Recently a woman wrote an article in the Slate actually saying that parents who put their child in any type of private education were evil.
Her logic is that if everyone put their children in public school then, after two or three generations, the public schools would begin producing excellent academic results.
This is "Magic Think" at best. Somehow 2-3 generations of mediocre education is supposed to produce teachers, administrators and policy makers who can produce a superior education in children.
Yeah.
There have been enough articles tearing down this logic, so I won't go into it here. Anyway, there is something I find way more disturbing about the article;
But the fact is that every parent I have ever known who stuck out private (including homeschool) education for more than two years did so for religious reasons. It was an act of worship to their God.
This ignoring of the fact of the religious reasons behind private education is, in fact, a 1propaganda technique called "Begging the question."
You leave out the foundational statement of your conclusions and proceed as if no one would ever question that foundation. It is very hard to spot that missing question and so people often form their own opinions based on a foundation they don't even believe in but don't realize is being used.
This assumption ("Parents privately educated for academic reasons.") will be the battering ram that will be used to remove our freedom to educate our children according to our own religion. Test scores will be brought up in public schools so that if you object to sending your child to that school you are viewed as nothing more than a bigot and a snob.
Academic incentives will be removed. No door will be left open for religious disagreement.
Christian parents hear me! If you don't start exercising your right to give your child a godly education TODAY you will not only loose that right, you will take mine away from me.
Her logic is that if everyone put their children in public school then, after two or three generations, the public schools would begin producing excellent academic results.
This is "Magic Think" at best. Somehow 2-3 generations of mediocre education is supposed to produce teachers, administrators and policy makers who can produce a superior education in children.Yeah.
There have been enough articles tearing down this logic, so I won't go into it here. Anyway, there is something I find way more disturbing about the article;
The underlying assumption that parents choose private education solely for academic reasons.
Now part of that assumption is our (private educators) own fault. It is much easier to talk about test scores because they are easy to compare and qualify. It also puts us on the same wave-length as those who are of different religious beliefs. Everyone understands academics. Not everyone understands the religious underpinnings of education. After all, what IS education but a competition for the best grades and scores?But the fact is that every parent I have ever known who stuck out private (including homeschool) education for more than two years did so for religious reasons. It was an act of worship to their God.
- I believe Atheism is a religion, thus,
- There is NO SUCH THING as a neutral education. If you are not actively teaching God, you are actively teaching no-God.
- In order to obey my Bible I must give my child a Christian education, not the Atheist propaganda dished out in public schools.
God gives a child parents and siblings.
The State gives a child a teacher and peers.
The first is the culture of God. The second is the culture of man.Even if the local PS had the highest academic performance, even if I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt they could give my children a better education (academically) than I could, I would still homeschool. It is an act of obedience to my God. It is the institution of His design, His culture in my home and my children's lives.
John J. Dunphy, author, poet:"I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers that correctly perceive their role as proselytizers of a new faith... The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and new -- 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 "love thy neighbor" will finally be achieved." - The Humanist magazine, Jan/Feb 1983
Dr. D. James Kennedy, founder of Coral Ridge Ministries (1930-2007): "I would say to you, dear friends, it may require some sacrifice, but I urge you to send your children to godly schools... to Christian schools that they might receive a godly Christian education. If you send them off to some public school, keep in mind that you are shooting dice with your children's eternal souls. It is a gamble that no Christian should be willing to make.
- Training Your Children
Don't send an eight-year-old out to take on a forty-year-old humanist. ... I have never seen any more unhappy people than fathers or mothers who have come to me and said, "Where did we go wrong? We gave him everything, and now he's turned his back completely on everything we believe." Yes, you gave him everything but a Christian education." - Training Your Children
James R. Otteson, author, professor of philosophy and economics: "If it would be wrong for the government to adopt an official religion, then, for the same reasons, it would be wrong for the government to adopt official education policies.The moral case for freedom of religion stands or falls with that for freedom of education. A society that champions freedom of religion but at the same time countenances state regulation of education has a great deal of explaining to do.“ Freedom of Religion and Public Schooling
This ignoring of the fact of the religious reasons behind private education is, in fact, a 1propaganda technique called "Begging the question."
You leave out the foundational statement of your conclusions and proceed as if no one would ever question that foundation. It is very hard to spot that missing question and so people often form their own opinions based on a foundation they don't even believe in but don't realize is being used.
This assumption ("Parents privately educated for academic reasons.") will be the battering ram that will be used to remove our freedom to educate our children according to our own religion. Test scores will be brought up in public schools so that if you object to sending your child to that school you are viewed as nothing more than a bigot and a snob.
Academic incentives will be removed. No door will be left open for religious disagreement.
Christian parents hear me! If you don't start exercising your right to give your child a godly education TODAY you will not only loose that right, you will take mine away from me.
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