A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

standing of biblical math/10 But matching this concern for spiritual development were statements like the 1958 board-approved statement of Eden Christian College, also a high school, in Niagaraon-the- Lake, Ontario, that it was "to be a wall surrounding our youth and protecting them from the influence of the world/11 In 1975 John H. Redekop evaluated three Canadian Men- nonite Brethren high schools (Eden Christian College, Nia- gara-on-the-Lake, Ontario; Mennonite Brethren Collegiate In- stitute, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Mennonite Educational Institute, Clearbrook, B.C.). He made three positive observations which in part also apply to the Bible schools: 0) All three stress high academic standards and seem to achieve these; (2) they have an excellent record of cultural and athletic achieve- ment; (3) all three schools indicate a deep concern about the spiritual, physical and intellectual development of the student. But none, he added, "seem to have successfully eliminated the cleavage between the sacred and the secular* In this, of course, they reflect their sponsoring communities/12 Acknowledging that the high schools came into being fol- lowing the Second World War, a time of cultural erosion and anti-German sentiment in some communities, Redekop con- cluded; "The original objectives of the high schools were at least partly defensive and negative; namely, to a significant extent the schools were established, dedicated leadership and sacrificial support notwithstanding, as holding operations, Redekop noted that many of the original issues that led to the establishment of the schools had disappeared. What have we produced to replace the awareness of the spiritual richness of our Anabaptist heritage? . . , At best 170 MENNONITE BRETHREN EDUCATION we seem to have substituted a common denominator evangelical stance for the earlier ethnic-holding operation. Such a shift of objectives may be adequate in the short run, but in the long run will probably be insufficient . . . to perpetuate a distinctive Mennonite Brethren Church.14 Ironically, the pressing desire for cultural self-preservation as a motivation for establishing Bible schools and high schools was completely detached from any systematic effort to provide the educational resources needed to bolster a healthy self-identity. That inability was no doubt furthered by the absence of curriculum materials on Mennonite Brethren history, beliefs and missions. In this, the Mennonite Brethren succumbed to a situation in which efforts to preserve spiritual and ethical values through isolation actually resulted in the loss