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But the explosive growth in Christian schools and home schooling can't be attributed solely to the crisis in public education. Shocked by the drift of the culture, many Christian parents no longer see themselves as comfortably at home in a generically "Christian" America. They are convinced that their children need an explicitly biblical framework for their education, a countercultural grounding that will prepare them for life in a resolutely secular society. Indeed, many proponents of Christian education argue that there isn't any other choice for parents who genuinely care about the formation of their children both intellectually and spiritually.

On the other side stand Christians who believe that now more than ever the public schools need the active support and participation of committed believers. Unlike private schools, public schools can't pick and choose their students. They must take all students—including, under the terms of the Americans With Disabilities Act, those whose handicaps require enormously disproportionate resources of time and attention and money. Nor can the public schools count on strong parental involvement and a set of core values shared by families, teachers, and administrators. To abandon the public schools, these advocates of public education argue, is to forsake our Christian responsibilities to the society in which we live, particularly our responsibilities to its neediest members.

Both sides in this debate are passionate; both can draw persuasively on Scripture and Christian tradition. And the way they frame the issue leaves little room for common ground. In practice, though—in everyday reality—the battle lines are not so neatly drawn. Many staunch advocates of public education turn out to be sending their own children to private schools. Many Christian parents are quite happy to send their children to public schools when they live in cities and neighborhoods where the schools are excellent. Many public school teachers are committed Christians. Perhaps that's one reason for the resounding defeat of voucher proposals in state after state last November.

To put this often rancorous disagreement in perspective, and to get a closer look at the state of American schools at the beginning of a new century, Christianity Today visited two schools in Dallas: Logos Academy, "a private, Christ-centered, classical college preparatory school for students in the seventh through twelfth grades," and L.G. Pinkston High School, a public school in a largely African-American section of town.

But, as in many urban areas today, there are also signs of resurgence: a new supermarket and KFC restaurant have risen up in what used to be a vacated strip mall; affordable single-family homes occupy land that once held rows of housing projects; the Pinnacle Park industrial development, with a handful of bustling companies, now stands where once there was only a weed-infested field.

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May 21 2001, Vol. 45, No. 7