Demonstrating Once Again—School Choice Works
Chinese Christian Schools, a K–12 school, is located in the suburb of San Leandro, California, and ministers to students within a 40-mile radius on the Oakland side of the San Francisco Bay area. Tuition ranges between $3,500 and $4,900 a year, with 10 percent of the student body receiving school-provided financial aid.
In the Book of Acts, after Peter heals a man who has been lame from birth, the people in town begin giving Peter the credit for the healing. In response to their praise and adulation, Peter says, “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” (Acts 3:12). Peter then concludes his speech by giving all the credit for the healing to the Lord. Similarly, today when people praise the accomplishments and growth of Chinese Christian Schools, the administrators and faculty of the school can only echo Peter’s comments, saying, “You who observe our school, why do you marvel at our growth and accomplishments? Or why do you godliness, and hard work we had made this ministry successful? God alone is to be acknowledged and praised for the success of Chinese Christian Schools!”
God alone is to be acknowledged and praised for the success of Chinese Christian Schools!
Chinese Christian Schools (CCS) has come a long way since its humble beginning in 1979. The school began in two one-bedroom apartments in central Oakland, California. From the very beginning “necessity was the mother of invention.” Bedrooms and living rooms became the classrooms, dining nooks were converted into teachers’ offices, kitchen counters made excellent work areas, and the driveway served as a playground for the children. Although the accommodations were “lean,” there was no “leanness” of dedication or spirit in that first group of pioneering teachers. The sparsity of the accommodations actually “worked together for the good,” causing the staff to rely less on modern technology and advancements and more on the Lord.
The small but dedicated teaching staff kept their eyes on the Lord and their senses of humor intact. For example, one sweltering hot summer day, the home ec class was learning how to make egg salad. None of the classrooms had air conditioning, so the egg salad quickly went bad in the warm temperatures. For the rest of the day, the pungent smell of rotten eggs wafted throughout all the classrooms, making it difficult for students and teachers alike to focus on their lessons.
Despite a great deal of prayer, preparation, and optimism on the part of the staff, on the first day of school, there were a mere thirteen students. The idealism of the young staff was immediately tested. Since education, scholarship, family, and culture are highly regarded in the Asian community, it was naturally assumed that a school that placed a high value on strong academics, love and respect for family and one’s elders, as well as exposure to Asian traditions and culture, would be welcomed with open arms. Instead, the school was greeted with much skepticism. Most Asian students were doing well in school—why would they want to transfer to an unknown, untested, and untried school? Instead of “the cream of the crop,” the school attracted primarily those who “had fallen through the cracks” in the public schools: students with academic or disciplinary problems looking for a second chance; recent immigrants who spoke little English; and quiet, shy students who were being picked on and exploited by other students. Thus the teacher who had planned for academically talented students was now teaching remedial lessons to students who barely spoke English. The school that had dreamed of being the “Chinese Harvard” became known as a “dumping ground” for those students who could not or would not make it elsewhere. This had not been the “target” population when the school was in its planning stages, but the staff gladly accepted these changes, realizing that God’s ways are not our ways nor His thoughts our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). Gradually, God transformed the faculty’s view of what kind of students they should be ministering to and replaced it with a deep burden for the ones God had actually placed in the school.
That first year, many students were led to the Lord by loving and compassionate teachers. Perhaps God, in His infinite wisdom, knew that these particular students would be more than willing only to attend an untried school but also to gravitate to the same Savior who, thousands of years earlier, had welcomed the lame, blind, demon-possessed, lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and Samaritans to Himself. Instead of being discouraged by the small numbers, the grateful teaching staff rejoiced over the ones that the Lord had provided and prayed that God, in His perfect time, would provide more students to be raised, nurtured, and educated for His glory.
Finances were another problem the young school encountered. Substantial discounts on were made so that recent immigrants and low-income families could afford to send their children to the school. The members of Chinese Bible Church, the sponsoring church, found themselves giving sacrificially, contributing thousands of dollars a month to the school so that it could meet its payroll and keep its doors open. There were even times when teachers were not paid for weeks until funds became available. The school was subsisting on a “hand-to-mouth” basis. Still, the teachers remained upbeat, content in the knowledge that they were doing God’s work. Their faith increased as time after time they saw God provide monetarily for the school in a variety of ways.
