No One is an Island
By Sarah Burt
Photography by Kym VdP
In the movie About a Boy, the main character Will Freeman rejects the phrase, “No-one is an island”, insisting he lives quite happily alone, and how he lives affects no-one else.
Never have I found this phrase more apt since moving to the country.
One topic that frequently comes up in conversations in my stage of life is education. I live in a town of less than two thousand people, and our local school only goes up to Year 10. My eldest is currently in Year 7. It’s a conversation I’ve had both with parents at our school, and other parents at our church. Everyone wants to know what other people’s plans for high school are.
The most common word I hear bandied about is ‘opportunities’. “My child needs more opportunities,” is the most common reasoning I hear for parents sending their children to boarding school in Year 7 or 8. If you leave them at the local school, you must not care about their future…or not have enough money. If you leave them at the local school, they’ll rub shoulders with the wrong crowd, start vaping and become ‘useless droobs’ (yes, that was actually said to me as a reason why I should send my kids away – my eldest was in Kindy at the time).
As a parent, there is a great temptation to panic and worry about what everyone else is doing, about seriously screwing up your child’s future if you get this high school stuff wrong. Everyone else is sending their children away and mine will be the only ones left. To be honest, I think my boys would look handsome in a blazer and tie, and I like the idea of them having access to brand new performing arts theatres, swimming pools, gymnasiums, music lessons and overseas trips. People would see me as a ‘good’ parent. I would look acceptable, even though we don’t own a farm or any land at all.
This is when I have to shake these thoughts from my head, come back to God’s Word and think Christianly about these issues. If I’m a Christian, then I’m called to love God and my neighbour. How do my decisions affect those around me, beyond my immediate family?
Often the result of parents sending their children away is less opportunities (there’s that word again) for those who are left. Less kids mean it’s harder to attract teachers. Less kids mean less funding. If families cannot afford boarding school, then often the whole family leaves town so their children can attend a school that goes up to Year 12. Less people in town means less revenue, less volunteers, less sporting clubs, businesses close. Some towns no longer have a high school due to falling enrolments. Suddenly, moving to these towns looks far less attractive for families. The cycle goes on.
This may seem strange to city folk. Every time I visit Perth, the urban sprawl seems to be sprawling even further, and new schools are popping up everywhere. Lack of enrolments is clearly not an issue. If you want your child to change schools, no problem. It’s not really affecting anyone else. Sure, your child’s old classmates may miss them, but their leaving does not really have any great impact on the school.
Meanwhile, in the country, towns are struggling to keep their schools open. While the government does take the town’s individual circumstances into consideration, it will usually close the school if enrolments fall below ten. No school usually means the death of a town. Where schools are struggling to survive, each new enrolment is often met with excitement and rejoicing. The decision of a family to leave or homeschool can have a disastrous impact on those who are left.
I’m not writing this to make anyone feel guilty. I struggle with worldly temptation as much as the next person. People often say that a family’s educational decisions for their children are deeply personal, and I agree to an extent. Through the conversations I’ve had with other parents, whether Christian or not, it’s clear that we all want what’s best for our children. I just also want what’s best for everyone else’s children. I’d like to think we can have a friendly discussion around the dinner table or anywhere about these issues, not to change each other’s mind, but to respectfully explore the reasons why. That may lead to us gently challenging each other’s reasoning with iron sharpening iron. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not about to leave my children in an abysmal situation, such as bullying and violence, just to save a school or town, or so I can do ‘mission’. If my children were really struggling, I would look at other options. I just want to encourage others to look beyond ‘me and mine’.
What is the most important thing I can give my children? The sharing of my faith in Jesus Christ and raising them to love Him and enjoy Him forever. This is far more important than overseas skiing trips, surfing lessons, or university options. No formal uniform will hide what is deep within, and that sin is within all children, regardless of appearance or which school they attend.
Matthew 16:26 is a sobering reminder - What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
Our children may still have to go away to school in Years 11 and 12. We could move as a family, but we have to consider what that would do to our church as well; the discouragement as yet another family leaves. I know from reality that once high school is over, no-one really cares where anyone went to school. I know some people who were schooled in the public system and did really well. Some who went to elite private schools did not. Others may have seemed like failures or rebels at high school, but have found their path later in life. When I was at uni, we were just an eclectic group of people lumped together.
All the opportunities in the world won’t save my children’s souls. My husband dislikes the idea of sending our boys away in their formative teenage years to be raised by someone who doesn’t share our faith. I’m inclined to agree. Maybe they won’t have the educational opportunities their peers will have, but they will have something far more important – a knowledge of the Creator and Saviour who died for them and loves them beyond measure.
If I claim to trust this mighty God, then I must trust Him with everything, including my children. If I claim to love God, then I must love my neighbour, including their children.
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Sarah Burt— Regular Contributor
Sarah grew up in a non-Christian family in Albany, met some Christian friends in high school, then Jesus became her Lord and Saviour while at University. She now lives with her husband and two boys, two dogs and a number of chooks on a farm near Tambellup in the Great Southern. She is a school officer by day, and enjoys writing fiction and performing in amateur theatre in her spare time.