[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Early in his career, Glen Schultz learned firsthand about the dichotomy of being a Christian teacher in a secular school.
After graduating with a pre-med degree from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, N.Y., he taught chemistry in a public high school in upstate New York rather than entering medical school.
A gifted teacher, he raised the percentage of students who passed the state regent’s exam from 82 to 97 percent in five years.
“I was not just causing them to memorize,” Schultz said. “I was teaching them logic, and not to get caught with trick questions.”
However, as a Christian, he often faced challenges in teaching science from public school textbooks.
“I would tell the students, ‘This is what you need to pass the test, but I want you to know the truth’” from the Bible, Schultz said. His school principal knew what he was doing and told him if any parents complained he would have to stop.
[2]It wasn’t complaints, but a leap of faith that encouraged Schultz to leave the school. He took his wife and three children to Lynchburg, Va., to work at a Christian academy with Jerry Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church. After a year as a science teacher, he spent six years as principal and nine years as superintendent of the school.
“The Lord started laying this biblical concept on my heart,” Schulz recounted. “I ended up taking all my graduate work and sifting it through a biblical framework.”
He earned his master of education degree in school administration and doctor of education degree in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Virginia.
He left there to become southeast regional director for the Association of Christian Schools International for seven years, overseeing educational services for about 600 Christian schools with a combined student population of 120,000.
He became director of the then-newly created Christian School Resources area of LifeWay Christian Resources in 1996.
“People thought I was going to be slamming everybody for not having their kids in Christian schools,” he said. “I didn’t approach it that way. I just started sharing the basic principles of a biblical philosophy of education.”
That’s when he began writing “Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations,” first published in 1998.
In it, Schultz argues the case for educating children by biblical standards as the only solution to America’s moral decline.
The book, revised in 2003, has sold more than 30,000 copies to a mostly Christian school market. It outlines the biblical principles he has culled from Scripture that parents and teachers can use as a filter to know if they are truly tying knowledge to God.
After 36 years in education — 31 in Christian education — Schultz still radiates a palpable enthusiasm for the possibilities.
“I still feel as if we’ve just touched the hem of the garment,” he said.
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