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public school

The One Indispensable Constituent of a Good Education

by Kelly Crawford February 16, 2011

written by Kelly Crawford

This article is too good not to share. It encapsulates the answer to the big question, “What’s wrong with society?” for those who realize that there is something terribly wrong.

“God’s theory on education is quite different than the theories that men have come up with in the modern world….

What then would constitute a good science class, for example? Picture the instructor describing the order, the beauty, the complexity, the expanse, and the glory of the universe, the human body, and the animal kingdom. Then, he lifts his arms and says in a whisper to the class, Silence for a moment! All of you, stand in awe of him! Stand in awe of him! Let us worship the mighty Creator of heaven and earth. Anything short of this is not good science….

“What happens to a nation that doesn’t teach the fear of God as the beginning of wisdom for five generations? What happens to a nation that will not build its house upon Jesus and his words? When the rains come and floods rise, that house will come down, and great will be the fall of it (Matt. 7:27)! That nation will find 37% of children born without fathers, up from 6% in 1960, and half of marriages ending in divorce. That nation will become the greatest debtor nation on earth and inherit the weakest families in the entire western world. Sound familiar?”

Read the rest of “…A Good Education”. And then tell me what you think.

February 16, 2011 7 comments

The Anti-Educational Effects of Public Schools

by Kelly Crawford August 31, 2010

written by Kelly Crawford

The Anti-Educational Effects of Public Schools is perhaps one of the most well-articulated and creative looks at some of the problems of compulsory public education I’ve ever read. (Hat tip to Lori!)

“Indeed, some of the teachers there are genuinely competent and interested in the advancement of their students. It is just that virtually all the incentives are wrong…The very environment of a public school brings with it severe consequences — some unintended, others intended perhaps in part — that turn it into the virtual antithesis of true education.”

Even mentioning public schooling in a negative light evokes deep emotion in many, reinforcing the ingrained loyalty placed in us by the system itself.

This article actually discusses several angles you may have not even considered before (what is “school spirit” really about anyway?) and the author (though not a Christian that I can tell) does a superb job of candidly exposing some of the downfalls of public education.

His conclusion? Deep budget cuts to the educational system could be the best thing to ever happen in our country to the real pursuit of education.

Worth the read! I’d love to hear your thoughts when you’re done.

The Anti-Educational Effects of Public Schools

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, r ead more…

August 31, 2010 233 comments

entrepreneur homeschooling public school

Is the Classroom Harming Boys and Society?

by Kelly Crawford April 30, 2010

written by Kelly Crawford

Need another reason to homeschool?

“…we’re not as concerned as we ought to be about the millions of young men who are floundering or lost.

But they’re there: The young men who are working in the lowest-level (and most dangerous) jobs instead of going to college. Who are sitting in prison instead of going to college. [My note: I would also add “instead of becoming entrepreneurs”, understanding the great opportunities that await and are not limited to those with college degrees.] Who are staying out of the long-term marriage pool because they have little to offer to young women. Who are remaining adolescents, wasting years of their lives playing video games for hours a day, until they’re in their thirties, by which time the world has passed many of them by.

Root Problem

Whether in the prison system, in my university classes or in the schools where I help train teachers, I have noticed a systemic problem with how we teach and mentor boys that I call “industrial schooling,” and that I believe is a primary root of our sons’ falling behind in school, and quite often in life.

Two hundred years ago, realizing the necessity of schooling millions of kids, we took them off the farms and out of the marketplace and put them in large industrial-size classrooms (one teacher, 25 to 30 kids). For many kids, this system worked — and still works. But from the beginning, there were some for whom it wasn’t working very well. Initially, it was girls. It took more than 150 years to get parity for them.

Problem With Industrialized Schooling

Now we’re seeing what’s wrong with the system for millions of boys…

Continue Reading

April 30, 2010 29 comments

christian living homeschooling motherhood/family/parenting public school

Christians: A Form of Godliness Denying Its Power?

by Kelly Crawford September 17, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

(First sentence edited…my apologies if it sounded unloving. I had just come from the discussion that spurred this post, and was feeling a little “charged” 😉

I wonder why so many Christians never stop and say, “What are we doing wrong?” I’m amazed at how quickly some get upset about any suggestions outside the “norm”, yet are equally upset when their children turn out like that norm. I get comments to posts about dating that go something like, “Well, I think it’s silly to expect your children to refrain from a physical relationship during the dating years….” or “How will they know if they want to marry someone if they don’t see what kind of kisser they are?” (I’m serious.)

But then the same parents are angry when their child comes home pregnant. (Scratching head.)

Then comments to the public school debate that go something like, “We are supposed to be in the world”, completely disregarding any biblical principle that suggests that to be “in the world” has nothing to do with allowing our children to be taught by a secular religion and becoming a “companion of fools”, the values of which usually trump any the parents try to impart.

But I digress….kind of.

My sister and I were talking yesterday about the high school classmates she had met up with on Facebook. About half of them were already divorced, having just graduated from high school a few years ago. Unfortunately my sister is one of them. It should be noted, this was a Christian high school. Most of the kids came from “Christian” homes. One of the classmates was in jail for murder, one had a near-pornographic picture as her profile, and several others were involved in lifestyles not mentionable.

