The following article is reprinted from the September 2003 issue of Tri-State Voice.

A Crisis of Zeroes: Engaging NYC Public Schools

Where are the Christians?

The New York City Department of Education will spend $12,200,000,000 ($12.2 billion) to educate 1,100,000 students (1.1 million) in its public schools beginning this month - an average of $11,220 per student. For those of us who scrimp by on modest means, our minds struggle to grasp the effect of all those zeroes. Let's put them in perspective.

12.2 billion: Larger than the economies of dozens of nations. More revenue than the net worth of all but the nine wealthiest Americans.

1.1 million: Larger than eight U.S. states and all but nine U.S. cities, including Detroit, Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., and Las Vegas.

That's a lot of kids, and a lot of money, especially considering that they reflect only New York's public schools while the City also boasts private schools, charter schools, parochial schools, home schools, and too many dropped-out-of-schools to count with certainty. They are taught by a system where, as of June 2002, 18% of teachers had failed licensing exams.

Even more telling:

60.7% of the City's elementary students do not meet state and city reading standards.

64.7% do not grasp math standards.

26.5% of students in Grades 4-12 exhibit symptoms of at least one diagnosable psychiatric disorder requiring intervention.

5.1% of high school students abuse alcohol so severely as to impair daily functioning.

Fiscal mismanagement. Failing educators. Underachievement. Mental illness. And enough children to make one school system the tenth largest city in the nation. All this crisis, plastered on the front pages of metro area newspapers at least weekly during every school year, has made reforming our public schools one of the great public mandates of our day.

Politicians, educators, teachers unions, bureaucrats, academics, corporate big shots like New York City's current mayor and schools chancellor all seem to have opinions on how to improve our schools, but where are the evangelicals in the public discourse? As a collective voice, how many summits have we held or debates have we entered? How many coordinated city-wide efforts have we undertaken to address the problems?

Zero. The real crisis.

Individually, some are engaged. They function as principals and administrators, teachers and paraprofessionals, student missionaries and advocates, coaches and volunteers. But for every Christian employed in a public school, for every local church that has adopted a neighborhood school, for every outspoken parent or pastor, scores do nothing. For instance, how many leaders have reached out to local principals or superintendents as a resource to serve? How many retirees or youth workers or Sunday school teachers volunteer as hall monitors or teachers' aids or tutors? How many parents are active in PTAs or coach PSAL teams or regularly attend parent-teacher conferences? How many student organizations, whether Bible clubs or not, have Christian business people supported? How many prayer groups intentionally intercede for community schools?

Sadly, not enough. In some communities, zero.

Last year, New York City's officials finally set aside partisanship long enough to initiate the most widespread, systemic education reform in decades. As a collective group, administrators, politicians, and the teachers union all agreed to tackle entrenched problems with innovative strategies. Only time will tell how effective the reforms are.

In the interim, evangelicals, as a group, should follow their lead and bypass whatever excuses have kept so many of us disengaged for so long. It's time for our community to seriously consider its role in one of our great public issues. It's time for us to propose comprehensive strategies that go beyond the pat answers we are more commonly known for. Cliché solutions are no more helpful to our schools then they would be in the board room of a $12.2 billion Fortune 500 company or in Detroit's City Council chambers.

Finally, it's time we recognize that mandating a return to institutionalized prayer in schools is bankrupt. Legalistic prayer, devoid of faith, is no prayer at all. Besides, purposeful prayer by men, women, and students of conviction is already in public schools. It's time for us to turn zeroes into heroes by becoming answers to those prayers.

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Additional articles by Jeremy available online:

Why I Support the Billy Graham Crusade (and Pray You Do Too) (March 2005)
Things We Don't Talk About (February 2005)
X Factor: Redefining a Generation for Xmas (December 2004)
An Embarassment of Riches: Economic Injustice and the Church (November 2004)
Wake Up from Slumber: Civic Hypocrisy and Voter Dysfunction (October 2004)
A Letter to My Son on Father's Day (June 2004)
Fight of the Fatherless (May 2004)
Let's Talk about Sex (April 2004)
Beyond Passion: Living a Crucified Life (March 2004)
Losing Races: A Dream Deferred (February 2004)
From Irrelevant to Revolutionary: A 21st Century Continental Congress (November 2003)
WWJD (What Would Jay-Z Do): Engaging Youth Culture (August 2003)
The Joshua Paradox: Establishing a Meaningful Mentorship Model (July 2003)
Young People are NOT the Future: Embracing the YW8? (Why Wait?)™ Generation (June 2003)
Thanks to Heroes (September 2002)
A View from Ground Zero (September 2001)
By Any Means Necessary: Free Hot Dogs and Youth Evangelism (July 2001)
Ground Zero Photos (Photography)

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