What Business is Your School in?

What business is your school in?

For the moment, I ask you to grant me the premise that the school, while first and foremost an educational institution, functions like a business in that it embraces an economy.  But what economy?

Generally speaking, an economy system consists of the consumption of services by individuals or groups in a given location.  When applied to the school, an economy is that which is provided by the school for its students.  

In The Experience Economy (Harvard Business School, 2011), B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore begin their work by identifying four economies: commodities, goods, services, and experiences.  The two scholars illustrate the economies in this way: the coffee bean is a commodity, packaged coffee on a shelf in a grocery store is a good, coffee with breakfast at the local diner is a service, and coffee at Starbucks an experience.

Experiences, however, are not the final economic offering. Later in their book, Pine and Gilmore identify the economy of life transformation.  Here companies design their services and experiences so that they have a lasting effect on the buyer. 

What is your school’s economy? 

Clearly, education is your commodity and Christian education is your goods. But what about your services and experiences?

What are your services and experiences as Christian educators?

If your school is like my alma mater, first and foremost it offers classroom instruction shaped by a Christian worldview and delivered by highly competent Christian educators. But your services are not limited to the classroom. Your school most-likely offers counseling services, social services, recreational services, family services, and more.  

If your school is like my alma mater, it also offers experiences. Your school has an annual calendar filled with festivities which prioritize the aesthetic. Homecoming, as an example, includes a variety of elements, including decorations, mascots, class reunions, a sporting event, and music.  We do all of that with the hope of moving hearts towards greater devotion to the school.     

Finally, if your school is like my alma mater is like mine, its ultimate goal is life transformation. While we hope for glowing academic scores, approval by our accreditors, and positive reviews of our experiences, we also hope that both our services and experiences effect life transformation. We hope to play an essential role in the spiritual maturity of those we serve. Consequently, when given the freedom to do so, we design services and experiences which contribute to life transformation. 

Those who have been in education for any length of time recognize that we may also need to eliminate services and experiences which fail to contribute to life transformation. Of course, that is easier said than done.  Services and experiences are treasured by those for whom they were once transformative. They imagine both continuing to shape the lives of others as they shaped their own. They struggle admitting that some services and experiences lack the life-transforming power for others that they once possessed for them. Still, if the goal is life transformation, every service and experience must be evaluated on the basis of that expectation.

What business are we in? Without question Christian schools are in the business of life transformation.  We long for our schools, and those within them, to follow Jesus Christ and be empowered to faithfulness by the Holy Spirit. And, without question, the Christian school is one of the most effective businesses in society for life transformation.