The Shocking Truth About Education
The Misconception of Education
GK Chesterton said:
âThe most important fact about the subject of education is that there is no such thing. Education is not a subject, and it does not deal in subjects. It is instead the transfer of a way of life.â
Most of us have a misconception of education. We believe that âeducationâ is the transference of knowledge. And so we argue over who is best qualified to transfer knowledge so our children will be properly educated. When actually, knowledge is only a small part of a total education.
Education is More Than Just Knowledge TransferâItâs a Transfer of a Way of Life
The question we should be asking is, âWho is qualified to âtransfer a way of lifeâ to my children?â and âWhat âway of lifeâ matters to me?â
For example, who is teaching my child that he is fearfully and wonderfully made (as is his neighbor)? Because that is foundational to who he is, who he will become and how he will live out his purpose. Or, is he being taught that since there is no Creator, life doesnât have intrinsic value? Even this one part of our childrenâs worldview radically affects the life-choices theyâll make.
Who is teaching her that application of knowledge is more important than a letter that grades short-term memory? Who is taking her by the hand, showing her the world and how everything is related to everything else? Who is telling her that âwisdom calls outâ and that she is equipped to search for and find it on her own?
Who is telling him that everyone has different strengths? That he can run with his brilliance as an artist and not be labeled if he doesnât demonstrate equal ability in math?
Who is Qualified to Transfer a Way of Life?
Is it good enough for someone elseâsomething elseâto shape the very life of my children, their opinions, beliefs, values and self-worth?
I have long maintained that education can not be âneutral.â Assuming that education is, indeed, a transfer of a way of life, this fact becomes more obvious. Every institution, whether family, school, church or other, imparts a belief system where something or someone determines the values inherent to that system.
To My Christian Friends & Family Who Have Chosen Public School: Things I Need You to Know
The Impact of a Childâs Worldview
Unfortunately, founders of the modern system of education understood this wellâthat education shapes people, not just teaches them the three Râs. Those like John Dewey voiced his intention to use the classroom to erode any faith except the religion of humanism.* And largely, under the guise of âlearning.â Christians regularly submit their children to the transferring of a way of life by a system that rejects most of their core values and beliefs.
Education Cannot Be Neutral
As a Christian, submitted to the lordship of Christ, I am bound to âtransfer a way of lifeâ to my children that is wholly consumed with Him. Education, means then, to a Christian, that all facets of lifeâincluding the small one of imparting knowledgeâmust spring from an inherently Christian worldviewâa transferring of life, lived out each day in a thousand ways.
Humanist Manifesto-Ushering in a New Faith
* âI am convinced that the battle for humankindâs 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 beingâŠThe classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and new â 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 âlove thy neighborâ will finally be achieved.â Humanist Manifesto
The Need to Impart Christian Worldview in Education
Education: Itâs so much more than academics! Letâs not pluck this small part out and make it an idol while neglecting what it means to prepare children for ALL of life.
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Did you know that gk Chesterton was Catholic! I am Catholic and was Just curious.