Lutheran Schools

Lutheran education in the United States has reflected the diversity of theological belief and ethnic background of the Lutheran church itself. In spite of such differences, however, the history of Lutheran schools has been unified by three elements. First, Lutheran educators have persistently found themselves in the role of obdurate educational dissenters from both Protestant and secular educational establishments. Also, Lutheran [Page 532]educators of various ethnic backgrounds have attempted to instill a reverence for Lutheran doctrine in each new generation. Finally, Lutherans of all ethnicities have sought to boost their students' sense of ethnic identity and pride. From the colonial period through the late 19th century, this emphasis on ethnic distinctiveness often served as the primary raison d'être for Lutheran schools. In more recent years, the emphasis on ethnic tradition has often given way to a more emphatically religious education.

Since the colonial period, Lutheran schools have reflected the different ethnicities and theological commitments of their religious affiliations. The mostly German immigrants who founded what eventually became the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod founded a vibrant network of elementary, secondary, and tertiary schools. This reflected their founders' admonition that every new American congregation must also found a school. Scandinavian Lutherans more often supported a public-school education for their children, complemented by religious and ethnic summer schools. In the 19th century, each synod usually supported its own colleges and seminaries, each teaching the distinctive theology and language of its immigrant founders.

Well into the 20th century, a wide spectrum of Lutheran synods supported networks of schools at every level. Each synod's school network reflected the differing interests and history of its founders. The large Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), for instance, tended to run mostly pre-schools for its congregants, many of whom supported public elementary and secondary education for their children. By the end of the 20th century, the ELCA operated 1,200 preschools, 128 elementary schools, and 2 high schools. The smaller Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), on the other hand, energetically continued its tradition of independent elementary and secondary schools. In the 1990s, the LCMS ran 999 preschools, 998 elementary schools, and 64 high schools nationwide.

These schools had long combined theological goals with ethnic considerations. The powerful Lutherans in colonial Pennsylvania, for instance, led by prominent leaders such as Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, used their schools as a locus from which to fight against Americanization and Anglicization efforts. Non-Lutheran educational leaders such as Benjamin Franklin sought to force schools to teach exclusively in English in order to bring German colonists into a single, British-dominated colonial culture. German resistance often centered on the symbol of their German-language Lutheran schools, which they successfully defended against Franklin's efforts.

By the early national period, German American Lutherans in Pennsylvania had achieved enough political clout that their educational leaders called for public funding of German-language Lutheran schools. When speaking to Anglo-American audiences, Lutheran promoters cannily downplayed the importance of both German language and Lutheran theology in Lutheran education. They knew many Anglo-Americans agreed with Franklin's vision of a united Anglicized America. Among German American audiences, they emphasized the benefits such public-funded schools would have for maintaining ethnic distinctiveness, rather than theological purity. As did later Lutheran educators, they recognized that many German Americans valued their German linguistic and cultural heritage much more than traditional Lutheran religious doctrine.

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