By: Mark Zondag
Remember singing the song, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, every color, every race–all are covered by his grace, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” I remember singing that song when I was growing up. I have taught that song to children but, how often do we really think about these words? If we really consider the lyrics, do we actually reflect the attitude of this song in our schools? Can we say, by objectively looking around at the ethnicities of our students, that God does love all the little children? If schools are meant as a means of outreach, are we reaching out into all communities or just one?
The United States is becoming more heterogeneous as each year passes. The Census Bureau projections through 2050 suggest the non-Hispanic white portion of the United States population will decline from about 65% to a little more than 45% (Crouch, 2007). As a church body dedicated to making disciples of all nations, this means that as each year passes we need to be more focused on cross cultural outreach. In our Christian Day Schools, one way to reach out into our ever changing communities is English as Second Language education.
Between 2009 and 2011 the American Community Survey 3-year estimate indicates about 13% of the total United States population or a little less than 40 million people, presently living in the USA, were born outside of the United States. Among the total population in the United States 5 years or older, 20.6% speak another language at home that is not English and a little less than half of this group speaks English less than “very well” (U.S. Census Bureau). It is important to note too that Census data frequently under counts minorities which means this number could be even higher. What this means is that 1 of every 5 people in America between 2009 and 2011 spoke another language other than English language at home and 1 of every 10 people in the U.S. speaks English less than “very well.”
According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics (2014), in the 2011-2012 academic year English Language Learners (ELL) in public schools were 9.1% of the population. This is a slight increase from the 02-03 academic year where ELL students were 8.7% of the total population. However, in some states, such as California, this number raises to 23.2% of the student population and in other states, such as West Virginia, the number drops to 0.7% of the population. In 2011-2012, ELL students in cities accounted for 14.2% of the total public school population. In suburban areas these same students made up 9% of public school students. In towns and rural areas, the number drops even further to 6.2% and 3.9% of the population, respectively.
That was a lot of data, what does this mean for Lutheran schools? Since we are told to make disciples of all nations and our Lutheran schools are able to provide a more personal and holistic education many public schools cannot, we need to start looking at our schools and recognizing if they reflect our community and its needs. When we start reflecting our community’s needs, we will be able to reach a different population through our schools that would otherwise not enter our churches.
If we wish to not only reach but retain students and families, we need to have teachers that are comfortable working with foreign cultures. As every culture is different, our teachers need to be aware of these differences and know how to work with them as not to create an unnecessary barrier to education or, more importantly, the Gospel. In some cultures, school is not seen as a place to learn social skills but academic skills to be successful. In these cultures group work and after school hobbies, not directly related to classes, are seen as unnecessary or inefficient. In the USA, we emphasize getting involved in after school activities for the social benefits as well as group work during school. So, if we have a family with this cultural background in our school, it will be helpful to our teachers to understand this difference to better help these students succeed in our classrooms. Also, this knowledge will help the teachers convey the importance of these activities to the parents in a patient and appropriate way if they have questions about it. This will help retain students as that the parents are involved in their children’s education.
If there is a language barrier for those who speak English less than “very well,” which is about 1 in 10 people in the US, the schools will need support from teachers or congregation volunteers who can communicate in the native tongue of our families. This will help the families feel more involved in their child’s education as well as help bond them to our school. Also, if a student is still developing their English in our school, a teacher that can communicate with them will be able to keep them involved in school activities. Also, many ESL students struggle with the difficult academic English we use in school. These teachers and volunteers will be able to explain these difficult terms the student might not be used to hearing outside of school and lessen the language barrier.
How can we help our schools reach into these communities? First, we need to continue encouraging our future teachers to take some time, before their call, to go do mission work abroad. We have a great many different ESL outreach programs throughout the world doing some wonderful mission work with the Gospel. Whether it is Russia or Peru, working in an ESL environment gives our teachers valuable experience they can bring into their future work in these diversifying communities. Second, we need to be encouraging our teachers in these communities to take professional development classes in ESL Education. If we have the resources, we could even start this in their undergraduate teacher program. Finally, we just need to encourage our schools to market themselves directly to the communities they are in. Hopefully, with the Lord’s blessing, our teachers with cross cultural experience and ability to speak other languages will be an encouragement to the community to trust their children’s education to us.
