By studying the evolution of government-controlled schools, it would be easy to understand the rationale for the current mess that exists in America’s public schools. State-supported schools were not around during colonial times. It was in 1840 that the first state-supported schools appeared in Massachusetts. They were called common schools. Horace Mann was the founder and promoter of these government schools. Since Mr. Mann had studied in Prussia, he introduced ideas that were totally different from our political foundation. He believed that children should be raised to be obedient to the state government. Children should also put the state first in their lives and their parents second. Of course, there was no room for God. (7)
Robert Owen was another educator who had educational tenets that were contrary to our democratic heritage. As a socialist, he believed that children should be raised by the state and separated from their parents at a very early age. It would much easier to brainwash them with the socialist ideology. Robert Owen also believed the key to state-sponsored education was the belief that man was born in a good state. He felt that man could become perfect if he was educated in the proper educational setting. Ultimately, the state-supported school system would transform free thinking, literate individuals into a collective mass of unthinking, controlled people. Eventually, the masses would become illiterate and incapable of making their own decisions. Of course, this was the main goal of the socialistic ideology. (7) Therefore, as a direct result of the socialistic ideology, our nation has begun its academic decline.
America’s public, government-controlled schools are failing miserably. The result of government control of education in America has been the declining of the literacy rate. Many seniors have graduated without the ability to write a sentence correctly, to do basic mathematical operations, and to cite the history of our great nation. But, why are they failing? Simply speaking, God was asked to leave in the early 1960s and He did. Since there is no such thing as a spiritual vacuum, something had to replace God. That something was Satan. Therefore, any education without God must be a godless education. If students are not taught moral absolute values, their education would be an immoral education. Our leaders have sold us out to a new ideology of godless humanism. Our schools have become indoctrination centers for humanism instead of the great learning environments of the past. Any semblance of Christianity has been removed and replaced by New Age consciousness awareness beliefs. The study of emotions has replaced traditional academic curriculums. Basically, our schools have been put under the control of our federal and state governments. Government bureaucrats are deciding the curriculum for our children. Of course, much of the curriculum has been influenced by secular humanist educators. Therefore, the education of American students has been turned over to educators who are teaching from curriculums written by godless secular humanists. But, the situation can be turned around if educators truly teach our children, instead of brainwashing them with ungodly, humanistic philosophy. (1)
Aristotle said, “All men by nature desire to know.” However, American students are not proving that they want to learn. Only one-third of recent high school graduates were ready to attend a four-year college. The graduation rate itself was only 70 percent. But, students are capable of learning. The problem has been what they have been taught and the manner in which they were taught. “Over the past century, public education has devolved from the classical approach of character plus basics (reading, writing, arithmetic, respect, and responsibility), to skills, to psychological-social engineering. Today, education ‘experts’ celebrate their revolutionary doctrines of multiculturalism and values clarification. Sadly, the experts have been too preoccupied with experimental education, diversity training, evolution-instruction, and sex education to realize that 68 percent of students are unprepared for college.” (2) But, in reality, students want to learn. However, work equates to learning and learning equates to work. One of the major problems is the laziness of many American students. The declining work ethic along with the character of many students has plagued our school systems. Students want high grades without actually working to achieve them. Also, cheating and lying has been a major student problem. Therefore, “students without character have no need for intellect.” To have academic excellence in our public schools again, we must ask God to return. We must teach the importance of the Protestant Work Ethic. We must place a high value on good character. We must encourage good moral behavior, too. (2)
However, as it stands at present, public schools have deteriorated within and they have become evil, demoralized institutions. The apostle Paul drew a clear picture of our modern society in II Timothy, chapter 3, verses 1-7. He wrote,
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1)
As depicted in these scriptures, our society has turned away from God. We have lost our faith in God and have substituted our good character for the pleasures of life. These same ideas have infiltrated our public schools, too. As a result, our schools have become incubators for immorality and violence. True education has been replaced with psychoanalysis, sensitivity training, and values clarification. Teachers have become “change agents” who attempt to reprogram our children. Their New Age and humanist agenda has been established by the National Education Association. They have replaced the value systems that children have learned at home with a new global view of life. This new approach has replaced absolutes with situational ethics. Also, they have lessened the importance of discipline. The Supreme Court ensured that discipline would disappear in the case of “Tinker v. Des Moines School District” and the case of “Goss v. Gomez.” These two cases asserted that children had the same rights as adults and they had the right to “due process.” (7) Also, Ritalin and other drugs have been used, especially with boys, to correct misbehavior situations instead of suspension, expulsion, and the “board of education (paddle).” (7) Therefore, it is easy to see why public schools have become a place of confusion, lying, cheating, violence, disrespect, and defiance. These are the reasons that make public schools the last place that some parents consider for their children’s educational experience.
