talk of ‘values’ is reductive and selective, inevitably. ‘Values’, as we have seen, tends to indicate a conservative expression of conformist and traditional aspirations: diligence, ‘a fair go’, self-reliance, integrity and so on. However, the set of values labelled as ‘Christian values’ very rarely includes the kind of challenge to the status quo that Jesus himself modelled, as the Old Testament prophets had before him. There is nothing prophetic, we might say, about ‘values’ (which is where Brendan Nelson’s use of the word ‘comfortable’ should set off alarm bells). Cultural critic Guy Rundle writes:
The elite schools are multimillion-dollar educational entrepreneurs, whose attachment to the religion is now simply a form of thematic branding, a bit of spiritual swoosh.
He is speaking of the Melbourne scene, where various high-priced schools have doggedly fought off the intervention of the churches in their affairs while retaining a nominal link – a keeping up of appearances. His comment would not be fair to the schools I know in Sydney. But it is true that talk of ‘values’ tends to reduce the Christian affiliation of schools to a mere badging of middle-class aspirationalism. The language of ‘values’ robs the gospel of its counter-cultural edge. Though it will be popular with potential customers/parents, it offers an emaciated moral vision. Parents want their children’s selves realised, fulfilled and actualised; but Christ calls us to die to our selves.
3 comments:
If only someone could get this point through the collectively thick skulls of Australian politicians and commentators!
Is there any interest on values?
well said!
Maybe I just hate clarity, but this sounds too damning to me - too much of a write off, and ulitmately pointless.
I would like to imagine (too lazy to actually research and argue...) that while values can be the enemy of christianity, they don't have to be. A bit like food. Gluttony and connoisseurism are going to lead to an emaciated moral life, but there is a lot of value and pleasure to be got from food before it gets to that stage, and christians are allowed, even expected to participate in all that richly. Its subtle to describe as law but morally clear in a transparent relationship with god.
Likewise, I would like to think values. They are a method of social cohesion, a way of describing what joins us together, a means of sharing and distilling what is good about our society and passing it on to our children and out across our community. They facilitate communication by providing a shared base of assumptions, something that can aid the christian message.
With xenophobia and neophobia gripping our society; with politicians and opinion leaders yielding to the temptation to exploit them for popularity, values can be used as the acceptable face of selfishness and cruelty. With greed they can become the symbols of snobbery and self serving acheivement.
Particularly in the area of schools and parents it is going to be a long campaign to start attacking them for their values - a long campaign with a dubious outcome.
I once asked a friend who is a headmistress of a primary school how she maintained a thick skin when, in any given week, she could have cues of otherwise reasonable parents coming into her office to attack her in the most irrational and savage way because they felt their kids were under threat. She said that she just tells herself "its hormonal" and visualises a big bird squawking over its nest of chicks. Parents have an overwhelming urge to do tenderly care for their kids, and it is an urge that I would suggest almost inevitably tends towards middle class aspirations. It is an urge again that leads to a lot of goodness and a lot of evil. If you attack it indiscriminatorily, you will get a lot of hormonal squawking (witness this post!?!?)
And I imagine even the most nominal christian school (not to mention the most agressively humanistic public school) has much in its value system that is admirable and worthy. They are basically (since the time of Dickens and Bronte at least...) organisations that do a lot of good things. It would probably be better to try and influence what they actually do, so that the values will follow, rather than talking about values themselves. A discourse about values is almost bound to lead to a lot of unproductive and irrelevant angst. I would guess its probably better not to even join that game at all.
(P Knight)
(Mind you, there are horror stories about melbourne private schools - I have a friend who is lesbian who moved to rural melbourne, and the only convenient school was a private school... and they made it very clear her son was not welcome, said some frightful things. Can't recall if they were christian affiliated... but if they were, thanks a lot guys...)
Post a Comment