Back to School: Minds and Bodies

It's back to school season! That means it's time to start thinking about alarm clocks and lunches and dress code. And that--almost inevitably--means battle lines being drawn in households everywhere between parents and children.

"Yes, you HAVE to get up now..." 

"No, you may NOT wear that to school..." 

"You need something besides Dr. Pepper for breakfast..."

Learning isn't merely a mind task. It involves bodies as well. The mind will not be as attentive and agile and ready to learn if a student is tired out from staying up too late or rushing out the door before getting a good breakfast. Bodies matter.

Schola's dress code is intended to help create an environment for learning, and dressing appropriately helps remind students of why they are there. Contributing to that environment, rather than hindering it, is one way students can love their neighbors. Bodies matter.

Putting aside distracting electronics during class helps students look up and out and become engaged with the ideas being discussed and the people around them. Bodies matter.

Let's remind ourselves, as those back to school battles start heating up, that our goal as parents and teachers isn't merely to help students learn division or parts of speech or the proper way to cite a source. We want them to learn self-discipline, how to persevere, how to grow out of childish ways, how to die to themselves, and to honor Christ in every area of their lives, body and soul.

-Angie Brennan teaches Cottage School students, body and soul, at Schola.