Lutherama: School: The New Religion:
Governments have always striven to instill unity in the populaces they govern. Understandable, considering the easiest way to control the population is when they have a high degree of similarity. In centuries past, governments looked to religion to instill a unified value system in its citizenry - such as Nebuchadnezzar and his great idol, Pharaoh and his deification, Rome and its Emperor worship, Constantine and Christianity, Prussia and the unified national church - the list goes on. The United States even fell into this category until recent years; prior to the sixties Christianity predominated and the government looked to the church to form the moral values of its citizens. Then the minority religions gained a voice and the government realized its predicament: they were walking a tight line as far as the anti-establishment clause was concerned. So, the government had to back off from its quasi-Christian mindset to endorse diversity. Now it had a problem: who could it look to to instill a unified mindset?
The government turned to the one thing it can control: education. Our educational system, public and private, could be used by the government to form the value systems of its people. In recent years, the government has been flexing its muscles in order to change the curriculum into a creature designed to make children into the little governmental "yes men" it desires, forming the young into people who look to Uncle Sam for all the answers: to tell them what to think, and what to buy. Don't believe me? Just read the editorials and see the number of people screaming for the government to fix all their little problems. The government has, in essence, made itself into a god by instilling into people the hope that it can provide for all their happiness and needs.
Well said. I have wrestled with this truth in my own mind, especially regarding the education of our children. Prescribed standards are a necessity for any "system." I just don't see education as best approached systematically. Sure, certain expectations must be met in order to attain any sort of competency in the world. But a thoroughly vocational treatment of education while necessarily neglect some skills in favor of others.
Does a world-class violinist need to be competent in other tasks? One might say yes, so that he has "something to fall back on." This statement operates under the premise of standardization. One who has not been put through the educational grinder will likely settle upon a vocation that meets his needs, can be accomplished with some skill, and ultimately provides some satisfaction. Another fallacy of standardized education is that this arrival will happen by age 18 or 21 or likewise.
My entrance into seminary was as non-standard as it gets. I was a second career man. I had dabbled with the lutheran internet forums. I had volunteered as elder and such at my congregation. Gradually I realized this vocation fit the above categories of needs, skills, and satisfaction. This did not happen until I was 25-26. Did the system fail? Ultimately, I say yes.
By no means do I suggest throwing out all standards of education. The classical model of reading, writing, and arithmetic certainly is valid. But to prescribe age-based standards for such education limits creative exploration by the learner and puts them into a box. God forbid they excel in a discipline, only to be bored to tears by the remedial work given at their grade level, eventually resulting in boredom with the subject entirely.
I believe the above quoted post correctly recognizes the ultimate disaster of socialized education... prescription of values, ideas, and thought patterns. Do we want a institution guided by psychology and methodology to program our children? If anything should program our children, it best be God's Word. To me, this presents a real and necessary challenge for Lutheran day-schools, and one that must be faced sooner rather than later. If our education institutions match the character and style of even the best public schools, we can expect nothing more or less than they attain. is this really what we desire for our children or do we really want children who are Christians, living with a free mind and will guided by the Holy Spirit? That's not programming... that's walking the path chosen by God for us... guided by him.
Perhaps institutionalized education is just a cross we must bear... or perhaps there are real and better alternatives.
