What Kind of School Parent Are You?

What a great evening Back to School Night was!

There was a lot of excitement and anticipation in the room – and a few nerves, too. We met new friends, renewed old friendships, visited classrooms, and got a taste of the year to come (and we tasted yummy ice cream, too!). I’m thrilled to welcome our 17 new students and their families, and I’m delighted to welcome back all our returning student and parents as well. And what a talented and dedicated faculty and staff that God has gathered to serve our school this year!

I want to repeat something here for you, Providence parents, that you heard from me at Back to School Night.

I asked this question: What kind of school parent are you? And then I offered three types of parent that I would discourage you from being.

First, the Pragmatic Parent. Yes, you want your children to succeed in life, get a good job, make money, and do something with their lives. Amen and amen. Every parent should want these things for their children. But if education is merely a pragmatic step toward these goals, then your goals are far too low. Education defined merely as pragmatic vocational training is a weakened and soul-shriveling thing, and I urge us to lift our eyes toward a far better and more noble kind of education.

Second, the Cynical Parent. This is the parent who may not say it aloud but nevertheless thinks in his or her heart that all this high-flown stuff Mr. Bryant talks about is really just words. Unachievable. Misguided, maybe. But consider the words of St. Paul in Colossians 2:3, “in [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” That is a rebuke to the cynicism of our age and a call to embrace, with sincerity and faith, the true treasure of a deep and abiding education in the glories and mysteries and transforming truth of Christ Himself.

Finally, the Drive-By Parent. This is the parent who believes the parent’s job is to feed and clothe the student and pay the bill while the school does the rest. However, the first word in our school’s mission statement is “partnering.” Fundamentally, what we do is partner with families and labor side-by-side, in faith, to nurture children toward our Portrait of a Graduate. Drive-by parenting is the opposite of that vision.

Finally, I exhorted you to instead be the Paideia Parent. This is the parent who embraces the high calling of training up their children in the paideia of the Lord.

Paul in Ephesians 6:4 refers to the formation of children as “paideia,” often translated as “training” or “disciplining.” This time-proven model strives to form the whole person. It does so by penetrating and directing a student’s deepest longings and loves. The classical Christian paideia seeks to anchor the object of the student’s affection in transcendent truth and in God Himself.

And it does so in the midst of a community, a beautiful learning community where the influence of the hallway is as molding as the classroom. As students are surrounded by a vibrant community of master teachers as well as parents and peers, they are called to celebrate all that is true, good, and beautiful, and the voices of the home and church are reinforced.

Let’s pursue the classical Christian vision together this year, parents, with all our might!