Educating for Eternity By Ricardo Graham
I
have an enduring appreciation for Seventh-day Adventist education. Let me explain why. First of all, I am a Seventh-day Adventist today because of three pivotal, life-changing years I spent in Adventist schools in Detroit, Mich. I spent grades seven, eight, and nine at the Davison, Berean, and F. L. Peterson (now Peterson-Warren) schools in Detroit, and those years marked me as a Seventh-day Adventist for life. I grew up in a nominally Christian home. My parents, both raised as Protestant Christians, were non-church attending folks in my younger years. However, my late maternal grandmother,
6
PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R
Mrs. Pauline Taylor, a devout Christian of another denomination, requested that my parents enroll me in an Adventist school. My parents, concerned about the state of the public schools, consented. And my future was set. The caring, professional teachers in the aforementioned schools were interested in me personally. They cared for me from the first day I attended, not just in general terms but from a spiritual perspective. Certainly there are caring Christian teachers in public schools; however, they are prohibited from openly promoting Christianity. My fellow students accepted
me from day one; it was almost like I was their long-lost brother. I have lifelong friends from those days spent in Seventh-day Adventist elementary and secondary schools. I joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was baptized into the faith at age 14 by Elder Calvin Rock at the City Temple church in Detroit, and I have never regretted it. My wife, Audrey, attended Golden Gate Academy from first through twelfth grades. As parents, we never considered sending our children anywhere but to an Adventist school—and we never doubted our choice. Our children, Jessica and Jona-