Not only was the school struggling to keep afloat financially, but so were many of the families of its students. Many of the original students, who came from low-income families, didn’t even have the proper clothes to wear to school. Again, caring teachers and members of Chinese Bible Church donated clothes and money so that the students could be dressed in warm, clean clothes. One little girl was so thrilled with a new pair of tights she had received from her teacher that she wore them every day to school, even after she had torn a big hole in them. Undeterred, the child pulled the hole closed with a rubber band and continued to proudly wear the only pair of tights she had ever owned. The poignant picture of this little girl running around happily in tights fastened together with a rubber band remains in the hearts and memories of CCS staff members today.
Their faith increased as time after time they saw God provide monetarily for the school in a variety of ways.
From the very start, Chinese Christian Schools’ primary goals have been to send forth students with strong academics skills and Christ-like qualities. The school’s emphasis on evangelism and discipleship is evident in its motto: Transforming Lives for the Glory of God. It is the belief of every educator who works at the school that good character (including honesty, integrity, compassion, perseverance) come only after a student has been transformed by a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
With that viewpoint constantly in mind, Chinese Christian Schools has always believed more in people than in programs, maintaining the following truths:
- All students can learn, achieve their goals, and attend college.
- Finding godly teachers who love and care for students and live uprightly before them is more important than qualifications, facilities, or programs.
- Improving a student’s character is the best way to improve his or her academics skills.
The students are taught in a loving environment that is both Christian in philosophy and Chinese in culture. Ninety-five percent of the students come from homes where one or both parents are Asian. Feeling strongly that its students should not only know their Asian culture and traditions but also be proud of them, the school encourages students to wear Asian dress instead of their school uniforms on Chinese New Year, sends their drum and bell marching units to participate in the annual San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade, and produces school plays with distinctly Asian themes. CCS has also sponsored an Asian Culture Day at the school, including food booths featuring Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese food; demonstrations of Asian art and artists; and lessons for students in various Asian dances. Also, realizing that their students will have to speak their native language if they are ever to be ambassadors for Christ to their own people, CCS requires all students to study Cantonese in grades K–5 and Mandarin in grades 6–12.
These are indeed exciting times for the church and school as they seek to enlarge their territory and reach more people for Christ.
Chinese Christian Schools ended its first year with twenty-six students, double the number of its first day. More students came the second and subsequent years. The word was beginning to spread that CCS students were not only polite, respectful, and industrious; they were also being accepted into the top colleges and universities in the state.
The school’s belief in student achievement is borne out in the fact that 100 percent of its high school graduates attend college, 100 percent of its high school students graduate (a 0 percent dropout rate), and 90 percent of its graduates complete the “a–f” requirements to attend the University of California and other four-year universities. To the glory of God, the past four graduating classes, totaling 128 students, have produced four National Merit Scholars and eleven Commended students. After years of being known as a “dumping ground” for the weak and rejected, the school is now starting to receive recognition and praise for the academic accomplishments of its students. Consequently, over 95 percent of the students over the past four years have reenrolled for the next year, and today there are long waiting lists to enroll.
By 1985, the school had grown to 285 students and had rented all six apartments in the complex, had filled three trailers brought into the parking lot to provide additional classrooms, and had occupied all the rooms in the church next door. Bursting at the seams, the school moved to a 10.2-acre campus in San Leandro, which it currently leases.
Chinese Christian Schools may indeed have come a long way from its lowly beginnings, but it has not departed from its core values. The school continues to remind itself, as well as its students, to follow the example of Christ by continuing in the path of humility, saying, Do not let your achievements and what you have become change who you are. Whether accomplishments come or not, who you are in God’s eyes does not change. It is that affirming truth, that you are valuable— whether a cast-off immigrant or a prep-school star, whether a 13-student school in a one-bedroom apartment or an 880-student school on 10.2 acres— that has made the difference at Chinese Christian Schools and in the lives of many young people.
Postscript
In the year 2001, God again intervened on behalf of Chinese Bible Church and Chinese Christian Schools by enabling them to purchase eight of what they hope will be an eventual seventeen acres of undeveloped land in Alameda on which to build their own church/school. The story of how God provided the perfect property (which is very difficult to find in California) and helped the church and school collect enough money not only to purchase the property but to erect buildings as well is yet another testimony to God’s amazing grace. The school plans to open its new Alameda elementary campus in the year 2003. These are indeed exciting times for the church and school as they seek to enlarge their territory and reach more people for Christ. The story of Chinese Christian Schools is unfinished, but there is little doubt that with God on their side there are more victories yet to come.
The Meantime Volume 2 Number 1