public school

I love you. Totally, completely, with a love that burns within my heart. Which is a big part of why I’m willing to risk my popularity and “likability”. True love will risk being hated for truth’s sake. I am there.

If I saw a building on fire at the 10th floor, and you were on the 3rd floor completely unaware, to drive by and not do anything would be the worst form of hatred. But to run into the building, jump up and down, if necessary, to get your attention to tell you the building was on fire–that I would do if I didn’t even like you. But remember, I *love* you.

I believe with everything in me, that the government school system is full of faults. But the worst of these–the ones that should cause us the most pause, is the open denial of God and the attempt to educate children apart from the knowledge of Him who created knowledge itself. (“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”)

The educational system of the state, by their own admission, is NOT neutral and teaches a religion opposed to Christianity. (The Bible refers to such as “having another god before me”). It is the religion of Humanism that is taught in the classroom. (See here, here and here.) To teach a child that God doesn’t exist and that right and wrong is to be found in our own moral reasoning, is to teach a child a false religion. And Christians must recognize this abomination.

I believe that the Bible is FULL of instruction about how we are to educate our children. It is clear, from God’s Word, that our primary responsibility is to bring our children up in the admonition of the Lord, instructing them according to what is written in His Word. This is not just something to be done “around the edges” of their primary instruction. It is to be a daily, continual teaching. If we don’t do it, it is our responsibility to find someone who will. (This post, then, is not necessarily advocating homeschooling.)

The one who teaches a child (the “system” or “curriculum”, not necessarily the individual) forms that child’s worldview–his values, his belief system and his philosophy of life. Regardless of a parent’s specific efforts to counteract, at home, the godless instruction he has received for eight hours a day, and even, if in spite of that, a child’s faith is kept in tact, it does not remove his express obligation to provide his children with a Christian education.

I am not against teachers. I am amazed at the commitment, love and genuine concern for children that most teachers I know have. I was one. I know what they endure. I know how deeply they love their students. I commend them! My opposition to public school has nothing to do with the individuals there. Like many parents, they may not realize what is at the core of the state’s intentions. Or maybe they do, and they are desperate to try to make a difference. It’s a little like eating at a restaurant where the owners are secretly poisoning the food, and the waiter is doing all he can to make the meal as delightful as possible. I wouldn’t blame the waiter for my slow death.

Why do I keep talking about it? Why do I “interfere” in other people’s business? Why can’t I respect another’s choice of public schooling, just like I desire the respect to homeschool?

I “get” these questions. Here are my reasons:

1.  I think the Bible encourages us to admonish one another. We are a BODY. We are members connected to each other. What we do affects us all. My choice–your choice to educate our children is HUGE and it is not an isolated choice. If my hand is injured, the rest of my body suffers from it. I believe the church universal is crippled, largely, because of our choice to let the state have such a powerful influence on our children.

2.  I have the gift of prophecy. I know that sounds kooky, but it’s real 😉 It doesn’t mean I predict the future. It’s simply one of the spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12)

In a nutshell, this is what I live every day:

“…the prophet is interested in the origin and the destination– not the trip. He sees the problem and he knows the solution and he wants to help others get from where they are to where God wants them to be.” Charles Stanley

“The prophet has the ability to recognize sinful behavior and a driving compulsion to confront individuals, groups and/or cultures.” Daniel Borchers

So my heartfelt message is: I cannot help my relentless efforts to bring the message to the body of Christ that I believe is life-giving–“here I stand, I can do no other”. But know as I keep proclaiming it, that there is no spirit of condemnation (it is only God who has this power). Know that I love you. In fact, that is the ONLY reason I feel compelled to wage this war with my pen.

“Thinking that education is something different from discipling our children is a sure sign that we have been ‘educated’ by the state. Education is discipleship.” — R.C. Sproul Jr., When You Rise Up: A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling

(continued from Part 1...) Thinking Like a Christian–Part 2 What Does the Bible Say About Public School?

