I keep thinking about a recent conversation with a teacher as report card preparations were underway.  She observed that her colleagues regard the writing of report card comments as an opportunity to affirm the image of God in each of our students.  It’s marvelous when you stop and think about it: a gesture that in some school contexts might be seen as mundane – at best, a relaying of helpful information, or, at worst, an administrative chore – becomes something sacred here at SSCA. 

Then again, if we acknowledge that our students are made by a loving God who has a plan for each one, and if our aim is to help each student to know Him and to express that knowledge in ways that advance God’s purposes of justice, mercy, and a humble walk with Him…then everything we do is sacred.  Those prekindergarteners who participated in an Environmental Science lab activity with some of our juniors and seniors a few weeks back?  A great chance for them to learn about the natural world, to be sure, and also something more: a sacred opportunity to cultivate the intellectual lives of our little ones while helping them to feel known and included in a larger community of big kids and adults. 

Here’s the thing.  We know that we have accomplished our mission when our students ultimately conceptualize their lives and careers as callings – when they approach their work of designing buildings or arguing court cases or treating illnesses or making art or raising a family as ways of advancing God’s Micah 6:8 purposes in our world – when their lives demonstrate an understanding that, for a believer answering God’s call, everything is sacred.  We can’t simply convey this to students by telling them.  We model it.  We live it out. 

In education circles, this is called the “unwritten curriculum.”  Students will gain all kinds of knowledge and skills through the written curriculum, which must be robust and engaging.  But students soak up the most important stuff – the soft stuff – the stuff that shapes values and relationships and decision-making and spiritual health – from their school environment.  That unwritten curriculum is a bit harder to pin down – it’s how we adults relate to one another and to students; it’s how teachers live and how they invest in students’ lives; it’s the kinds of things and ideas we prioritize and celebrate.  

The unwritten curriculum is the most powerful and under-appreciated aspect of schooling.  That’s why I’m so grateful to work in, and send my children to, a school where everything is sacred.