The big conversation around here lately has been about education. In case you've missed the news, or David's mentioning it on his blog- the education system in Detroit is failing. It's failing children. Twenty-five percent of freshman who START high school will graduate. Many students won't even step in the doors. Elementary schools are full (like around the country), but there are many disciplinary problems due to the lack of adequate parenting. Teachers are overwhelmed and tired. Schools continue to close forcing many to go job hunting again. It's a mess, a real mess. There are some charter schools that seem to be acceptable, and two high schools that appear to be great- but students are accepted into them.
The reason education has been topic of conversation is many of the families at Mack Ave community Church moved into this city. We come from resourced families and solid backgrounds. We've always had our needs met. We came to this city to live among people and do life with people. We aren't here to do anything to anybody, but alongside. My kids play with the kids all up and down our block and they have a great time.
And now we're being faced with the coveted educational options.
Many families that have moved here can afford Ambleside School (a Christian school in SW Detroit), the Waldorf (around the corner where our church currently meets), or they can afford surrounding suburban private schools.
These are not necessarily bad options, but then what we're doing is saying- I'm willing to live here in Detroit- surround myself with the drama, but I am not willing to let my kids go to school with your kids because your school isn't good enough for my kids.
Now don't get feisty on me yet- hear me out to the end of my post!
So then what happens is many people who move into Detroit hoping to be part of the change (people who are from all different faiths and beliefs)- end up sending their kids to schools other than the neighborhood schools.
I've done a lot of reading by a man named Robert Lupton. We had the opportunity to meet with him privately last year at the CCDA convention. He moved into inner city Atlanta when it wasn't a beautiful place- he moved into the ghetto with his family.
One of the things he did was send his children to the neighborhood school. It's so cool what the church did. They were able to create a group of volunteers who went into that school to help create order so the teachers could do their jobs and teach! They took all the kids with severe discipline issues next door to the church (this was 30 years ago!) and were able to begin teaching them behavior strategies, etc... and then as they were able, those children reintegrated into the classroom. Over time that neighborhood school became a place that educated children- a safe place among the ruins of Atlanta. I don't think that school would have changed without someone with resources- time, money, education, and the desire for change.
I think the same is here in Detroit. All we read about it how the education system is failing, and no one wants to "risk" their kids education to make the schools better.
Think about this:
Because Robert and his wife were willing to place their kids in an inadequate school and be part of the change- they changed that school for THOUSANDS of children. That thought seriously gives me goosebumps.
I hear people say all the time- well, I can send my kids to "X" school while also helping out the local public school. I challenge this thought to be untrue. You cannot and will not be able to pour the amount of energy and time into something that is not affecting your family. I guarantee you that if Bentley and Clayton are in the local school- Marcus Garvey- I will be overly involved in ensuring a classroom that is adequate for them. We are by nature selfish. And I will selfishly be involved in my boys' education- but this selfishness will change the lives of many many other children. Does that not excite you? It excites me.
As I am writing this the song by the David Crowder Band came on:
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way?
As I read the chorus about how he loves us- O! how he loves us- pictures of the beautiful children in my neighborhood flash before my eyes. I've come to love the children on my block in a way that is deeply ROOTED in Christ's love. I want to see them succeed. I see the extreme poverty that surrounds and entangles them and I dearly want to see them freed from that. And God has revealed to me a way that I can actually be a part of that- a way that is bigger than throwing money at them- but being part of their lives.
I also want to add this important truth. When David was 11 years old his parents moved him from the beautiful, safe, rural place of Spring Arbor, MI to the poor and "dangerous" location of Nogales, AZ (yep, the one that's all over the news these days)- They sent their children to the local school- where they were one of few white kids- and the kids in the classroom often chose to speak Spanish. The reason I bring this up is to remind you that David and his siblings did just fine. They were still able to go to wonderful colleges/universities and able to get good jobs. I think it probably changed them in even better ways considering the occupations they've chosen- doctor, missionary, social worker, and pastor. Although the news portrays Nogales as a poor and "dangerous" place, it's a place that we love. It's a place that helped shape David's family. The point of this being to challenge where we choose to raise our kids- because even though places seem one way- the reality is that God is working and moving.
Last year Bentley got the boot from receiving therapy in Ann Arbor and has been in the Detroit Public School system for 8 months now. It is not nearly as good or as beautiful as what is happening in Ann Arbor if you look at it from a worldly stand point- but Bentley and I are meeting families from our city- and we are going to be part of something exciting and challenging. Bentley is not suffering- I think he's going to be even better equipped to Kingdom living because of this change. And I am so thankful that Ann Arbor booted us because I'm not sure I would have willingly un-enrolled him there.
So I am challenging you all- who I deeply love- to consider these thoughts and think about them. Don't get angry and defensive. I'm not. Embrace these ideas- mull and agonize over them. Rejoice with me that God is doing something big here in the Crawford home- that He is really growing us.
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