God and Man at Public School

“I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water” (Isaiah 41:18).

Fresh out of university, famed author and conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. penned God & Man at Yale: The Superstitions of ‘Academic Freedom.’ Though he was only twenty-five at the time and would go on to author many other books, God & Man at Yale remains Buckley’s most widely recognized work. In it, he dismantles “the extraordinarily irresponsible educational attitude that prevailed at his alma mater” during the 1950s.

What Buckley ultimately sought to expose at the University of Yale was the dominating culture of academia at the time—a culture that was fundamentally anti-intellectual, anti-American, pseudo-historical, and above all, utterly anti-Christian. The bloated, bureaucratic, monstrous Hydra that the University system has become in the West—the direct result of leftism’s “long march through the institutions”—is precisely the beast that a young William F. Buckley Jr. strove to slay during its infancy back in the 1950s. These words, penned by Buckley nearly seventy-five years ago, are more relevant today than they were in the 50s when the various ‘-isms’ we now wrestle against were only beginning to gather forces:

“I believe that the duel between Christianity and atheism is the most important in the world... We find that in the absence of demonstrable truth, the best we can do is to exercise the greatest diligence, humility, insight, intelligence, and industry in trying to arrive at the nearest values to truth. I hope, of course, to argue convincingly that having done this, we have an inescapable duty to seek to inculcate others with these values.”

Buckley’s proposition here is twofold. First, do all within your power—intellectually, physically, and spiritually—to seek truth. And then, once you’ve arrived at it, strive to pair truth with virtue and share these findings with others. He was, of course, speaking of Christianity as the highest truth one can arrive at, and the values flowing from the Bible were to be those truths we should teach and inculcate in others—a lofty, admirable goal.

You may be surprised to find—as I was—that Ontario’s Education Act employs similar, albeit even stronger, language than Buckley does. In section 264.1(c) of the Ontario Education Act, the duties of a teacher are outlined as follows:

“...to inculcate by precept and example respect for religion and the principles of Judaeo-Christian morality and the highest regard for truth, justice, loyalty, love of country, humanity, benevolence, sobriety, industry, frugality, purity, temperance and all other virtues.”

This is explicitly Christian in nature. As much as some Canadian teachers and administrators buck wildly against these words, the fact remains that section 264.1(c) yet remains embedded in the Education Act. It is still Canadian legislation.

However, many educators refuse to see it this way. When this legislation was introduced during one of my lectures, the speaker—bound no doubt more by compulsion than personal preference—took time to unpack section 264.1(c) in particular. Upon reading the words “sobriety, industry, frugality, purity, temperance and all other virtues,” the speaker paused for a moment and made pains to openly deride these virtues, particularly that of “frugality.” “What does frugality even mean?” this individual argued, “How is that even important anymore!?” Ironically, the very school board that this guest speaker came from was imploding due to near-radioactive levels of financial mismanagement. Indeed, the importance of “frugality” cannot be understated—as is the case with all other virtues.

At this point I do want to pause for a moment and make a few items abundantly clear. Firstly, my words in this piece are at no point to be taken as an attack on any individual, least of all teachers and professors, or even educators who consider themselves to be staunch atheists. While I vehemently disagree with the atheist’s perspective, as well as many facets of Western education’s posture towards Christianity, I do hope to voice my disagreements with love: “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

My heart’s intent is to shed light on the current state of affairs in education with regards to truth and the person of Christ. Stemming from my first clarification, it is worthwhile to say that throughout my journey, whether in my undergrad, at Teacher’s College, and in the public school system, I have encountered a host of teachers who, while not Christians or even religious, have become inspirations and in some cases, even friends.

Continuing on, it would then seem fair to say that the post-secondary (that is, university and college) and public school systems of education in the West are primarily anti-Christian in their current state. Given that the pursuit of truth and the underlying conviction that the universe tends towards order and not chaos is a fundamentally Christian worldview, anti-Christian education seems ridiculous on it’s face, yet here we are. Indeed, by challenging the Christian worldview, the atheist educator must first adopt the position that things such as truth, order, reason, and an understandable view of reality exists, which is to in effect borrow intellectual and moral capital from the Christian worldview in order to attack Christianity—it really is so very non-sensical.

Whether this is a top-down or bottom-up phenomenon—whether the rot began in the university system only to trickle down to the public schools, or vice versa—is a subject for another day. However, the fact remains that, by and large, publicly-funded education in the West at all levels of study remains unabashedly opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ on both an intellectual and moral level.

