ABSTRACT

In this article, I describe how Escuela Luz del Mundo (ELM), a progressive Christian school that served the Mexican immigrant community in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA was ‘caught in the middle’ between Christians and secular humanists. As the school’s director, I had opportunities to interact with a variety of secular and non-secular organisations and through these experiences learned about their perspectives on the school and its mission. Using the qualitative methodology of self-study, two idents are described that occurred during the school’s existence that elucidate these perspectives. In the first ident, a doctor who worked in the ELM community implicitly expressed his lack of support for the school. In the second, students and parents at a ‘Christian bubble school’ demonstrated overtly negative behaviours towards ELM’s low-ome, students of colour. Literature is reviewed that illustrates the historic legacy in the United States of low-ome students and students of colour being denied access to high-quality educational opportunities. To address this historic legacy, individuals and groups must work across divides that separate and sustain this legacy. The need in Christian education to support the development of students’ empathy for ‘the other’ through meaningful and sustained relationships is also discussed.

摘要

在本文中，我描述了Escuela Luz del Mundo（ELM），这是一所先进的基督教学校，为美国新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基的墨西哥移民社区服务，是在基督徒和世俗人文主义者之间的“中间地带”。作为学校的负责人，我有机会与各种世俗和非世俗组织互动，并通过这些经验了解了他们对学校及其使命的看法。使用定性的自学方法，描述了在学校存在期间发生的两个事件，这些事件阐明了这些观点。在第一次事故中，在ELM社区工作的一名医生隐式表示他对学校的支持不足。第二，“基督教泡沫学校”的学生和家长对ELM的低收入人群表现出明显的消极行为，有色学生。文献经过审查，显示了低收入学生和有色学生在美国被拒绝获得高质量教育机会的历史遗产。为了解决这一历史遗留问题，个人和团体必须跨越分隔并维持这一遗留问题的鸿沟。还讨论了基督教教育中需要通过有意义和持续的关系来支持学生对“另一个”的同理心的发展。