As time goes on it seems as though we are becoming dumbed down. This is nothing new! Marcus Aurelius wrote in his book Meditations, “do not send your children to government schools.” Meditations was written during his reign as Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD; long ago!
Education today focuses on children’s learning capacity while destroying their ability to critically think for themselves. Both public and private schools are guilty of this. Please keep in mind once a school is accredited usually it has been funded by some type of government funding. Therefore it must adhered to its “standards.”
The standards in a nutshell proport to the idea that more is better; Let’s bombard our child with as much information as we can, and round it out with as much activates as we can, keeping them busy. They will naturally fall in line and follow the leader never having a moment to think, or unpack what or how they are learning.
The burden of proof is on each reader to figure out the why behind the systematic training or as its called “education.” This is not an ax to grind with the entirety of the government; it has its place. Thomas Paine said it best, “Its is a necessary evil.” And if kept small it’s easier to manage. However the size and scale of it today has it’s consequences.
One of the main consequences is its over step in our children’s education. Our children’s education is no longer just funded by State and Local funds, it’s funded at a Federal level; taking the decision making away from the parents. Parents have handed their children over to the government. Why? Why is this a good idea?
Someone once said Education is the ability to face calamity and not be moved! This would mean the student/scholar would have studied much history, not for the sake of dates or random facts but for the sake of understanding humanity. For the sake if seeing the pattern of the rise and fall of nations. Seeing the character of mankind; virtues VS vice.
Charlotte Mason says education is the science of relations and students hang their facts on ideas. Today students are taught to learn and memorize facts; their entire education is disjointed.
What is the science of relations? It is how a person relates to himself, the world, and most importantly God – the creator of all things! The ethos of Christianity is Jesus died for our sins and rose three days later defeating the ultimate sin, death. But is also raises another Characteristic of God, that our ultimate “problem,” is our relationship with Him. Once that is broken, we are broken, and nothing can be right until we make that relationship right first! This charges each person to step into the spiritual realm and take ownership of his own lot! No one is going to solve YOUR problems except you and God.
Circling back to Education and how it is being taught by the “System,” it will leave our children dry, unconnected, without a North Star. Otherwise dumbed down- caring only for the material world which is never satisfying.
While I try to land this plane, I will leave with two final thoughts.
The first one is that Government has its place and we must give Caesars what is Caesars! Richard J. Maybury has in depth laid out two fundamental laws that are the through line in most all religions (common):
- Do all you have agreed to do.
- Do not encroach on others persons or their property.
At best if we employ government to uphold these to common laws and not usurp all the other areas in our lives, we would see the progress we are looking for. The second final thought is unless it’s a hard science such as biology, physics, arithmetic everything is a editorial! Therefore this is merely my opinion.