Distinctives of a Christian education

Much energy and paper has been spent attempting to define what a Christian education involves. The focus is usually on
-the content of the material that is taught and hopefully learnt
-the Christian beliefs of the teacher, parents, and/or students.

However, I think the focus instead should be on the attitude and motivations of the parties involved.
Today, the perspective of pagans (and mimicked by many Christians) is largely that education is a means to an end:
power, social status, and money.
There is little love or enjoyment of the subject matter.

In contrast, a Christian should love the subject matter: knowledge of the world the Tri-une God has created and sinful man struggles to understand and describe.

Furthermore, the motivation is to gain knowledge that can be used to serve others not to rule over them. Furthermore, that service may involve forsaking the power, social status, and money that may be in reach with completion of education.

I thank my South Asian friends, particularly Vinoth Ramachandra and Ian Payne, for helping me appreciate these points.