Page 106 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8

Christian Psychology alive

Wendy Greyvensteyn Wendy-Leigh

The integration of Greyvensteyn
is a Clinical
education, psychology Psychologist
in
Pretoria,
and Christianity for a South Africa.
population of adolescent She is in pri-
vate
practice
South Africans and also acts
as a consultant
for a few orga-
This article serves to give a case report about nisations, such
the integration of Christianity, psychology, and as churches and schools. Wendy-Leigh is
education for a population of over 600 ado- also currently doing her PhD through the
lescent black South Africans scholars at Cor- University of South Africa in the area of
nerstone College. This article is a case report the integration of psychology and Chri-
and is by no means an academic discussion. stianity.
Here home language is English.
Cornerstone College is a high school in Preto-
ria, South Africa, and it caters for previously di- whurlin@hambanet.co.za
sadvantaged South African learners. The school
was founded in 1992 in response to the national characterised by academic excellence, spiritual
crisis, perpetuated through Apartheid, which growth, and biblical integrity. The school places
forced learners of a certain race to be discrimi- much prominence on presenting the truth of
nated against by disallowing them access to cer- the gospel to their learners in a way that equips
tain white-dominated schools. This resulted in them to apply it to the challenging realities that
a massive disparity of equality of education for they are faced with on a daily basis. As men-
the youth of South Africa, with many of them tioned, the school achieves this fine balance
either not being educated, or receiving educati- through the integration of Christianity, gene-
on that was substandard. Cornerstone College ral academic education, and sound psycholo-
was, therefore, established from the deep con- gical research. Over the last five years, internal
viction that all pupils be treated with equali- research within the school has shown that the
ty, and presented with a Godly platform from parents of the learners often feel uninformed
which to excel into the future. For the purpo- and ill-equipped in navigating their adolescents
se of accessibility, the school is located on the through the challenges that they are faced with.
outskirts of the less affluent suburbs of Pretoria Many of the parents from the school are sin-
in an effort to cater for these pupils. The school gle parents for a myriad of reasons, including
fees have been consistently substantially below divorce, spousal death, extended family death
the average for private schooling in South Afri- through HIV/AIDS, spousal abandonment/ne-
ca. This has been a deliberate decision taken by glect, and poor socio-economic circumstances.
the owners of the school due to the fact that the Many families are also cared for by a guardian
many parents are unable to afford the exorbitant (often another family member) due to the fact
fees traditionally charged for private education. that the learner has been orphaned. It is often
Therefore, Cornerstone College creates the op- the case that learners lives with their grand-
portunity for learners across socio-economic parents who raise them so that their parent/
divides to receive affordable quality education. parents can travel more diversely in pursuing
In terms of the ethos of the school, Cornerstone steady employment. The traditional wester-
College is an evangelical Christian school that nised notion of family unit, therefore, is often
emphasizes the importance of a holistic ap- vastly different to what we are seeing represen-
proach to education. This holistic approach is ted within the families at the school.

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