“There is no God and no soul. Hence, there are no needs for props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or permanent absolutes …. Teaching children to read is a great perversion and a high literacy rate breeds destructive individualism … the child does not go to school to develop individual talents but rather are prepared as “units” in an organic society …. The change in the moral school atmosphere  … are not mere accidents, they are the necessities of the larger social evolution. -John Dewey, “Father of Modern Education”

Religion of the state.

If once we understand that the government actually teaches a religion–Secular Humanism (John Dewey declared Secular Humanism as “our common faith” and it has been granted a tax-exempt status as a religion)–the Christians’ duty should be clear. Just as I would not allow any other religious institution to educate my children (this would be precisely a “false god or teaching”), so I should not consider the most dangerous religion of all…worship of man and his wisdom.

“Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday School’s meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?” Charles F. Potter, Humanism: A New Religion (1930)

“”The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and new – the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism…”
John J. Dunphy, “A New Religion For A New Age”

“I think that the most important factor moving us toward a secular society has been the educational factor. Our schools may not teach Johnny how to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is 16tends toward the elimination of religious superstition. The average American child now acquires a high school education, and this militates against Adam and Eve and all other myths of alleged history.” -P. Blanchard, “The Humanist”

(For more chilling humanist quotes and the aim of public education…Quotes and Dirty Little Secrets for as many shocking quotes about the intent of public education as one can stand in a day.)

The Bible does instruct us how to educate our children: in “the way he should go” and “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. Are these mere cliches, or do we study them and allow them to permeate our lives and our parenting?

If we are to train our children “in the way they should go”, it goes without being said that the their education MUST be Christian. If we are to avoid false teaching, we certainly can’t give our children to the tutelage of a truth-hating system (regardless of where a particular teacher stands). If we are to disciple them in the instruction of the Lord, we must be with them more than anyone else. We must talk to them more than anyone else. We must tie our heart strings to theirs, talk to them in the thousands of moments of life about wisdom, showing them how to walk in the ways of the Lord in the details of the day. This is difficult enough to do without the daily influence of a teaching system opposed to our values.

Moreover, the only true knowledge must begin with “the fear of the Lord”.

“Listen , my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. When I was a boy in my father’s house, still tender, and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live.”

“My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s teaching.”

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deut. 6:6

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” 1 Corinthians 3:19

Scripture is clear: those who aren’t for Him are against Him. Those who do not walk in light walk in darkness. A worldview (i.e. education, standpoint from which one is taught) is either biblical or worldly, and those are at enmity. This is not neutral ground. We let them walk in the counsel of the godly, meditating in His law day and night, or the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of the scornful.

May we be vigilant to seek the Lord and allow His Word to permeate our lives, raising strong men and women of faith to advance the Kingdom of God into the next generation.

Think Outside the Classroom

Think Outside the Classroom

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Are you a homeschooling mother who worries that you aren’t “doing enough”? Are you thinking of homeschooling but feel afraid that you aren’t qualified? If so, read more…

Most parents believe “school is neutral”, are not aware of any agenda outside of “no child left behind”, and often make decisions about educating their children based on visible traits–the reputation of their school, the teachers they know, etc. So if we are thinking like a Christian, what does the Bible say about Public School?

My intent for this series is two-fold: first, to reveal some history and background into the admitted agendas of key influences in the educational system, and get you to think beyond “is my school a good school.” See:

Public Education: Do Standardized Tests Measure Real Education?

A Closer Look at Public Education: Are We Trained to Serve the Economy?

Public Education: Do You Know?

More on “What’s Wrong With Public School” from Gatto

But secondly, to challenge Christian parents to evaluate their biblical responsibility for educating their children.

Is Education Neutral?

Education is NOT neutral, even from a secular standpoint. Social agendas in the last 60 years or so are gaining momentum and academic interests are taking a backseat while our children are being indoctrinated with values not our own. The system is, by and large, interested in making “good citizens”, and often see the family as a hindrance to that aim.

