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Christian S c h o o l Comment
A s s o c i a t i o n o f C h r i s t i a n S c h o o l s I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Volume 39, Number 4
A Gift That Keeps On Giving
During this Christmastime, I would like to take this opportunity to
challenge you to think about giving your children gifts that will further
enhance your investment in their Christian school education. I would
like to suggest that you consider giving books this Christmas. The
temptation is to yield to the highly effective marketing strategies of the
countless retailers that vie for our Christmas gift dollars. And then we
ponder how soon so many of those ?treasured toys? lie idle and unused.
Our culture through high technology has drawn us away from reading,
offering instead a nearly unlimited menu of questionable leisure choices
ranging from humiliating and degrading ?comedy? to graphic and sordid
drama. I will simply leave that topic right there since this is a treatise to
encourage reading, not to focus on the degrading aspects of much of the
entertainment media.
Too often we fail to recognize the extent to which we as parents
model life to our children. If we do not read, our children will not
read. According to Reading at Risk, a report issued by the National
Endowment of the Arts, ?This comprehensive survey of American
literary reading presents a detailed but bleak assessment of the decline of
reading?s role in the nation?s culture. For the first time in modern history,
less than half of the adult population now reads literature, and these
trends reflect a larger decline in other sorts of reading? (Gioia 2004, vii).
James Emery White, the president of Gordon-Conwell Theological
Seminary, recounts a personal story in his book A Mind for God. He
describes a recent family vacation to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
One afternoon after returning from the theme park, they sat in the hotel
atrium?the entire family?reading. He gives this account:
My oldest daughter was tearing through the latest installment of
Harry Potter in order to pass it on to her siblings; my other daughter was
soldiering her way through Dostoevsky?s The Brothers Karamazov; my
oldest son was reading?again?Tolkien?s trilogy The Lord of the Rings; and
my youngest son was laughing uproariously over some unfortunate event
conceived by Lemony Snicket.
I had my own stack of books beside me, as if they were a mound of
pastries from which I had yet to choose which one to eat first. A history
by David McCullough, I believe, finally won. My wife, bless her soul, was
actually reading one of her husband?s books. Martyrs still exist.
A woman walked over to our table, openly marveling at seeing six
people?and particularly four children? reading. She said it was a wonderful
sight and wondered how we did it. I remember thinking that we didn?t do
anything?we genuinely enjoyed reading. But there was something that
caused my children to love a book. It started by doing what my mother
did?talking about books like they were truly a pleasure. Then, throughout
their lives, we modeled a life that read. (2006, 41?42; italics in original)
Might this not be a great year to consider gifts that will enhance and
enrich the lives of your family? Your read of the above-mentioned A
Mind for God (2006) will help you develop a strong philosophical basis
for a personal discipline of reading. And the following three websites
could greatly assist you in reviewing and selecting books as gifts for your
own children:
www.bookhive.org
www.preschooleducation.com/breview.shtml
www.christianbook.com
May you and your family be richly blessed during this Christmas season
as you celebrate the birth of our Savior!
Ken Smitherman, President
Association of Christian Schools International
References
Gioia, Dana. 2004. Preface to Reading at risk: A survey of literary reading in
America , by Tom Bradshaw. Washington, DC: National Endowment for
the Arts.
White, James Emery. 2006. A mind for God. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity
Press.
Enabling Christian Educators and Schools Worldwide PO Box 65130 ? Colorado Springs, CO 80962-5130 ? 719-528-6906 ? www.acsi.org
We welcome you to download Christian School Comment and print it for distribution to your school?s constituency. You are also granted permission to place this publication on your school?s website. ACSI must grant permission for other forms of distribution.
If we do not read, our children will not read.
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