As our schools reach into their communities, the larger diversity of people will bring a greater diversity of ideas and talents from the parents, teachers, students, and the people involved in the school. This also gives our churches the opportunity to also engage these families spiritually.
The United States is changing. In less than 40 years, non-Hispanic white population of America will decrease about 20% to less than half of the population. We should be looking at our schools and doing our best to have them reflect the communities they are in. If they do, let us continue supporting them. If they do not, let us encourage them to reach out into their community and do the work we should be excited to do. This will not be easy as that the devil will do whatever he can to stop the work of the Lord. However, we can take solace knowing that whatever we do for the Lord will not be done in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Mark Zondag serves in WELS Russian ministry through ESL Outreach in Tominsk. He has previously spent two years doing ESL work in Asia. He plans to enter the Staff Ministry program at MLC in January.
References:
Crouch, R. (2007, November 15). The United States of education: The changing demographics of the United States and their schools. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). American Community Survey. Retrieved September 11, 2014, from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_3YR_S0201&prodType=table
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics. (2014). The Condition of Education 2014, English Language Learners. Retrieved September 11, 2014, from http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96
Thanks Mark for the article. Mrs. Dusseau might have been the one singing that song to with in kindergarten.
You tackle a really wide-ranging and multi-faceted issue here. Allow me to may be add a facet, one that I am still trying to grapple with myself about cross-cultural ministry.
Every statistic you mention backs up your idea that our congregations and schools need to be doing cross-cultural outreach and that the need for it will only become stronger in the future as the white non-Hispanic group in our country shrinks. Teachers with experiences in diverse settings and abilities in ESL are an exceptional blessing and are going to be, if not already are, a necessity.
One thing that has interested me over time and that I grapple with has been how our personal attitudes deeply and subtly affect our actions and that is directly connected to how effective our ministries are and can be. I’m pretty sure you won’t find many in our churches and schools who say or have the outright attitude that we shouldn’t be reaching across cultures with the Word. In fact, we’ve been doing this for a long time in our missions and congregations and we see a deep love for missions and outreach.
The thing, though, that I have struggled with (and am going to overstate here) is the subtle attitude that cross-cultural work is something we DO (or someone else DOES) to others. We can rationalize this away in many ways, but cross-cultural ministry and education is something we should be doing WITH others. Whether “we” are welcoming “them” into our culture or “we” are serving “them” in “their” culture it needs to be together. The words – ‘we’ and ‘they’ – are subtle danger words to me and ones we need to fight against because they bring a negative. It should be “us.”
In my setting, Milwaukee is the most segregated city in the U.S. and that brings a myriad of attitudes and beliefs around race and class by those who live and work here. Most are subtle and veiled, but some of the harmful and overt. Cross-cultural ministry is a necessity and one that we need to deeply embrace together with those we are blessed to placed around and serve. It shouldn’t be something we are just doing because our world and country are changing. In some ways, while I understand the term and need of “cross-cultural” I wish it could just be thought of as “ministry.”
If we, as Christians are to “Go into the world and preach the Gospel”, it means rubbing into people of different ethnic groups, races, and cultures. Our family moved a few years ago into a more urban area. We chose to enroll our elementary age students in a school with racial diversity. We want our children exposed to different cultures so they can better be equipped as future called workers (at the point 4 out of 5 children are enrolled in or planning on attending MLC).
I teach at Shoreland Lutheran High School. I am happy to report students of ethnic diversity in attendance, including international students from China and Korea. Better yet, we have programs that help them in their studies, help them assimilate to English and better yet, instruct them in Christian truths and principles. This must be planned and intentionally taught. The Holy Spirit has blessed the efforts of SLHS, and He will bless all efforts to reach those outside the traditional German, WELS background. But as a church or school, you must intentionalize it, embrace it, and actively try it!