Definition of a “good citizen?” Docile, easily managed, believe-what-we-tell-you men and women driven by consumerism and not likely to challenge the status quo (or recognize the influence of said agenda).

“Schools today do not teach adequately the essential academic subjects. They do not lead by good example. And they do not support traditional family values.  Quite to the contrary, they teach that there is no right or wrong, that tolerance is good and being judgmental bad, that competition is wrong and cooperation good; that all children should have high self-esteem, and that they should explore life and enjoy themselves to the fullest.  Learning to learn, becoming lifelong learners and fitting-in and getting along with the crowd is all that matters. “Progressive” educators, today, promote consensus and group-decision making, and they discourage individual thinking as being egocentric.  They want our children to become “good citizens” that can’t distinguish right from wrong and will fit into the “Global Village” under a “New World Order” that function under a new set of moral values.”  Education News

But for the Christian parent, the stakes are much higher. Does the Bible even speak about education? Since the words “public school” are not found in Scripture, is this an area of neutrality?

What Does the Bible Say?

The truth is that the Bible most certainly tells us how to educate our children and we are accountable to that knowledge. To think that God would remain silent on such an important issue is naive at best.

Two commonly violated biblical principles of education:

Commonly, it is argued that a child can attend school but still have his parents fulfill the biblical command of nurturing him in the admonition of the Lord. I will not suggest this can’t be true when the child is not at school. Yet the fact remains, that for the majority of the day that child is NOT being nurtured in the admonition of the Lord. The majority of the day the child is being subjected to “the counsel of the ungodly”, even if he has a gagged Christian teacher here and there. The curriculum of the state is decidedly opposed to Christianity and separates the knowledge of God from every subject.

This fact alone violates two biblical principles: “walking not in the counsel of the ungodly” and “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.

To be continued…

John Taylor Gatto (former National Teacher of the Year after 30 years in the public school system) is perhaps one of the most passionate advocates for school reform overhaul. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

“I want you to consider the frightening possibility that we are spending far too much money on schooling, not too little. I want you to consider that we have too many people employed in interfering with the way children grow up – and that all this money and all these people, all the time we take out of children’s lives and away from their homes and families and neighborhoods and private explorations – gets in the way of education.

And yet last year in St. Louis, I heard a vice-president of IBM tell an audience of people assembled to redesign the process of teacher certification that in his opinion this country became computer-literate by self-teaching, not through any action of schools. He said 45 million people were comfortable with computers who had learned through dozens of non-systematic strategies, none of them very formal; if schools had pre-empted the right to teach computer use we would be in a horrible mess right now instead of leading the world in this literacy.”

 

“…schooling after the Prussian fashion removes the ability of the mind to think for itself. It teaches people to wait for a teacher to tell them what to do and if what they have done is good or bad. Prussian teaching paralyses the moral will as well as the intellect.”

“Bertrand Russell once observed that American schooling was among the most radical experiments in human history, that America was deliberately denying its children the tools of critical thinking. When you want to teach children to think, you begin by treating them seriously when they are little, giving them responsibilities, talking to them candidly, providing privacy and solitude for them, and making them readers and thinkers of significant thoughts from the beginning. That’s if you want to teach them to think.

Kindergarten was created to be a way to break the influence of mothers on their children. I note with interest the growth of daycare in the US and the repeated urgings to extend school downward to include 4-year-olds.”

Think Outside the Classroom

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In this series on education, I have and will quote quite often from John Taylor Gatto because I believe he is not only highly qualified to speak, having been intensely involved with the public school system for more than thirty years, but I also believe he has a pure agenda, motivated only by a simple love of truth and people. He is as studied and competent a man I’ve ever read and we would do well to at least consider his observations and conclusions.

