y education began in a small neighborhood public school that I walked six blocks to attend. On the way to school I passed people who knew me. They knew my family and my family's family. All my teachers were community fixtures, and to this day they are respected and honored in our neighborhood. If you were to ask me about them in the middle of the night, I could recall their names in the order they taught me.

A few years ago our daughters were in the car with Prudence and me as we discussed their performance in academy. Kristin, then a tenth grader, looked up as we passed the prestigious Riverside Polytechnic High School and said, "Daddy, how come you won't let us go to Poly High? We could just walk to school."

I explained that eight to nine hours a day in a learning environment that does not encourage a deepening commitment to the Seventh-day Adventist mission exposes them to danger. Educators are role models. While many good Christians work in the public school system, no Adventist has successfully argued that the lifestyle and values of public schools add to a student's commitment to Adventist mission.

The imperative of providing our children with an Adventist education lies in the awareness that the religious education of our children is a covenantal responsibility. By that I mean that the commitment of Adventist parents to provide a Christian education for their children grows out of the same covenant they made to lead a life dedicated to God. God's intention for Israel was that as a covenant community, all of Israel's children would receive an education in the knowledge of the Lord. Such education was not compartmentalized but integrated throughout the whole life.

If the most important issue in the last days is the great controversy, and if we are truly living in the final days of world history, and if the most important issue in life is where our children will spend eternity, then the most significant experience we can provide for our children is an increasing immersion into the mission of God's remnant church. This immersion occurs best in Adventist schools.

Adventist schools should not be the primary spiritual nurturer of our children. Our homes are called to do that. My wife and I have said at the beginning of every year to every teacher, "We are responsible for the education of our daughters. You are our assistant. Let's work together." We are not looking for the school to do what we are not attempting in our home.

We were created social beings; we both influence and are influenced by others. Youth are particularly vulnerable to peer influence. Not long ago I visited Pine Forge Academy and listened to stories of faith that the students shared. The stories that attend our movement must be rehearsed for our youth in order to be experienced by our youth. The sociocultural aspects of Adventist schools do precisely that.

Our schools are also recruiting centers for Christ's mission. The values of service to the Lord and the world are inextricably tied to the mission of Christian education. Loma Linda University has a service-learning program called SIMS (Students in Mission Service). This program exposes our students to mission opportunities all around the world. In places such as Mexico, Kenya, and Brazil, young people get to relieve the needs of a hurting world. Students can and do also minister to needs in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and points between.

When my daughter suggested that she attend public high school, our answer was, "Daddy and Mommy must be true to the heavenly vision." Frankly, I didn't expect my 15-year-old to jump out of the car, shouting, "Hooray, my dad and mom are being true to the heavenly vision." I was looking down the tunnel of time to when Kristin has a family, and she and her husband have to decide whether they will spend the money and send our grandchildren to Adventist schools.

I want her to be challenged by the words "We must be true to the heavenly vision."

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Leslie N. Pollard serves as vice president for diversity at Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center.