“For men…shall be…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:4-5

I’m just shaking my head asking, “What is wrong with this picture?” Divorce happens. Maybe. But at such alarming rates? Among Christians? Children out of wedlock happens. But this often? Fornication. Divorce. Drugs. Crime. Aren’t these the things that Paul admonished the church to “not even let it be mentioned among you”?

And I think again of Einstein’s brilliant quote:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.”

So before you write off some “zany” idea like homeschooling or an alternative to dating, consider the proven alternatives. We are doing something terribly wrong, and it’s high time more people say “enough is enough”. If we claim to be new creatures, let us live like it, and not just give lip service.

“For you at one time were dark, but now are light in the Lord: let your behaviour be that of children of light…” Eph. 5:8

September 17, 2009 134 comments

homeschooling motherhood/family/parenting political public school Voddie Baucham

What Does the School Bus Have to Do With the Future of American Healthcare?

by Kelly Crawford September 1, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

“One of the mantras we hear repeatedly these days is, “we don’t want socialism.” While that sounds good (and conservative, and constitutional, and patriotic, etc.), it rings hollow when you consider the overwhelming majority of the people leading the charge have their children in what amounts to socialized education. What’s the difference? If you’re really against government-run, socialized programs, yank your kid off the yellow prison bus and just say no.”

Read the rest of The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthcare

September 1, 2009 9 comments

homeschooling motherhood/family/parenting public school

Public School: The Insanity of the Right

by Kelly Crawford August 31, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

(Thanks to Heather for passing along this article.)

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein

“Next month the right will send millions of their own children to public schools that are literally controlled by the left – meaning that it is only the liberals’ “values,” “morals” and curriculum that are taught in our government schools.

“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?”

– C.F. Potter, signer of Humanist Manifesto 1930

Using public education as a “weapon” is nothing new. It was Josef Stalin who said, “Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” Wake up, conservatives! They want our children, and we are handing them right over. Remember, giving aid and comfort to the enemy during time of war is considered treason, and this is what we are doing by placing our children in the leftist schools.”

“Open war is upon you whether you will risk it or not!” Aragorn in Return of the King

“So next time the right wants to accuse the liberals of having a mental disorder or some sort of madness, consider that this mental illness must be contagious and that we conservatives just may have given it to them. After all, it is the right who still send their children and youth every year to the left’s schools for an “education.””

“… [E]very child in American entering schools at the age of 5 is insane because he comes to schools with certain allegiances toward our Founding Fathers, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. …”

– Chester Pierce, professor of education at Harvard (1970)

“I believe that … [public] education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform … this conception has due regard for … socialistic ideals.” and “There is no God and there is no soul. … There is no room for fixed … or moral absolutes.”

– John Dewey, father of modern public education and signer of Humanist Manifesto 1930

Read the rest of the article at World Net Daily

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, r ead more…

August 31, 2009 48 comments

homeschooling pregnancy/birth control public school Voddie Baucham

Top 5 Reasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Gov’t School: Baucham

by Kelly Crawford July 8, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

Because I love God’s people…because I’m heart-broken over the constant news of God’s people losing their children, or raising spiritually impotent ones…because I believe there is clarity from Scripture about the responsibility of Christian parents….and because I would betray my conscience to refrain from speaking.

Voddie Baucham posted a poignant look at public school and the Christian’s responsibility…it’s worth clicking the link at the bottom to read in its entirety.

Please know that though this topic is sure to arouse anger and the accusations that I’m so accustomed to, I post in humility and love…love could be the only possible reason I would dare to subject myself to the persecution to come.

“Jesus made it quite clear when he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30 ESV) I am amazed at how many Christians refuse to acknowledge this fact as it relates to the government school system. Our education is either based on biblical truth, or some other truth. There is no such thing as neutrality in this regard. All education is religious in nature. Since it is illegal for students in our government schools to be taught from a Christian perspective, then it follows that they must be taught from a non (or anti) Christian perspective….

According to the common refrain, “It doesn’t matter what educational choice you make… you just have to pray about it and do what the Lord leads your family to do.” However, I must confess I find this this concept disturbing on a number of fronts. First, this kind of thinking denies the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible speaks either directly, or principally to every aspect of life. There are no grey areas. Sure, there are things that are difficult to discern, but education is not one of them.” -Voddie Baucham

Top 5 Reasons Not to Send Your Kids Back to Gov’t School

July 8, 2009 107 comments

motherhood/family/parenting public school

My New Hero…Gresham Machen-"Don’t give Your Children to the Bureaucrats"

by Kelly Crawford March 2, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

I have discovered a new hero of sorts…Gresham Machen, (1881-1937) theologian and Christian warrior.

He saw it coming, long before it came.

“Machen is one of many prominent American defenders of political liberty and economic freedom who have been largely forgotten by a people intent on abandoning its heritage of freedom.”

