“Notre Dame Needs Green,” “Growth, advances in technology behind fund raiser” reads the headline on the front page of the February 7, 2000, edition of the Peoria Journal Star.  “Plans for a new school at full- throttle” reads another headline from the February 16, 2000 edition. “Some Students, teachers tired of standard testing” (J.S. 2-7-00), “District 150 admits breaking rules” (J.S. 2-15-00), and opinion columns editorializing on the problems of District 150 are common place.  A recent flyer in a mailing from Bradley University signals the possible start of yet another private high school in the Peoria area.  All this supplements the almost daily battle over the Edison Project.

The Edison controversy and rush toward “alternative” education stems from the fact that District 150 (along with most school systems in the country) is in an educational and cultural crisis.  In recent years the middle class (mostly white) has moved outside District 150's boundaries in search of a better academic and cultural environment.  While some suggest that this exodus is the result of racism, this departure is being fueled by parental concerns that their children were being subjected to unhealthy social influences and a poor academic environment.  While few dare to say it, the Edison Project is the district's attempt to recapture the middle class market on the northwest side of Peoria.  Like so many other public school systems around the country District 150 finds itself in a war of culture and educational philosophy that can not be won.

The inability to properly discipline students, the break down of the traditional family, lack of parental involvement, the influence of special interest groups, parents who defend bad behavior, unqualified teachers, and deficient educational philosophies and resources have taken their toll on American education.  The problem is not limited to public schools.  Private schools are falling short too.

A recent report on LCMS schools indicates that Lutheran schools are also experiencing a decline in academic standards, although at a slightly slower pace than that of public schools.  Unfortunately, many private and religious schools are producing only a slightly better product than the public system.

Students of moral character and respectable academic achievement are generally the products of four social/educational factors.

1. An attentive and stable family
2. A religious community
3. Civic, athletic, and neighborhood support groups
4. Consistent tutoring by competent teachers over the life of the student.

Private and religious communities are responding to these needs by starting new schools.

Already existing schools like Notre Dame and Peoria Christian are using this opportunity to expand and improve their buildings and programs.  Notre Dame High School is raising ten million dollars to make improvements in their building.   Caterpillar is helping out the effort by matching funds.  The former principal of the “Praise and Leadership Academy” recently unveiled plans to open yet another private school to be named the “Peoria Academy,” which she claims will be a “values-based and multi-sensory” educational experience.  Mrs. Triebel has raised over one million dollars toward this project.  Last year Peoria Christian (K-Grade 12) purchased an additional building to meet its ever growing enrollment. Home schooling is also enjoying growth in the central Illinois area.

Two of the four Peoria area LCMS schools have also taken steps to expand.  Christ Lutheran on the south side of Peoria recently approved a major addition to her facility.  Bethel Lutheran in Morton expanded its school from a K-6 grade school to a K-8 grade school.  There is within the private, Roman Catholic, and Reformed communities of Peoria a growing enthusiasm and support for alternative education.

If there is an ever growing demand for private and religious education in Peoria, why are Lutherans lagging behind in establishing a Lutheran high school?  There are likely four reasons for the Lutheran communities slow response to P.L.H.’s grand vision.
 

1. While P.L.H. has not been blessed with million dollar pledges and the kind of public support we see in other communities, P.L.H. is seeing increased interest in its work, including phone calls from parents wanting to know if P.L.H. is enrolling students at this time.  The answer is sadly, “Not yet.”   But P.L.H. continues to inch its way forward toward its goal of opening the best Lutheran high school in the land.
2. P.L.H. is headed in two directions that are contrary to cultural expectations.
• P.L.H. is combining the historic biblical practice of pure doctrine, as rightly comprehended in the Book of Concord, with an educational approach rooted in the classical disciplines of former generations.  These two emphases are contrary to the “ecumenical spirit” and “psycho-babble” of our age.  In a day when most of “Christendom” speaks about finding unity in diversity, of being inclusive of religious perspectives, and of reducing points of religious agreement to a few simple fundamentals (ecumenicism) about “love” and “Jesus,” P.L.H. governs all things and relationships by the full council of God in Holy Scripture.  Such a confidence in religious truth and authentic Lutheran doctrine makes many Lutheran pastors and laity uncomfortable.  Those who do not share P.L.H.’s commitment to the infallible Word of God and the correctness of Lutheran doctrine will shy away from supporting this institution.
• In P.L.H.’s desire for academic excellence, P.L.H. is also committed to a classical approach.  It would be wrong to speak about P.L.H. as an educational experiment.  There is nothing experimental about it.  The classical approach was the primary method of education up until this century and the advent of “progressive” education.  But classical education is a new concept to most parents.  Classical education as practiced today by classical schools is not simply a return to the education of the past.  Classical education has been contemporized and adapted to today's educational needs. For the Christian - respect, discipline, devotion to duty and excellence, and healthy “self-esteem“ are to be the byproducts of one's baptism into Christ.  Here affirmation will be based on one's being, namely being a child of God in Christ Jesus.  Students of P.L.H. will be taught what it means to be the  baptized child of God that God made them to be in baptism.  Under a classical model, children will also be taught to take a healthy pride in their achievements.  It is through achievement that the neighbor is served.  Students of P.L.H. will learn what it means to be a baptized child of God in relation to their respective stations in life.  So affirmation will be based on being and doing.
3. P.L.H. has its genesis in two, small, more traditional Lutheran congregations (Immanuel & Holy Cross), which have shown a steadfast commitment to Lutheran doctrine and practice.   By virtue of their size, these congregations have not had access to the kind of resources that are often found in larger congregations.  This has hindered P.L.H.’s one-on-one contact with those individuals who are in a better position to help us move forward at a more rapid pace.
4. Of course there is in all of this a spiritual component.  People will often shower money and praise on those institutions that seem good and right as the world judges good and right.  Institutions that hold high the wisdom of man, or that mix the precepts of man with God's holy Word, find much favor with the people.  But those who remain faithful to the pure Word must suffer want and learn to do with little and this is right before God eyes.  For a servant cannot serve two masters (mammon and God).  Luther wrote of the financial support of faithful stewards of God's Word, “To other preachers and paunches, who do nothing but cause all the trouble, people give more than enough.  What God will say to this we shall find out some day.  I have often said that God considers His gifts precious and valuable.  They have cost Him much.  He expended His Son's blood that the Word might be preached and His apostles might be sent out.  Accordingly He thinks: This treasure is so noble and good that people are not worthy of having it; therefore I Myself will support worthy preachers.  So He does not put this intention into the mind of the mad world but into the minds of only one or two or three of His Christians.  The rest would probably let all preachers starve to death on one day.”