Annotated Bibliography Final draft

Chancey, Mark A. "A Textbook Example of the Christian Right: The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 75.3 (2007): 554581. Education Research Complete. 31 Mar. 2014. Web.

This article discusses how the foundations of this country were built on Christian principles, like the declaration of independence, and the constitution. The founding fathers used the bible to develop the moral principles that this country has lived by. The article goes on to say that America has corrupted this by banning any teachings of the bible in public schools, and forcing the science classes not to teach creationism. Chancey states, The cessation of bible reading in public schools is both a symptom and a cause of this decline.(557) In my own observations, I chose to observe a school that did allow biblical teaching. Because, as Chancey argues, biblical teachings are being lost and banned, private Christian schools are really the only way, besides homeschooling, that an American student can be taught academics along with biblical principles seamlessly. He goes on to explain that based on his research, the issue with teaching the bible is not exactly just that its teaching the bible. It is that there is more of an interpretation side to it when it is taught. I also see the argument that not everyone is Christian. That is definitely a fair argument. People should not be forced to learn about the bible if they do not wish to. That is actually a main principle in the bible itself, that we

have free will. However, the amount of schools that do teach Christianity does not reflect or accommodate for how many Christians there really are. Christianity is a having a relationship with God, and in relationships we are constantly working on them. We change over time and try to better ourselves in them. If we dont incorporate that into our daily lives, much like an earthly relationship, it fails. If a husband and wife are recently married, they know enough about each other to know that they want to be together for the rest of their life and have children together. As time goes on, each spouse realizes there are tons of things about that person that they did not know about the other. For example, the husband might like to stay up really late at night and is not very quiet in doing so. The wife might like to get up really early in the morning and also is not very quiet in doing so. This disagreement between their daily patterns causes conflict. The solution to that conflict is not to automatically divorce because they realized something they do not like in the other person. In the relationship, they share with each other that it bothers them when they are loud while the other is trying to sleep. They each should make sacrifices out of love for the other spouse. Without some sort of moral principles in this relationship, it would fail. Each spouse would be selfish and come to believe that the other will not conform to their ways.

Cox, William F. "A PSALM 78 Perspective on Education." Journal of Research on Christian Education 21.2 (2012): 174-187. Education Research Complete. 1 Apr. 2014. Web.

This article discusses the issue of whether or not it is appropriate for a Christian student to attend a secular public school. It bases its principles off of a chapter in the bible, Psalm 78. It explains that it does not make sense to send a Christian pupil to a secular public school learning

the ways of the world. How can one be academically and spiritually nourished when most of their day is spent at a school where anything spiritual is forbidden to be taught. When it comes to this issue, we treat it different than any other one. If you give a fair test between an elephant and a monkey asking them to both have the task of climbing a tree, the monkey is obviously going to win. Just like in our public school systems, if you give over half of the population with all kinds of different strengths the same resources and tests, a number of them will fail. Cox argues that children spend a lot of hours at school versus being at home or church. This is something that has bothered me for some time now, but for different reasons. His reasoning is that when students graduate high school and that large percentage of Christian adolescents lose their faith, the parents do not know why. He argues that if Christians are spending that much time in a secular school, often times teaching things that conflict with what they are taught at home or in church. For example, in public schools, kids are taught evolution, and that the big bang theory is how the earth was created. Children of Christian homes are taught at home and at church, that the earth was created by God. When they go to school with this preexisting idea in their head and school contradicts it, which could lead to doubt forming in their minds. They are then not growing spiritually and they end up losing their faith over overwhelming amounts of doubt and confusion. They just give up. A solution to this problem could be using online education as previously discussed in another entry, or opening more Christian schools. Maybe the government should fund all religious schools too. The government could not only fund Christian schools and not Muslim, Hindu, or Jewish schools as well. This would also make it more of a fair choice for parents when choosing a school for their child. Everyone cannot take on thousands of dollar tuitions each year for 13 years of school. They need to be more affordable, and more accessible.

