Educators and conservative Christians have waged some bitter battles over curriculum and teaching practices. At a session titled "What Traditionalist Christians Expect from Public Schools," Arnold Burron, a professor of education at the University of Northern Colorado, explained why certain aspects of schooling cause controversy.
Traditional Christians "have a real problem" with anything in the curriculum that addresses gender equity or family structure, Burron said, because they believe that a wife is "sub-ordinate" to her husband—that a woman's proper role is to help her husband be the spiritual leader.
Traditional Christians also object to holiday displays that juxtapose nativity scenes and menorahs, for example, because they believe their faith is the only Truth. "Traditional Christians think they have the only way to enjoy life after death—period," Burron said.
Burron also explained why these issues are so highly charged. For traditional Christians, eternal salvation is "the pre-eminent goal," and anything that interferes with that goal must be resisted. Therefore, if they perceive an attack on their values, "they go ballistic," he said, because they believe their eternal well-being is at stake. They strenuously object if anything threatens their children's "safe passage" through the school system.
Also at this session, Robert Simonds, president of Citizens for Excellence in Education, an organization of conservative Christian parents, said "what Christians really want is fair representation and an equal voice" in determining the nature of public education. "One thing that makes parents angry at schools is not to be listened to," he said, noting that conservative Christians have made schools listen only "by putting our own people on the school board."
Simonds advocated a "basics-based common core [curriculum] that all parents can endorse." He cast doubt on affective education, saying "we don't need a lot of what's taught that takes away time from academics." He also voiced skepticism about curriculum integration. "I don't think you can integrate all these subjects," he said. "You can't teach a kid to apply something he hasn't learned."
Simonds also criticized the way schools incorporate "very disputable conclusions" into the curriculum. It doesn't logically follow, he argued, that alternate family structures should be labeled as normal, desirable, or equally legitimate "just because we have them." Schools should teach the values that are embodied in our judicial system and codified in our laws, he said. These constitute "our national ethics."
Educators and conservative Christians can resolve 90 percent of the problems between them "if we just sit down and talk," Simonds said. Expressing regret for some of the harsh rhetoric he has used in the past, Simonds said he'd rather negotiate than fight. "The Bible doesn't teach us to fight; it teaches us to get along."
