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I love to revisit the topic of “real education” because I think there is such a dearth of it in our day. And while I wrote more on this topic in the ebook “Think Outside the Classroom”, we read an article this morning that really inspired me again.
Whether you are a Lincoln fan or not, it is worthy noting his “unusual” education, at least compared to our day, and contrast it to the vast dumbing down of our current educational system.
Lincoln had one year of “formal” schooling which was called “blab” school. Basically, a room of children recited the alphabet, Scripture, and multiplication tables out loud. There were no books but the Bible, and they stood in line to read from it.
After that, his learning was self-directed. He read. He copied what he read. He rehearsed and ruminated on what he read. He hung on every word of the aged visitors that came to his house. That was basically it. He didn’t have an “expert” feeding him from a text book.
Too simple?
Yes, for those of us brainwashed to believe an education must involve heavy expense and labor-intensive programs. (They tell us more money = better education…has anyone seen proof of this?)
Ironically, Lincoln’s insatiable desire appears to hinge largely on the fact there was so little available to him.
Listen to this author’s observation:
“Perhaps the defining element of this paradigm [reading aloud, copying and memorizing] rests in the literature that formed the young boy’s palate and fired his insatiable appetite for learning. These were NOT textbooks, nor ordinary works, but rather texts that comprise part of the canon of Western literature. The importance of this fact cannot be overstated when juxtaposed against a contemporary culture so rife with mediocrity.” (Emphasis mine.)
Lincoln, and many other great scholars, were not fed a steady diet of “See Jane Run”. They were immersed, at very early ages, into rich works of literature, the greatest of which was the Word of God.
(Remember where the beginning of wisdom is found?)
Other great works that became the foundation of his learning: Shakespeare’s plays, Robinson Crusoe, Aesop’s Fables, The Pilgrim’s Progress, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and Life of Washington.
Could it be that those in ultimate control of our educational system know the danger of self-learning, and realize it would have disastrous effects on their goal to mass generate “lemmings”? (Did I just say that?)
Little angers me more than to hear educational elites talk about the “damage” done to children who are taught a biblical worldview. Every sage of the past was taught a biblical worldview, and there is hardly to be found his equal among “scholars” of our day. Don’t feed me a lie that won’t stand against clear evidence.
May we all relax and trust the proof of real education. God was right, yet again.
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate day and night.”
11 comments
Do you think there is a conspiracy? Is there a clutch of people who are conspiring, and do they know what they are doing? Or is it just the “spirit of the age?”
Around here, you have to buy your own books. We live in a town of 250 people, and there isn’t another little town around for 25 miles in any direction.
Our library has three shelves of mostly romance novels. If you drive 25 miles, there are towns of about 1,500 people. Their libraries have 4 shelves of mostly romance novels!
You have to drive 50 miles to a county library, and they have a few decent books. Pretty sad.
Libraries around here usually discard older stuff, because nobody checks it out and reads it.
Viva la Romance Novel!
Civilla,
Thrift Stores, Amazon.com and Ebay are our favorite resources for great books.
Do I think there is a conspiracy? In part, yes. But few people actually doing the work of educating are aware of it. I think it’s from much higher and deeper an agenda, so it’s not very obvious to the public.
This excerpt by Jim Fedako sums up some of what I feel, though I didn’t agree with everything he said in the full article:
“So why it is that many – nay, most Americans – take offense to the idea that public schools have an agenda? Why is it that folks who recognize their own agendas cannot recognize that the individuals running the school system have agendas too? Why can’t these folks accept that those who fought some 150 years ago for the adoption of government-run schools had an evil agenda? Or that many today use government schools for vile intentions? Why not? Yes, why not, indeed?
The reason is twofold: The first is that the prime end of government-run education is graduates who support the system. This is not some hidden agenda – it is right out in the open. This publicly lauded end is termed citizenship – and a good citizen always supports the so-called public good of government education. When the schools say that our goal is to educate citizens, you can be certain that they do not mean citizens who question the state or its bureaucracies and unions.
Good citizens believe that teachers and administrators, as government employees, know best. Even if the material is enough to raise hairs, the good citizen trusts the schools. And, should a parent begin to question the schools, the group – the collective consisting of neighbors, friends, etc. – applies increasing pressure to bring the recalcitrant back in line – back to being a good citizen.
The second reason is that anyone seeking to manipulate and indoctrinate the youth can find no better means than a system of mandatory education. This is true whether the purpose is to extend and enhance the coercive power of government or to pollute young minds with perverse nonsense. It is also true for any other goal, no matter how nefarious or seemingly benign. The schools are the agent of change.
Therefore, it is no wonder that the majority supports government schools.
