In Defense Of Old Order Mennonite Education

Mountain View is one of six two-room Old Order 
Mennonite schools in southwestern Rockingham County.

Local Old Order Mennonites keep their formal education simple and have kept things pretty much the same as when they first established their own schools for grades one through eight beginning in 1968.

Conservative Mennonites of the horse and buggy variety in Rockingham County have, among other things, managed to preserve one of the most pristine and unspoiled region of family farms in all of the South. And chief among their contributions to our community are their offspring, mostly honest, hard working, law-abiding and tax-paying citizens who require few government services, take care of their own aging (without relying on social security and Medicare) and who provide for their own education.

But is that education of equal quality to what our public schools offer? Based on standardized tests they do well above average when it comes to the basic three R's, and of course excel when it comes to Bible instruction, but is that enough to prepare their young for today's challenges? And are their teachers, mostly graduates of their own eight grade programs (many of whom first served as teacher assistants), adequately trained?

These are valid questions, to be sure. But these people do offer some of their own training for their teachers each summer, with experienced teachers passing on their wisdom to the newer recruits, and they do avail themselves of the help in teachers' manuals accompanying their text books, some of which are produced by Christian Light Publication, a local conservative publishing organization. And while their library offerings are very limited, most Old Order families do buy and borrow books and other reading material for members of their households, and many are regular readers of our local newspaper, the Daily News-Record, which greatly values its Old Order subscribers. 

One thing is clear, Old Order Mennonites don't rely on their schools alone to educate their children. From early childhood their young are taught by their elders to produce, preserve and prepare food on their farms, gardens, and green houses. Their daughters learn gardening, how to sew their own clothes, take care of younger siblings and how to otherwise manage a household. Their sons learn whatever is necessary for the maintenance and management of their family's extensive dairy, poultry and/or other enterprises. So by the time their non-Mennonite peers are graduating from high school, most Old Order teens have already learned skills sufficient to make them capable of taking over many of the responsibilities of managing their family's entire operation as needed.

On recent visits to the Mountain View School I was again impressed by the dedication of their young teachers and assistants, and by the diligence of their students, many of whom walk to school, arrive by bicycle, or are transported by drivers paid for by their parents. I was especially impressed by the fact that the current lead teacher of grades 5-8, a young woman in her early 20's, drives a horse and buggy to school every day from her home seven miles away.

In summary, the Old Order community appears to accomplish in depth what it may appear to lack in breadth. It produces young people well prepared to pass on their faith- and family-focused way of life, but without exposing them to the full array of information and options the rest of the world may offer.

Which is pretty much what they intend.

As someone who grew up in a similar community (mine was Amish, a rapidly growing group that has been separate from Mennonites since 1683), I have a special appreciation for the efforts of faith communities dedicated to helping preserve some of the important values of past generations. Such "old order" adherents, in my mind, represent a kind of monastic way of life they don't expect all of their neighbors to adopt, but which remind us all that not everything that is new is necessarily better, that not all that glitters is gold, and that we should make sure we don't discard ancient wisdom in pursuit of the latest innovation or invention. 

Some of the upper grade student at recess. (photos by Ruby Schrock)

Postscript: A local Old Order group that no longer requires horse and buggy transportation (Mt. Pleasant and Hinton Mennonite churches) operates the Hickory Hollow School along Limestone Lane, one that now includes some classes for grades 9-12; the Southeastern Conference Mennonites offer grades 1-12 at their Berea Christian School; the Calvary Mennonite churches have classes for grades 1-12 at the former Mt. Clinton Elementary School; and the more progressive Virginia Conference Mennonites offer kindergarten through grade 12 education at Eastern Mennonite School next to the EMU campus.