Reflections of a Former First Grader

My educational career began 40 years ago this fall. I was a first grader then at Salem Elementary School, where a teacher named Mrs. Tolle taught us the three "Rs" (Evidently spelling wasn't a high priority, since only one of the three "Rs"—reading, writing, and arithmetic—actually starts with "R"!)

For me, it seemed like a peaceful time. But while I was starting elementary school in 1960, America was on the brink of remarkable, tumultuous change: the Cuban missile crisis, the Kennedy assassination, the Beatles, the Vietnam War, civil rights demonstrations, and violent protests on college campuses. By the time I graduated from high school in 1972, Martin Luther King, Jr. had been killed, a deadly confrontation had occurred between National Guardsmen and students at Kent State, and the Watergate scandal was beginning to unfold. What a time to get an education!

Forty years ago this week, the August 21, 1960 issue of The Lookout contained several interesting news items that illustrate how times have changed.

• The Outdoor Advertising Association of America announced its intention to display 4,000 billboards throughout the United States bearing the slogan, "The Family That Prays Together Stays Together."

• At the annual meeting of the Parent Teacher Association held that year in Philadelphia, the national PTA president urged high schools to provide education in family living. "Today's teenagers get better advice on how to choose a college, a career, or a car than they do on how to pick a husband or wife," she said.

• In Chicago, a Roman Catholic bishop warned that any pupil in a parochial school who entered a beauty contest would be immediately dismissed from school.

• At a national conference sponsored by the U. S. Department of Labor in Washington, D. C., postal officials announced that they were issuing a commemorative postage stamp to honor the contributions of the American woman. The stamp showed a mother reading to her child from the Bible.

Also in that issue of The Lookout was an article called "Jesus Came Teaching" written by Donald Nash of Kentucky Christian College. Professor Nash described the methods, the message, and the mission of the Master Teacher. "Jesus taught authoritatively," Brother Nash wrote, astonishing the multitudes with his power as the Son of God. "Jesus taught illustratively" as well, filling his lessons with parables, stories, and object lessons. And "Jesus taught individually," stooping to reach "the least, the last, and the lost by careful, personal, individual instruction."

Christian parents face big challenges today, whether they have chosen to educate their children through a home school, a public school, or a private Christian school. What will the world be like for today's first graders when they graduate from high school in 2012? I don't know. But I'm sure that if they're going to meet the challenges of the future, they will need to know more than reading, writing, and arithmetic—more than how to get a job, operate a computer, and speak a foreign language. They will need to know "the wisdom that comes from heaven" (James 3:17).

Most of all, they will need to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Master Teacher, who is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).