Moreover, if your goal is to create citizens who support the collective, and you are not willing to take up arms, you adopt a Gramscian approach and slowly destroy the institutions of free association – of liberty and freedom. You attack the family, the church, etc., in a roundabout way. You employ the strategy of the indirect approach – you indoctrinate the youth. By doing so, you break the bond of parent and child without resorting to loud confrontations and street fighting. You simply use the classroom to define the state and its minions as maternal and paternal figures. Then, you sit back and allow subsequent generations – educated by the state – to chip away at the bedrock institutions over time. Sure, you have the occasional pitched fight, but these only serve as feints covering your flanking maneuvers. Your war is not one of attrition; it is one of subversion and time.”
While I agree that using the Bible and other great works of literature as the foundation of our education is not harmful, I do not think that the central goal of institutionalized education is to eradicate either of them (if that were true, what would we do with the existence of parochial schools, which are founded on Biblical principles?)
While Lincoln’s self-educative approach is admirable and, frankly, probably the best way to learn, since it is an education born from desire and not from force, it is not going to be beneficial or possible for all students. Many children, especially those without a strong parental support for learning, would simply choose not to learn. This is one reason we have schools.
Another reason that public schools came into being was to give children who were thought of more as laborers (on the family farm, in the family business, or in a factory or other line of work in the city) the chance to learn. Many parents of such children denied their children’s education and were, themselves, uneducated and unable to teach their children to read, write, or do basic arithmetic.
It is important to remember that, though our public education system may seem a little out of whack these days, it started out with good intent and it does have many valuable roots, to this day–particularly for those who would not be able to receive an education in any other venue.
~Bethany
Bethany,
It should be clarified that the first public schools (that I think you are referring to) were not government-funded,but private, and those two are very different things.
The poor methods and possible “agenda” I refer to is strictly regarding the later state-funded schools.
One of its founders summed it up quite unashamedly:
“I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers that correctly perceive their role as proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being…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, resplendent with the promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor’ will finally be achieved.”
— excerpt from an article by John Dunphy titled “A Religion for a New Age,” appearing in the January/February 1983 issue of The Humanist Magazine.
I think it’s safe to say his agenda is coming to pass, just as planned.
Lovely; I appreciate your passion and quite whole-heartedly agree.
Fools think, speak and regurgitate foolish things in order to justify their sin of rebellion against God and His holy will. But we, who know how the story ends. must continue to pursue righteousness in humility.
And no, there are no contemporary minds like those of old. Today’s minds are too cluttered with self, thanks to the subtle effects of cultural humanism.
I too buy old and used books for history and such, books which decidedly assume God as truth on every page, in lieu of either leaving him out altogether or, worse, denying Him. Living in “progressive” coastal California, I find the library the very worst option for good books to raise solid minds.
Loving your blog!
Kelly,
In your blog I dont’ hear much about how you and your husband came to realize that homeschooling was best for your family. I know you were previously a teacher but do you feel that there was a time in your life where God spoke to you and laid homeschooling on your heart? What ages were your oldest when you brought them home and how did they adjust? Also you don’t speak much of your husbands thoughts but did he automatcally agree with your decision or how did you approach the idea to homeschool with him (if the idea was yours; maybe it was his?).
I know these are a lot of questions but I lately feel a strong desire to homeschool; however, I don’t feel my husband is at all on board. One time I casually mentioned it after a bad encounter with my son’s school and he replied with a strong “no!”. His claim is the unsocialization that children receive while being at home. I know this is completely not true (as you have commented in prior posts) but what evidence or “arguement” can one present to your husband of that?
Maybe an idea for another blog, I know this is long! Thanks for all your knowledge.
Leisha,
I’ll work that into a post over the next few days…I’ve had several requests to do so. 😉
I was “taught” that if you get a good education/college degree that you’ll get a good job with good pay. I’ve never seen that happen in my life time. I personally don’t believe this anymore, although most people would continue to feel this is the truth.
That would be great!
AMEN!
Leisha,
I went through something similar with my husband. I felt God’s call to homeschool but everytime I brought it up, my husband would basically tell me to forget it, that we would never be able to afford for me to stay home.
I prayed about it for 2 years (my daughter was only about a year old when all this began). Finally, one day, I felt an urgency to talk to my husband about it. I sat him down and explained that homeschooling was God’s call for me and He would provide for us. He asked a few questions, I had to answer some of his concerns about homeschooling and then he said, “Let’s go look at the budget and come up with a plan to pay everything off”. I was in shock that it had been so easy.
I did work full time for 2 more years and then part time for 8 months before getting home full time but God has provided for all our needs. My daughter has never been in daycare or school and she is so outgoing. She can get along with anyone, young or old.
My advice is to pray, pray, pray. I remember saying to God that if this was His will, He would have to give my husband a change of heart, and He did.