Parental Expectations of Education for Children in a Local Church

Expectations for various roles of those responsible for Christian education of children may be defined by the church institution. However, persons in these roles through their own expectations and interaction with others may effect the enacted roles. Role theory as a part of interactionalism is used to explain the phenomena of this particular situation. To identify the parental e3?pectations, a survey was taken. The survey included demographic information and a wide range of statements of possible expectations with a five point response scale. Responses of 70 participants indicated homogenity of general characteristics. Statements that parents are mainly responsible for their children\u27s Christian education and parents want their children in a varied program which would be Bible centered and designed for religious experience and learning about relationships, self development, morals, moral decision making and God\u27s world and its care drew support. - Areas with mixed responses included forced participation, and parents being told and disciplining their children. A chi square contingency test was applied to various pairings of statements. At 5% level, significance was found which indicated a possibility of correlation between some pairings. Process were identified as possibilities for use of this study toward developing an effective Christian education program in. light of role theory