“Long before the federal Department of Education was finally created in the 1970s, efforts had been made to establish it in the 1920s. Machen vigorously opposed those efforts in published letters, essays in national magazines, speaking engagements, and in an appearance before a joint Congressional committee. There, Machen warned against government control over young people: “If you give the bureaucrats the children, you might as well give them everything else as well.”

A national department of education was not the only government intrusion into education which drew Machen’s opposition. The “Lusk Laws” of New York which would have compelled private schools to obtain state licenses, and Nebraska’s Language Law (ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court) which prohibited teaching a foreign language to any pre-9th grade student, were both cited by Machen as examples of improper but not unexpected government interference in the learning process. While not opposing locally operated public schools per se, Machen set forth his position regarding school and state in no uncertain terms:

“Place the lives of children in their formative years, despite the convictions of their parents, under the intimate control of experts appointed by the state, force them to attend schools where the higher aspirations of humanity are crushed out, and where the mind is filled with the materialism of the day, and it is difficult to see how even the remnants of liberty can subsist.” –Machen

Excerpt from FREEMAN

March 2, 2009 7 comments

motherhood/family/parenting political public school

They’ve Banned Tag–Yes, the Game–Because Kids Were Chasing Each Other

by Kelly Crawford February 23, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

Love Glenn Beck…can’t help it. Yeah, I know he’s Mormon. He’s also smart, he’s got a backbone and a brain. A rarity among media-types these days. I’ve copied and pasted a few of my favorite pieces from him for posts here and there. I’m so glad he’s still allowed on prime time television.

This radio show transcript is just too funny, and sad, all at the same time. The last paragraph is the best.

GLENN: Colorado schools have banned tag on its playgrounds. I’m having a hard time with this one. For as evil as I think tag is, you know, I worked tirelessly to make sure we didn’t do dodge ball. Dodge ball, they are throwing a ball at you. How are you expected to survive, you know? Red Rover, Red Rover, send so-and-so right over? I was never picked. It lowered my self-esteem. I mean, he was always the last guy. Red Rover, Red Rover, send anybody but Glenn over. Can you check in the classroom, see if there’s anybody doing their homework. Where’s Arnold? Can you call Arnold’s mom, see if he can come out to play because we definitely don’t want anybody — we don’t want anybody named Glenn to come right over. Oh, it’s tragic. So hopefully we can get Red Rover, Red Rover banned as well.

A Colorado school has banned tag because some children complained that they were being chased.

Just a second. I’m sorry. I just want to — they’re playing tag. Tag, tag, tag… tag, and they were being chased. Well, what will they think of next? Now kids are chasing each other during tag. My gosh, what’s next. One of the assistant principals of the Discovery Canyon school — may I ask, please tell me, Colorado, that’s called Discovery Canyon that that’s the town or the area? It’s not like, hi, welcome to Discovery Canyon School; you can discover all kinds of things. Doesn’t that just sound politically correct?

She says that the running games will still be allowed as long as you don’t chase each other. May I ask you a question? When you were in the third grade, isn’t that pretty much what you did all day? When you would go out and you’d play on the playground, you’d chase each other? Right now Cheyenne just learned how to walk and every day I look down at my — I look down at my webcam and for, like, an hour all they’re doing around the house is chasing each other around our — we have this enormous coffee table in our living room, and all they’re doing is chasing each other around the coffee table. That’s what happens with kids. That’s what they do. And I don’t know if you’ve missed the — well, I haven’t seen tag’s rules in quite some time, but isn’t that it? They chase you? You try to outrun them so you’re not it and then when you are it, you chase somebody?

Here’s an idea. Kids, if you don’t want to be chased, stop running. Then they’ll tag you. Then you chase them! That way they can have their attorneys call your parents and sue you for chasing them as opposed to your attorneys suing them for chasing you. It’s incredible.

Two parents have complained about the ban on tag but most parents and children didn’t object, the assistant principal said. Yeah. You know why? That’s because they’re all dead now. They’re all just, their souls have been sucked out of them. They just might as well, they’re in their house now and they see on the news… “Oh, looks like they’ve banned tag” and they’re just sitting in their living room, of course we ban tag; I mean, why not ban tag. Kids are being chased. Honey, do we have anything in the house that I can overdose on?

I mean, that’s what’s happening to us! We’re not complaining anymore because we know it won’t make a difference! We’re sheep. Banning tag.

February 23, 2009 39 comments

homeschooling motherhood/family/parenting public school

Gatto: State Controlled Consciousness (Public School)

by Kelly Crawford February 11, 2009

written by Kelly Crawford

I think I’ve posted this video before, but it’s worth posting again. If you are hesitant to believe that the original model of public school began with a dangerous agenda, J.T. Gatto details the proof and origin of that agenda.

Interestingly, though his book and this interview took place years ago, we can see all the more clearly the truth of his claims in our current system.

Remember the post the other day about “doing away with traditional family ideals”? This was the very intent from the beginning–“family structure is a hindrance to a Utopian society and children have to be separated from it”.

PLEASE listen, ponder then pass it on–don’t be afraid!

February 11, 2009 35 comments

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