YORBA LINDA : Russians Touring Christian Schools

As Americans on Tuesday were electing the first Democratic President in 12 years, change of a different sort was occurring at a Christian middle school here.

Four education officials from Russia, including the deputy minister of education, visited Friends Christian School at Rose Drive Friends Church. The purpose of the visit was to observe firsthand how Christian schools integrate religion into curriculum.

“We went a long time without faith in Russia,” said Deputy Minster of Education Aleksandr G. Asmolov through an interpreter. “This visit is a time of searching for ways to bring that faith back.”

The group is visiting five Christian schools during its nine-day stay in Orange County. They will also attend a convention sponsored by the Assn. of Christian Schools International at the Anaheim Convention Center today and Friday.

According to Paul Kienel, executive director of the Christian schools group, the Russian Ministry of Education has asked his organization to train teachers there in Christian values and ethics.

“They said they need to put God back into their country, and they want to begin with the children first,” Kienel said. “We have trained over 7,000 teachers and plan to train thousands more.”

Kienel said he thought it was ironic that Russian education officials were visiting Christian schools while American public schools have maintained a distance from them.

“I would compare it to the Berlin Wall coming down if American public educators showed similar interest in putting God into public classrooms,” Kienel said. “I don’t expect to see that in my time.”

At an assembly of Friends Christian School’s 350 fifth- through eighth-grade pupils, Asmolov compared Russian students to Bambi as the fictional fawn made his way across a frozen lake.

“Our life is like (Bambi on that) big lake,” Asmolov said. “Our task is to cross the lake without falling down.”

Children in Christian schools in the United States have their Bibles and faith to help them through life, Asmolov said.

“Who helps the children in Russia? They are close to falling down,” he said.

After the assembly, Asmolov and other Russian officials toured the campus and visited several classrooms. The others were Aleksey K. Brudnov, chairman of the Department of Alternative Education; Olga A. Polykovskaja, education specialist for moral and ethic curriculum; and Alexandr M. Abramov, director of the Moscow Institute of Educational Systems.

In the library, Asmolov asked which literary classics students studied, then asked about specific titles.

“Anything by J.D. Salinger?” Asmolov queried through his interpreter, apparently unaware that many Christian organizations have condemned Salinger’s classic “The Catcher in the Rye.”

In a history class, the Russians watched as a teacher explained the voting process to eighth-grade students. The group then answered questions from the students about the weather in Russia, the length of their flight and what the group thought of California.

One young boy asked if Russians like having freedom. When his question was translated, the group nodded and smiled.

“Yes we like it,” interpreter Sofia Manukova said. “Having freedom is good.”