Collapse of Middle Class Means Collapse of Religious Edcation

Mark, your humble servant agrees. For instance, when this writer did planning work for new "parental voucher schools" in the central city of Milwaukee, eventually emerged, he found fraud. People were running schools without degrees of any kind. Being a butcher during the week and a preacher on the weekend does not quality you to be a professional educator. On the other hand, this writer earned his initial teacher certification through Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois, a thoroughly Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod educational organization. It met all secular professional standards without sacrificing its religious mission. In fact, this writer was certified as a "Teaching Minister" of the Missour Synod through theological studies at the same time he earned his State of Illinois teaching credential. The challenge for places like this is the decline of the middle class that had enough surplus income to patronize them. As the middle class collapses, such educational organizations are at big risk - unless they embrace new combinations of online and onsite learning - that is affordable.