Character

 

At Whitsunday Christian College, we teach and nurture students in character including compassion, courage, diligence, enthusiasm, forgiveness, generosity, honesty, kindness, loyalty, patience, respect, thankfulness, and tolerance. The Christian values we teach are prominent and taught as practical day to day living application. Our faith in action approach to values enables students to serve others overseas such as in Thailand, serve others in our own country such as in Cooktown, and serving others in our community such as the day camp outreach at Cannonvale State School from our seniors, students who sing at nursing homes, and the buddy class system. Character is exemplified in the Bible in Galatians 5:22-23 MSG, “ But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”

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A great school prepares students for the journey of life by developing character. An education focused solely on academics prepares students in knowledge, but does not equip them for life. The education a Christian school gives has its focus equally on character as well as academics. “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education,” Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Christian Heart in Education

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• The Christian education of the learner is a complete and total learning, not that of one or several focuses of learning. The learning as a human being is the goal. Author Van Brummelen claims, “Students are holistic, integral beings whose religious “heart” governs all dimensions of life.” The Christian Heart in Education is all encompassing. This is faith in action.

• If all truth is God’s truth, then what is true, real and of value within the Australian Curriculum is a sub-set of the bigger truth of God’s overall plans and purposes for humankind. Within this approach it is implicit for instance that:

• People have inherent worth, equality and dignity because we all are made in the image of God and have purpose. This will guide our understanding and evaluation of history, sociology, ethics, politics and public policy, and so on.

• The world was made by God for people to enjoy and care for as stewards. This, for example, will guide our approach to science and technology (exploring and understanding the extraordinary mysteries of God’s creation), environmental issues (as stewardship), economics (as concerning social justice), engineering (solving problems for the benefit of others) etc.

• All beauty is God’s beauty. This helps shape our appreciation and expression in the fields of music, art, architecture, design and many other forms of human expression.

• All virtue is of God. This helps shape discussions about human dignity, morality and relationships, with all the implications that flow from a careful analysis of God’s ideals for human interaction.

• The above are examples of the way in which, if we allow biblical perspectives to illuminate curriculum, education will be enriched by a bigger narrative in a way that will lead the learner to find meaning, purpose and indeed vocation, within God’s Big Story. (CONNECTING LEARNERS WITH GOD’S BIG STORY, by  Starling, Cook,  O’Doherty, Scott).