“Independent schools saved Australian taxpayers an estimated $12.51 billion in expenditure through recurrent education and capital costs,” Liberal MP Julian Leeser said recently in a spirited defence of Christian education.
Leeser, the Federal opposition spokesman for education, was addressing an annual gala dinner for Christian Schools Australia last month.
He declared that schools are essential for defending a free society.
“I have often said that I am a Jewish man, educated by Anglicans, I worked for the largest mission of the Catholic Church, and my best friend is a Muslim.
“Some have accused me of hedging my bets in the afterlife,” Leeser said.
“What it does show you is that, as a person of faith and as a beneficiary of Christian education, I understand the importance of Christian education to a free society.”
And he went to argue that the word “Christian” is not just a label, but an essential ingredient that should imbue every aspect of the life of a school.
“A Christian school is one where Christianity infuses all that the school does. It is not a mere founding legacy but a living, breathing embodiment of faith in action.
“In Christian schools, the Bible and Christian teaching are not confined to religious services and religious education but infuse everything about the school: from the interaction of staff, both academic and professional, and students, to the maths lessons, to the sporting fields and stage performances.
“Christian schools are about creating Christian communities where a life of faith is modelled to all the students and families across the wider school community. It’s about showing what it means to live in accordance with your faith, regardless of whether you’re the gardener, the technology teacher or the school principal.”
Therefore, he went on to say, religious freedom is far more than mere permission to include religion lessons in a curriculum.
“Religious freedom, to the extent that your rights to create caring Christian community schools are protected at law, is about allowing schools not just to teach but to model the doctrines of your faith, without the threat of litigation,” he said.
And he quoted the late Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, Lord Jonathan Sacks, on the vital role of schools in society: “freedom is won, not on the battlefield, nor in the political arena, nor in the courts, national or international, but in the human imagination and will.
“To defend a country, you need an army. But to defend a free society, you need schools. You need families and an educational system in which ideals are passed on from one generation to the next, and never lost, or despaired of, or obscured.”
Leeser concluded by urging parents to be proud of their culture.
“For decades, Christian schooling has rightly been defended on the basis of parental choice. It should continue to be defended on that basis,” he said.
“You have treasures from your faith and your heritage that you can offer to your students, but also to an education system that is groping around for answers.”
