After 30 years of administration, I have a dream for Seventh-day Adventist education. My dream addresses the needs of the membership and raises opportunities for many more students to attend a Seventh-day Adventist school. It has become evident that we must significantly change the distribution of education in our system. That is, we must redefine who teaches and how they teach. In addition, we must change the financial structure to establish more equality of pricing to any and all students who might wish to receive a Seventh-day Adventist education.
We must think outside of the box of a traditional classroom with "x" number of students and one fully certified teacher. Presently, some small school situations have very high per-student costs. Some classrooms have six to 15 students and one teacher. With the best scenario of 15 students, that translates to a cost of about $4,000 per student just to cover the costs related to employing the teacher. Then, add the costs of provided the building with heat, electricity, books, equipment, etc., and you've created a very costly delivery system.
We must return more of the responsibility for educating a child back into the hands of the parents. Some parents have relegated 100 percent of the responsibility to the school, which is not only impractical, but immoral. With the shifted responsibility also comes unrealistic expectations spread over a diversity of families, creating an impossible task! Providing parents with more support, guidance, and skills might allow them to be real participants in the process and result in more education taking place in the home where the home is best suited to provide that education.
Phase One: Provide Teleconferencing for Junior Academies and Home Schools
Phase One in my dream would provide assistance to grades nine and ten through teleconferencing for any junior academy which cannot provide adequate, certified teachers. This would include 75 percent of the schools presently operating.
In addition, this same resource would be offered to parents who choose to teach their children at home. Providing this service will accomplish three things: 1) It will offer a secondary program to those who cannot afford boarding school. Affordability many times is tied to the ability of the student to supplement the cost through work programs, which is significantly reduced by law until they reach 16 years of age; 2) It keeps the student in the home for another two years to mature, while giving parents more direct involvement in the training of their child through those important middle-teen years of rapid change and having more responsibility for making decisions; and, 3) It addresses the concern that most parents have in sending their students away from home when they are only 14 years of age.
Phase Two: Strengthen Academy Programs
Phase Two would provide a similar system of support to assist boarding and day academies with courses to strengthen their academic program. Additional classes in math, science, and initial language training classes, and possibly some college advancement courses would be offered.
Phase Three: Coordinate Distance Education Programs for Elementary Schools
Phase Three would provide similar support for grades five to eight with enhancements. Churches, with less than six students, willing to provide a proper facility and instructional coordination would be eligible for this program. The same support could also be offered to home-school parents.
Phase One is not a “pipe dream.” A similar program has been in operation for eight years. The Lake Union Conference has actually had the longest operating school in that program at Calvin Center in Cassopolis, Michigan. Presently, Chicago Academy (grades nine to 12) also uses this program successfully. The Florida Conference currently has 120 students in the program.
The program is still in development and each year shows significant improvements. Every indication suggests a successful program and it could be replicated throughout the Lake Union Conference now!
Phase Two is in the thinking and planning stages. The significant changes from the first phase are equipment enhancement, program efficiency, operation experience, teacher training, and program preparation. It is a plausible and realistic plan for the technological future in the next ten years.
I have great concern for our present system if we do not address the unacceptable enrollment losses and present cost per pupil. The current level of educational funding should provide for a much larger percentage of our dear children. My prayer is that God will lead us to step out and deliver Christian education in different and more practical ways that build a partnership with parents. Through this partnership, children will benefit from being at home longer and greater involvement with their parents in the process of education. This may become more important as our world presents an increasingly dangerous, out-of-the-home environment.
Gary Randolph is the Lake Union Conference superintendent of education.
