Education (Amended)

Recently I was privileged to participate in a forum discussing education, what is happening, and  how we might improve it. There were eight of us ranging from graduate level scientists to retired workers, to parents, to single non-parents. It was an interesting cross section of the society and experience. Here are my conclusions.

Our overall question was what should we do, and will it work? Looking at the overall picture of education, from pre-school to post-graduate it appears that the most successful educational programs are built around a single philosophical framework. Overall, the majority of successful educational enterprises are parochial in one way or another. Catholic and Protestant schools dot the landscape and seem to rise to the top of the crop in terms of most of the educational criteria that we discussed. We can include military academies and specialized sports schools, like Oak Hill Academy. And a lot of the latter two are also somewhat religiously oriented. Charter or magnet schools locally also populate the ranks of "successful programs."

One of my first observations is that schools lack a philosophy of education, specifically to teach students to think. Most "current" institutions seem to focus on telling their students what to think rather than training them how to think. The component of the parochial schools that seems to be missing in "public" schools is a spiritual aspect. Humans are tripartite, consisting of body, soul, and spirit.

Public, secular schools focus on the body, health training, physical safety, and nutrition. The second focus is on soul or mind aspects of the entity. That is academic enterprises. But this two-pronged approach will fail, as we have seen in over 50 years of "secularization" of education.

Being a three-part being is equivalent to a three-legged stool or a tricycle. If one leg or wheel is removed, the implement is very unstable and essentially worthless. It is possible to sit on a one-legged stool if the leg is situated in the center of the seat and extends perpendicular to the seat. But a three-legged stool with one leg missing is virtually impossible to balance. (I have tried.) In the same way, a trike that is missing any of its wheels is very difficult, if not impossible to ride.

Education without the spiritual component portrays the same deficient outcomes we see in many schools. One thing that is strikingly evident in a study of the founding documents of our country and Constitution, is that all of the prime movers were cognizant of the crucial and indispensable role spiritual component to both education and society. The role of religious matters in all of society is evident. They buttressed and circumscribed the role of religion in the First Amendment. It is not the "separation of church and state," but the prohibition of "establishment" of any particular church.

Please amend your consideration of the argument. I would try a French apology my me culpa (I'm culpable?) but would probably mess that us. How about "Entschuldigen Sie, bitte."

No particular church should be favored by government. But at the same time, the influence and restraint of religion in general was deemed to be a fundamental factor in developing and maintaining our society and nation.

All of the attempts at educational reform basically amount to decorating the two legs of an unstable stool. The sometimes trite mantra of "What would Jesus do?" could provide the solution to the totality of issues we discussed.

Education is the harbinger of society and culture. If we continue to produce substandard or deficient "product" from schools, we will experience continued deterioration in our society. As we excised God from education, we have denied His role in blessing and prospering our nation.

The United States was established on a reverence for, and a fear of, God. As that respect morphed into complacency, indifference, and finally contempt, the protection and provision from the Almighty has diminished. We have literally sown the wind and are reaping the whirlwind.

This discussion is critical in developing strategies to reverse the trajectory of education and our society.. Hopefully those who are investigating this issue will be able to generate some helpful and useful strategic solutions to this aspect of American life. Our existence as a nation may well depend upon it.