The most important event of the year occurs for many Alabamians this week. School reopens. More than 700,000 boys and girls begin another year of education. For about 55,000, it will be their first experience in school. For approximately 45,000, this will be the year they receive that long-sought-after high school diploma. For them and for all the students in between, this is a monumental time.
For the students’ families, the beginning of a new school year is also significant. The most commonly asked question around the dinner table for the next 10 months will be about what happened at school that day. Homework, friends, activities — all will be topics of repeated conversations. Families will adjust their schedules to accommodate school activities.
School is not the student’s experience alone. It is a family experience. What happens in school is important to parents, grandparents, siblings and other family members.
Alabama’s academic standards are among the nation’s most challenging. The move toward meeting these standards is equally challenging, especially in a down economy.
Proration means schools have fewer teachers this year than last. Class sizes are larger. Instructional materials have been cut back for many. Alabama’s educational system is being asked to do more with less.
Many Alabama Baptist churches are stepping into the gap. Churches are furnishing instructional material. Churches are furnishing tutors and volunteers to lessen the impact of school staff cuts. Churches furnish adult hall monitors, safety workers and others. Churches are helping communicate school accomplishments as well as school needs to the entire community.
Such programs are springing up across Alabama. Many are the result of the partnership Alabama Baptists emphasized after helping defeat the lottery gambling amendment in 1999. They are concrete examples of Alabama Baptists’ care for the state’s schools.
However, Alabama Baptists have always had a partnership with education. The public school movement found its impetus in the church. The church, the home and the school have been an unbeatable partnership in practically every community in the state for years.
Alabama Baptists understand that education is part of the process of fulfilling the potential God places in each person. Doctor, lawyer, butcher, baker, sports hero or entertainer — education is the first step of becoming. Without an adequate education, one is doomed to languish.
Supporting education is more than a societal value. It is a spiritual value. By supporting education, Alabama Baptists are helping provide the opportunity for all the children of the state to become, to fulfill their God-given potential.
That is one reason Alabama Baptists believe in praying for the schools. Nationally, 53 percent of citizens believe the school day should begin with a minute of silence for spiritual reflection. Among Alabama Baptists, the percentage is much higher.
In a few weeks, students will gather around the flagpoles of their respective schools for a time of prayer. Alabama Baptists are among those who worked hard for this right. Even though the program began as a Baptist program, it has expanded beyond denominational identity.
But praying around the flagpole is only one example of Baptist prayer support for Alabama schools. In many churches groups of Baptists pray weekly for their students, for teachers, for administrators, for specific needs related to local schools. Countless Baptist individuals pray daily for their local schools.
Baptists pray for safety of the students and teachers on the school campus. Schools should be a haven away from the pervasive violence of society. How tragic it is when an adult or student violates that principle.
Baptists pray for strength to endure the physical, emotional and mental rigors of the school year. Baptists pray for understanding and sensitivity on the part of administration, teachers and students. Baptists pray for learning and growth to take place — physical, intellectual and social growth.
As Baptists, we understand that no teacher or administrator should attempt to force children to engage in a religious activity. Government should not be in a position to force participation or to prevent one from practicing a religious rite.
At the same time, we also understand that life is more than physical, social and intellectual. Life has a spiritual element that puts the other parts in perspective. That is why Baptists also pray for spiritual guidance for all who participate in the educational process.
The bus driver, the cafeteria worker, the teacher, the secretary, the administrator — all need the guidance of God to make the educational experience complete. If you are not praying for our state schools, today is a wonderful time to start. If you have opportunity to put effort behind the prayers, contact your local school to see how you or your church might be of assistance.
Yes, this is a monumental week. It is the beginning of an exciting experience called school. May God bless and guide and protect all who participate in this educational process.
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