Flynn, James T. "Digital Discipleship: Christian Education in a Digital World." Christian Education Journal 10.1 (2013): 88-89. Education Research Complete. 1 Apr. 2014. Web.

This article discusses the importance of online Christian education. With the rise of technology within the past two decades, education has been greatly changed. There is much more availability to learn anything an individual desires at their fingertips. This makes getting a Christian education much easier, despite the previous argument that America is losing its biblical foundation for education and life. I agree with this idea. I previously stated in my last annotated bibliography entry that there are not enough Christian schools to represent the amount of Christians in America. Not to mention the cost, if there were more, would be unbearable. This is because they are not funded by the government. Many people would not even go if there were more offered because of such high costs. Also previously stated, with the decline of biblical principles as the foundation for this country, online Christian education is a way to bypass this speed bump. Flynn states, The digital revolution is like surfing- catch the wave and ride it or get knocked off your board. He is saying that this is a huge opportunity for Christian education, but it is up to the people whether they take advantage of the opportunity or just let it go by and someone else takes it away from them. We should take advantage of the lower costing, easily accessible, very beneficial opportunity and run with it while it is still costing less, and is easily accessible.

LeBlanc, Patty. Slaughter, Patty. "Growing Thinking Christians: An Investigation of the Outcomes of Christian Education." Journal of School Choice 6.1 (2012): 62. MasterFILE Complete. 31 Mar. 2014. Web.

This journal compares aspects of the Christian education to the public education. LeBlanc and Slaughter discuss how a Christian education influences a student in regards to functioning in the world, and defending their faith once the student moves on to a collegiate level. It discusses how high school should prepare students for college, and whether or not it does. These authors have exhibited a large understanding of their topic. They have done a ton of research on their study, as evident by the amount of statistics they have acquired. They discuss their surveys and all the information that they acquire. The main topic that everything leads to is spiritual formation, and if it develops or does not develop in different education settings. The argument presented in my ethnography is that in a Christian education, biblical principles can be seamlessly incorporated into every subject, not just in a bible class. LeBlanc and Slaughter state that, A religious school experience has a positive impact on spiritual growth and formation. (64) I agree with this statement in regards to my own research because teachers are simultaneously giving students knowledge of the subject that they are qualified to teach in, and are also giving them tools do develop spiritually in their relationship with God. One of the purposes of high school is to prepare you for college. This is done academically, and spiritually. As shown in this article, the majority of Christians lose their faith by the time their four years of college has ended. This statistic is disheartening, but it generally covers most students not all. No

one ever knows exactly what is really in someones heart despite their outward actions. It appears that Christian education is important, but we can get it in different areas of life, not only in school. Both public and private Christian school graduates reported in interviews that their high school experience was not the major influence on their spiritual formation, but rather their families, homes, churches, mission opportunities, and youth groups. (LeBlanc, Slaughter, 76) This is a different perspective than I thought about. School is not the only way people can be spiritually influenced, and school is usually not the main way either.

Spence, Martin. "John Foster and the Integration of Faith and Learning." Christian Scholar's Review 42.2 (2013): 149-167. Academic Search Complete. 31 Mar. 2014. Web.

The second half of this article discusses how there is a gap between teaching Christian faith and academic principles. According to Spence, Foster observed that many people continued to study and write about the great themes of life, such as virtue, morality, deity, and the future life, without reference to Christ, despite the fact that they are all subjects that come within the relations of the Christian system. (162) He uses Fosters research to back up his argument that in large parts of the world, Christianity and education are totally separate. While I do think that this may be true, that large chunks of the world do separate Christianity from education, I do not agree with this concept. This especially applies to nonChristian cultures and individuals. I argue that Christianity can be seamlessly taught together. There should not just be school, and church. Christianity should be weaved throughout our lives

to the point that it cannot be taken out. Our lives should be built on our faith as a foundation. If we separate it out of our everyday life, such as school, then how do we live it out?