

But here's the best thing about Redeemer: the culture they have established is remarkably free of the worldliness of most schools. High school students lead most of the chapel service without embarrassment (and without loud, sexy music). Middle school students interact un-selfconsciously with elementary children on the playground and in the lunchroom. Students look adults in the eye and answer them politely. I actually heard high school students speak to adults intelligently, in complete sentences, and without the gratuitious use of "like.." every other word.

They are not saints, but they have respected their authorities enough to obey them well. Without exception, they responded that they are happy to be there, and would not want to be anywhere else. And on another day, I could tell you how much they are learning!

But for today, my point is this. Many Christian families - maybe even some Dove Mountaineers - could visit their school without being as charmed as I was. I am afraid we have become so jaded (even indifferent) that we have come to accept rebellion, self-absorption, and dumbed-down language as part and parcel of what it means to be a teenager, even a teenage Christian, in present day U.S.A. I love the Redeemers of the world (and they are not alone) because they prove that it doesn't have to be that way. And if it doesn't have to be that way, why do we aspire to so low a standard? Dr. Denise Monroe and the elders of Church of the Redeemer haven't, and the result is mighty good fruit! Glory to God!