Healing Across the Educational Divide

I invited the Bultens to lunch at the little Chinese restaurant with the Panda Bear out front to share with them the idea of launching a middle school for the poor. Like so many people in education, I dreamt about starting a school, but that dream had subsided over the years. But now, many years later after working in higher education, teaching high school, middle school, and even elementary school (I gained so much respect for primary school teachers from that experience), I felt a tug on my heart to actually attempt to start a middle school from scratch. This school would have a unique mission, to glorify God by providing a culturally relevant and affirming, college-preparatory education for the children of poor Mexican immigrants. As it would turn out, this mission statement would not only prove to be provocative, but down right radical.
A little over a year later on Monday, August 13, 2007, Escuela Luz del Mundo (ELM) or “Light of the World School” was initiated with 18 eager 6th graders in a renovated halfway house located on a corner infamous in Albuquerque, New Mexico for drug dealing and prostitution in the city’s most challenged neighborhood. This is a book about this little middle school for the poor and what can be learned from it. This is also a book about how the time has come to make educating all the nation’s top priority in the United States (U.S.). For too long, public education has generally failed to serve many of the most vulnerable among us, ethnic and racial minorities, the poor, and the disenfranchised. Making education our nation’s most pressing concern is not only a moral imperative, it is an economic necessity that quality schooling be available in every neighborhood throughout the U.S., not just in communities populated by the richest and most privileged among us.
ELM was designed based on research findings from a national study that I led that examined “highly effective schools” that serve the poor. We did not have many resources, our facilities were minimal or non-existent, and our staff was generally inexperienced. ELM also did not have a viable fundraising strategy, nor was the school sustainable; it closed in the fall of 2014. However, what it did have going for it was the backing of Jesus Christ. In these pages, I plan to show how this made all the difference. I also hope to demonstrate that we cannot continue to tolerate bad schools in any part of the U.S. Frankly, it is inexcusable and a national disgrace that quality schools exist only in some communities, and not in others. The historical legacy of educating a few, while neglecting to educate the vast majority of Americans, must cease now. The time has come for healing across the many educational divides that exist in the U.S. that constrain us from making quality education for everyone our most urgent national responsibility.
My hope is that this book will inspire many, but it may challenge folks who reject religious education as well as those who have strong beliefs regarding what a Christian education should look like. I believe this is a unique book that explores intersections between progressive education and religion, in this case, Christianity. From the outset, I want to be clear that my intent in this book is not to promote a conservative educational agenda. For instance, I do not support privatizing schools, nor is the intent of this book to argue for educational vouchers. I am a Christian with progressive political beliefs. I am also a white male who understands that simply being white in the richest country in the world has granted me innumerable privileges and given me access to countless opportunities. I am an educator, a scholar and activist who wants to candidly share what I learned from ELM. For instance, I learned about God’s sovereignty and how principles propagated in the non-profit sector like development and sustainability are not what is necessarily important to God in His ministries. I also learned that the poor, immigrant students we served at the school were more than capable of rising to the challenges associated with studying a rigorous college preparatory academic program and were excited to engage and learn at high levels.
As someone who has worked in secular institutions my entire life, I came to realize that a “progressive” Christian school for the poor may not find much support among those who identify as secular. On the other hand, some Christians did not always appreciate features of the school either. For instance, evolution was taught in our science classes and we worked to model and advance social justice for the poor since it is a biblical mandate to do so (Micah 6:8, New International Version). Some “progressive” Christian churches did not support ELM as well; they identified us as “fundamentalist evangelicals” and did not want to be associated with a group that is rightfully seen as anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-diversity, anti-intellectual, anti-[you fill in the blank]. Unfortunately, we live in a time when it is all-too-easy to judge and place someone into a pre-determined category, rather than to move beyond dualistic thinking that defines everything as polar opposites (e.g., pro-school choice or pro-traditional public education, Democrat or Republican, “believer” or “non-believer”). I do not consider dualistic thinking to necessarily be a bad thing; it just does not always serve us well. I want to work toward nuanced descriptions and understandings in this book. My goal is not to offend, but hopefully to inspire by sharing the story of an unusual little school for the poor. I pray that your heart, the heart of the reader, will be open when you read this book.