Letter to the Editor: There is a choice

By Sun Advocate

Editor:
After reading the editorial, “Choice may be victim of the decision” (Sun Advocate, April 26) my husband contacted Richard Shaw to tell him there is still another choice for a high school education in Carbon County.
What Mr. Shaw and many other people do not know is that the Southeastern Christian Academy is not just an elementary school. In the 23 years of our existence we have graduated 21 students from high school. Several have gone on to graduate from various Bible schools, colleges, and trade schools around the United States.
There are those who try to ignore us or discourage parents from sending students to us because we are not accredited through the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.
Despite this non-accreditation we have letters from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense stating their policy on a graduate “of a non-accredited church affiliated school, including the School of Tomorrow” or Accelerated Christian Education; the curriculum, guidelines, and standards that we here at Southeastern Christian Academy incorporate. The Defense Department policy is to consider those “graduates as high school diploma graduates for enlistment purposes.”
We also have a booklet of colleges and universities that have Accepted Accelerated Christian Education Graduates. Included in this booklet is Idaho State University, University of Idaho, University of Illinois, University of Chicago, Ball State University, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, Iowa State University Medical Center, Northern Maine Technical Institute, Maryland University, Johns Hopkins University, U.S. Naval Academy, Harvard University, Michigan State University, Cornell University, West Point, Penn State, BYU, our own College of Eastern Utah, as well as hundreds of other Colleges, Universities, and Technical Schools both in the United States and Internationally.
Students, from non-accredited church affilitated School of Tomorrow/Accelerated Christian Education, have done at least as well on their SATs, ACTs, or college entrance exams or those students from accredited and non-accredited government/public schools.
Our pilot schools, Lighthouse Christian Academy, Texas; Lighthouse Christian School, Texas; and Lighthouse Christian School, Florida, are accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation. We can arrange through one of these schools for dual enrollment for high school students to receive dual diplomas, both from our school and from Texas.
School of Tomorrow/Accelerated Christian Education curriculum is used in over 6,000 schools around the world in over 120 separate countries including in a government/public school in Moscow, Russia. There is a program called Vision in Colorado, which is sponsored by School District that will buy School of Tomorrow/Accelerated Christian Education curriculum for students.
In closely following the guidelines and procedures of the School of Tomorrow/Accelerated Christian Education we have received “accredited status” through School of Tomorrow/Accelerated Christian Education Ministries, which is not the same accreditation as Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.
If accreditation is important to you, go to the web and do a search to see if your child’s school is listed as being accredited. You might be greatly surprised. I know I was, when I checked on various schools locally as well as upstate.. It is surprising how many high schools are graduating students every year, yet they are not accredited and no one questions them because they are government/public schools.
God is not expelled from our school. Students are able to learn Biblical/moral values and standards since the curriculum has the Bible integrated throughout. Students are able to pray in school. We usually have prayer at least three times during the day, opening assembly, lunchtime, and closing assembly and other prayer times throughout the day as needed.
Students learn concepts such as patriotism, allegiance, and pledges. We recite the pledges of allegiance to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible. We do not teach any one church doctrine. We use the King James Version of the Bible for our PACE work, monthly Scripture memorization, chapel, and devotions.
We have a small student body with a “home-like” atmosphere and are able to maintain close communication with parents. We require high standards in dress, attitude, and schoolwork.
The point is that there are alternatives to government/public education. Because one size does not fit all, meaning children, and adults for that matter, individuals have differing needs.
There is room for school choice.