Open discussion is encouraged and welcomed, providing it remains respectful and dignified.

The following is a small excerpt from a speech Gatto gave with perhaps some of the most interesting perspectives on compulsory education I have ever read:

“There can be no doubt that the fantastic wealth of American big business is a direct result of school training. Schools training a social lump to be needy, frightened, envious, bored, talentless and incomplete. The successful mass-production economy demands such an audience. It isn’t anybody’s fault. Just as the Amish small business, small farm economy requires intelligence, competence, thoughtfulness and compassion, ours needs a well managed mass — level, anxious, spiritless families, godless and conforming; people who believe that the difference between Coke and Pepsi is matter worth arguing about. The American economy depends on schooling us that status is purchased and others run our lives. We learn there that sources of joy and accomplishment are external, that the contentment comes with the possessions, seldom from within. School cuts our ability to concentrate to a few minutes duration, creating a life-long craving for relief from boredom through outside stimulation. In conjunction with television and computer games, which employ the identical teaching methodology, these lessons are permanently inscribed. We become fearful, stupid, voiceless and addicted to novelty.

The secret of American schooling is that it doesn’t teach the way children learn — nor is it supposed to. Schools were conceived to serve the economy and the social order rather than kids and families — that is why it is compulsory. As a consequence, the school can not help anybody grow up, because its prime directive is to retard maturity. It does that by teaching that everything is difficult, that other people run our lives, that our neighbors are untrustworthy even dangerous. School is the first impression children get of society. Because first impressions are often the decisive ones, school imprints kids with fear, suspicion of one another, and certain addictions for life. It ambushes natural intuition, faith, and love of adventure, wiping these out in favor of a gospel of rational procedure and rational management.

From John Taylor Gatto’s Speech

As we homeschool, we continue to battle a highly ingrained system of “the right way” to do things. Since most of us were educated by the government system, part of that education consequently led us to believe that the methodologies used were the “best” if not the only way to properly educate children. Only a minimal amount of research (if one is willing to challenge the sacred cow of public education) reveals that much of the approach of government education is not only academically inferior, but meant from the beginning to “dumb down” the public.

No subject is perhaps as controversial as this one. I recently got a very heated email from a pastor’s wife “lashing” me for “the wound I inflict” on parents who send their children to public school. I’ll be honest, I felt a bit shocked simply because of where my intentions lie. Be assured…I’d rather be guilty of inflicting “the faithful wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6) than to offer a “deceitful kiss as an enemy” for the sake of being liked and avoiding strife. I don’t speak about this subject for ANY reason than to communicate what I believe is truth, the only loving thing I can see to do. There is no condemnation except what one may find in discovering the facts.

Additionally, in discussing the issue of public school, though it may seem so, I am not “against” the individuals–schools, teachers, administers–who make up the real arenas. (I’m related to many of them and love them dearly!) It’s the system–a long-standing agenda–with which I disagree. I pray you hear my heart.

I will be writing several more posts on this topic after Christmas, when we return from Colorado (Merry Christmas to you all!!)…but the following excerpt from an article in the Washington Post is a great, thought-provoking beginning to our conversation:

“A longtime friend on the school board of one of the largest school systems in America did something that few public servants are willing to do. He took versions of his state’s high-stakes standardized math and reading tests for 10th graders, and said he’d make his scores public.

“The math section had 60 questions. I knew the answers to none of them, but managed to guess ten out of the 60 correctly. On the reading test, I got 62% . In our system, that’s a “D”, and would get me a mandatory assignment to a double block of reading instruction.

It seems to me something is seriously wrong. I have a bachelor of science degree, two masters degrees, and 15 credit hours toward a doctorate.

“I help oversee an organization with 22,000 employees and a $3 billion operations and capital budget, and am able to make sense of complex data related to those responsibilities.

A test that can determine a student’s future life chances should surely relate in some practical way to the requirements of life.”

When an Adult Took Standardized Tests…