Pulling kids out of government schools, part 1
by Elizabeth Farah
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
My last column concluded with this charge (in part):
“All parents who are married and have no extraordinary circumstances to prevent them from doing so, should today remove their children from the government school system.�
I promised I would defend this “outrageous� statement – I’m going to address only one of many reasons in this column today.
Parents should take their kids out of government school because government education is not possible. "Government education" is an oxymoron. The object of teaching is the transmission of truth, which is reality. A synonym for the word “teach� is “indoctrinate.� Another good term is to “propagate� or “propagandize,� which is the teaching of any system of principles. You can see the problem I have with any government indoctrinating or propagandizing children. It is inherently immoral and un-American to charge the government with this responsibility.
Let’s next answer the question, “Why do we send children to school?� The correct answer is “to become educated.� We will define education in a minute, but first, let us examine incorrect answers to the question. If you said: babysitting, socialization, behavior modification, or “a place to go to until the child is an adult� your reasoning is wrong, but this perverted reasoning is the natural outcome of resting the role of educator in the hands of the government and it has replaced true education entirely today.
Now let's define education. The best definition is found in Webster’s 1828 dictionary (available on CD Rom from ShopNetDaily):
EDUCATION, n [Latin educatio] The bringing up, as of a child; instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends [encompasses] all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.
Is Noah Webster correct? Yes he is. It is not a matter of opinion; it is the truth which is knowable. Before we go further, let's look at the definition given by today’s Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary Online:
Education
1 a: the action or process of educating or of being educated; also : a stage of such a process b : the knowledge and development resulting from an educational process [a man of little education]
2 : the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools
That sound you hear is Noah Webster spinning in his grave. This is the dictionary your government school children and teachers use. You see, someone has to decide which books and reference materials are used in the schools. They are selected by the state. The history books, philosophy books, science books are all selected by the government! Even the definition of words becomes a de facto function of government. This is most appalling because education is a decidedly religious activity. Why? All human endeavor is constrained, informed, defined and imprinted with the worldview of the individual or institution. And worldview is a belief system determined by religious belief. What is religious belief? It is defined by the answers given to a few questions:
What is the purpose of life?
What happens when we die?
How did life come into being?
Your answers to these questions determine how you approach every single endeavor of your life. All institutions have a worldview too, and it affects every single endeavor in which they engage.
Therefore, the simple act of defining the word “education� requires judgment (read worldview). OK you say, just don’t teach anything which requires worldview judgments. That is impossible; let's see why. Take history class as an example:
Student: Was Hitler right to kill Jews?
Teacher: No
Student: Why?
Teacher: Because it is wrong to kill innocent people.
Student: Why?
Teacher: Because everyone has the right to live!
Student: Why? [This is where it gets sticky. The answer is determined solely by your worldview – read, “religion�]
Teacher: Because God says so. [Now this is the correct answer – but we can’t talk about the reality of God in government schools so. …]
Teacher: Because it is against the law!
Student: Why?
Teacher: Because the government says so!
Student: What if the government says it is OK?
Teacher: But the government wouldn’t say that!
Student: The government of Germany did.
Conclusion: Because our system forbids government to teach morality, it cannot teach about the Holocaust. To take the concept of immorality out of the subject of the Holocaust is impossible without denying truth.
Education by definition requires the search for truth. Therefore government must teach about immorality. Which the government can’t do. Therefore, the government can’t teach.
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24156
, simply get in a hurry with their typing and aren't thinking about proper forms of words, etc. What they (and I) need to do is better proofread before we submit the "final" copy. Do some homeschoolers have educational problems, as we here of with public school students? Sure, but not as many homeschoolers have problems, because Dad and Mom can see where they need work early on. A teacher with a classroom full of students does not always recognize the signs.