All of this preamble, as important as it may be, brings me to my chief point. Before beginning my journey as a teacher, I labored for a time in the world of concrete. Transitioning from shaping rock to shaping students seemed like a natural progression of my talents. However, even after I finally determined within myself that the profession of teaching was the path for me, I did wrestle with whether I wanted to teach in the university system as a professor or focus my energy at the high school level.

Ultimately, the Lord laid a burden on my heart for teenagers; indeed, the young men and women who were sorting themselves out before entering the real world as I had only done—and still continuing to do, in fact—only a few years earlier. Having lost my father as a teenager, I felt a particular weight upon my shoulders to be an example of Christ and demonstrate proper, Biblical masculinity to a generation of young men who likely lacked both. Not that I was anything special, but because of the presence of Christ in me, it would be clear “that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to [me]” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

When I settled on the vocation of teaching as God’s call upon my life, I did so with a sense of zeal coupled with reservation. On the one hand, I was under the conviction that Canada’s public schools represented a mission field ripe for the Gospel message; and on the other hand I knew that, as with all mission fields, it would be an absurdly difficult task—impossible, even. However, I took refuge in the words of our Lord, “‘What is impossible with man is possible with God’” (Luke 18:27).

Under the shadow of God’s providence, He was incredibly gracious—as He always is—in providing me with a Christian Associate Teacher for my most recent placement. In Teacher’s College, an Associate Teacher essentially functions as a mentor and supervisor for young teachers during their placement in a school board. Needless to say, working alongside my sister in Christ in this setting was an incredible blessing, but exceedingly unexpected all the same. Having grown up, worked in, and now studying at this particular school board, I was under no illusions as to what I as a Christian teacher was up against.

But God.

After dancing around the topic of our union to Christ in our first hour together, there was a palpable sigh of relief once my Associate Teacher and I discovered we both knew and loved the Lord. After this discovery my Associate Teacher said something to the effect of, “Okay, we have to start over—there’s so much I’ve got to tell you!” It was at this point that she informed me of the school’s upcoming Christian Youth Conference—a board-wide Christian conference that was to be held at our school for all the Christian students and teachers in the board. And, as if the Lord’s timing wasn’t already airtight enough, it was to take place the day before my placement ended. Indeed, “‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.’”

In the days and weeks that followed, I not only had the opportunity to teach alongside my Associate Teacher, but in the Lord’s kindness I was able to support her as she took the lead in organizing the upcoming conference that our school would host. Looking back, I did not ‘do’ very much for the conference myself, but I am quite comfortable with that. In the Lord’s timing, I was placed where I needed to be, when I needed to be, to provide support for those who needed it most. Reflecting on how the Lord orchestrated everything, my mind is routinely drawn back to these words from Isaiah:

“When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them” (Isaiah 41:17).

When I began to excitedly share the news about the upcoming Christian Youth Conference, I was met with, in my opinion, rather lacklustre responses. “That’s really great!”, most would say, to which I would respond: “Yes, it is—but this is more than just great. It’s nothing short of a miracle.” Again, having been educated under the public school system—in this very board—and now working in it for some years, it was hard to overstate with others just how immense this opportunity was. Truly, what an unexpected God we serve, who always does “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to [His] power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).

I am thankful to the Lord for the kindness extended to us as Christian teachers by the board’s administration in supporting this conference; I am thankful for the many teachers, students, and community members who gave of themselves for countless hours out of a desire to bless the Lord and others; I am thankful for the Christian vice-principle who, only a few months ago, was bold enough to send out a board-wide email to his colleagues asking if they could supply him with the contact information for the teacher sponsor of their school’s Christian group; and I am thankful and encouraged by the courageous example of my Associate Teacher who, doubtless through her many years of Christlike gentleness and love in this environment, garnered the trust and support of those above her to organize this conference. Above all, I am thankful to the Lord for His immense kindness in allowing me to play a small part in this incredible display of His grace only a day before my departure.

To my fellow teachers in Christ, take heart and be encouraged that the Lord is at work: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). In the midst of a place that violently denies the Lordship of Christ and so reviles much that is dear to His heart, I am thankful that we as Christian students and teachers had the honour of singing His praises among those very same halls at the first annual Christian Youth Conference—the first of many more to come, Lord willing. It was in these precious moments of singing unto the Lord together that any divisions between us began to fade away; no longer were we merely colleagues, teachers, and pupils, but rather brothers and sisters in Christ praising our God and King.

What a foretaste of the glorious joys to come, when we in Christ shall forever sing His praises in the New Heavens and the New Earth—where all darkness is swept away by the light of His glory, every tear dried, and only perfect love remains in the household of our Heavenly Father.

“I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it” (Isaiah 41:18-20).

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Photo by Matteo Grando, Unsplash