Our current education system in America is much different from what our founders had envisioned. Parents had the majority say about their child’s education, a strong emphasis on history was placed in the classroom, teaching students how our legal system worked was crucial and the Word of God was the foundation for all subjects taught.
Now this again is not to say that we were founded upon a Theocracy. There was liberty in how the American way of life was set up as opposed to other nations before or since. The people told the government what they were going to do not the other way around.
There was liberty in the classroom to open up a Bible and learn from what God had to say. There is much wisdom in the Scriptures. From the perspective of non-believer, he must look at the 10 Commandments and even say to himself that there is much wisdom there. Our Founding Fathers knew this even though not all were Christians. Some even became Christians in the process. Revival had to happen before a revolution.
So, what changed and when?
1838. Horace Mann.
This gentleman became the secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. In the years that ensued, Mann introduced a very fundamentally different philosophy of education to that of the Founding Generation.
Horace Mann is known as the father of the progressive public-school movement.
What did he advocate for?
- Forced taxation for state schools which was disastrous for private schools
- Deemphasized the Biblical Doctrine of Salvation as the basis of character development replacing this founding principle with a more humanistic view of the perfectibility of man through the means of education and environment
- Encouraged group thinking and study over individual initiative and creativity
- Standardized teacher training, textbooks, and accreditation
- Transitioned away from Christian principles and philosophy taught by the FOUNDER of America’s educational system, Noah Webster. [1]
The 20th century then introduced us to John Dewey.
His progressive methods concerning education came in part due to his subjection to Russia’s Communist educational system.
Now when I say something is “progressive” it may sound like it is a good thing when in fact it is the opposite.
Progressive – happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step.
Now again this may sound like it is this great leap forward. Progressives use this method as a means to say that we are always growing and getting better but what is their version of growth and what do they mean by better?
Yes, as a people we are always learning, always growing, always wanting to move forward but as we as we move forward and continue to learn and grow, we must not deviate from our founding principles rooted in Judeo-Christian principles.
Progressives have tossed out this founding philosophy in stages, gradually, piece by piece, little by little, in stages over time so that by the time we have finally noticed over the last couple years we have come to find out that the philosophy that men like Noah Webster set up for us no longer exists.
Our founding educational philosophy has been twisted and corrupted by those who seek to further their own agenda. Satan knows that he needs to get children young so that is where he has focused his time and energy for many generations and as Christians, we decided to turn a blind eye long ago becoming indifferent with a who cares mentality.
Now that we have decided to finally wake up is it too late?
The ideas of Horace Mann and John Dewey are so woven into the very fabric of our educational system only a complete overhaul of the system is the only viable option.
But what does that look like and are we prepared as parents to fight that fight?
“By 1935, a humanistic curriculum had become the dominant influence in most fields of scholarship in our nation.”[2]
Again, what is humanism?
…an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems…
Basically, it is a system of thought that takes God out of the equation, makes man his own god where he can find the answers in life apart God. The answers all lie within the heart of man.
Read the book, By the Hand of Providence by Robert Gragg and you will see that our founders looked to the Heavens for divine intervention when they did not have a solution for the problems they were facing. You will see God at work in the lives of the Colonials in this account on how faith sharped the American revolution.
Since 1935, our public-school bureaucracy, the largest the world has ever seen has done its best to vaccinate our young people against what it considers to be this infectious disease of absolute moral values ingrained within our Constitution that is our founding Judeo-Christian principles.
This idea of “modern progressive education” rooted in communistic ideals seems to be collapsing before our very eyes because our public education system is a train wreck.
Millions of lives have been damaged over the last 150 years. The fruit of their labor has come home to harvest on our watch.
How can we correct 150 years of bad fruit?
It has to be more than just allowing students to pray voluntarily. As I said earlier this process involves a complete change and overhaul of the system. That involves the leadership along with their philosophy.
Challenging the status quo is rooted deep within the American culture. It is what our founders did. They became dissatisfied with how things were so they took steps to change it. I am not sure if progressives would approve of their gradual, step by step, little by little approach that led up the American Revolution. Our revolution was rooted in biblical principles. Much prayer went into the decision to finally say “we have had enough!”
Here is the real question that faces us today:
How many of us as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends are willing to sacrifice precious time and finances to help rebuild what has been torn down?
In order to restore this broken wall of culture that has been there over 150 years we must learn the actions of our Founding fathers. We must heed the words of leaders gone on before us.
A full repentance is the only solution. Only then will we truly learn what real wisdom is and where it comes from. We will learn that our founders needed the wisdom within the Scriptures every single day. We will realize that they desperately needed God in their darkest hour.
Once a full repentance takes place our hearts and minds will be open to see the reasons for:
- Rises in crime
- Failure of government programs like welfare
- Failure of jurisprudence system (theory/philosophy of law)
- Failure of evangelical activity to transform society (Yes, when we decided as Christians to leave the public sector, we forfeited that battle and have no one to blame but ourselves.)
We must go back to the fundamentals and examine the Scriptures as well as our own hearts if we want to see a fundamental change in our culture. A restored fundamental change back to our founding principles.
If we want to preserve our future we must come to terms with our past.
The church at Ephesus had left their first love and needed to remember why they existed in the first place? They needed to repent.
Much like the church at Ephesus we must repent as a nation. We must do what made us fruitful in the beginning. We must return to our first love.
[1] For further information on Horace Mann’s approach to education, read his Education of Free Men.
[2] Foster, Marshall. The American Covenant: The Untold Story. Page 22-23
Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom in America 