Why are public schools considered to be evil institutions? The main reason has been the removal of God, Bible reading, and prayer from the classroom. Also, to make it worse, God has been replaced by atheistic humanism. Students have been taught that mankind is a god himself. The Creator of the universe is being viewed as obsolete. Therefore, this same Creator of the universe has cursed modern day public schools. Deuteronomy 28 has listed many different types of curses that God directs toward His sinful creation. Some of these are: defeat (v.25), frustration (v. 30), driven into a heathen nation (v. 36), famine (v.38), disgraced and demoralized (v. 43), and harsh and prolonged disasters (v.59). Thus, as seen in these scriptures, we must accept the fact that God does curse people and nations. Therefore, the United States must face the reality that God’s wrath and punishment will overcome a stiff-necked and rebellious people. As explained so vividly in Deuteronomy 30, verses 19 and 20, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life.” (3)
God throughout the Bible has pronounced curses on individuals and nations. America has turned away from God. We have become an adulterous nation that has substituted idol worship in the place of the influence of a loving and caring God. As a direct result of our sins as a nation, our public schools are in a state of confusion and disarray. Our schools are filled with chaos, violence, destruction, and death. Since God’s spirit was asked to leave, He has sent the fierce waves of doubt, mistrust, and ignorance to replace Him. Students and teachers are both suffering. Highly trained teachers are quitting the careers they love. Emotional pressure has destroyed their will to teach. Academic success rates are almost null and void. America’s student populace has not competed well with many of the more successful international school systems. Billions of taxpayer’s dollars have not afforded us the academic benefits that we have sought for our investments.
In 1537, Martin Luther, the Father of the Protestant Reformation, gave an excellent reason why students and school systems have failed in their academic goals. He said, “I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.” (6) Also, as stated in I Samuel 2:30, “Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that my house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever; but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” (3) According to Princeton University’s first president, Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, “Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.” (6) Then, in the Book of Daniel, chapter 9: 11, 13-14, Daniel defined the ultimate reason for all the problems that America’s public schools are facing today. He concluded, “The curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the laws of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. As it is written in the laws of Moses, all this evil is come upon us for we have obeyed not His voice.” (3)
Another major problem in the area of government-sponsored education has been the modern definition of education. “Education is the act or imparting or acquiring general knowledge and of developing the powers of reasoning and judgment.” (6) This definition has been altered from Noah Webster’s original definition of 1828. To him,
Education is the bringing up, as a child; instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends 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, art, 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. (6)
Government-controlled schools today have ignored their responsibility to teach religion in public schools. Therefore, atheism, moral relativism, and the academic failure of many students have replaced this religious upbringing. Of course, some students do succeed academically. However, except for the witness of Christian educators, the religious and moral training that students desperately need has been eliminated from their daily school routine.
During colonial times, the government-free schools in Massachusetts were set up for much different reasons than our modern schools. Students were taught to read for the purpose of reading the Bible and to avoid the temptations of the Satan, Old Deluder. Today, government schools have mandated that children leave home at a very early age to begin school. As cited earlier, the government has taken control of America’s children for the purpose of mind-control, humanistic activities. Evidently, the Old Deluder has deluded Americans and their children. However, it was the central government, not the citizens of America, who changed America’s public schools. Our government has been blinded by Satan. Instead of avoiding the Old Deluder, it has accepted the lies of Satan and followed him. (6)
Ultimately, big government has replaced local control of public schools. God has been replaced with eastern religions. The halls of the schools have turned into “arenas of sin.” The classrooms have turned into centers of New Age ideology. Overall, schools have become godless centers of drugs, sex, profanity, and homosexual –lesbian lifestyles. Sadly, all these activities are considered to be normal by the liberals of society. Of course, it was considered normal in Sodom and Gomorrah, too. But, Satan has used many stealth methods to achieve his sinful agenda. He has used big government as a pawn to fulfill his goal for the total destruction of America’s public schools. Government bureaucrats have replaced small, hometown schools with large, complex buildings packed with entirely too many students. As a result, public schools have become the educational ghettos of our society. Our children’s safe haven for learning has been replaced with danger zones of violence and death. In other words, public schools have become micro examples of our larger society. Therefore, Satan through his government friend apparently has achieved his goal. God has been banned from the halls and classrooms of academia. (4)
Government control of public schools causes much stress for Christian parents. As a result, many parents pull their children out of public schools. What then is the rationale for taking Christian children out of America’s public school system? First, government education destroys the search for truth. Second, government education does not promote the beliefs of a higher power. Third, the government uses force to brainwash children with anti-Christian philosophy. As Nikolai Lenin stated: “Give me a child for the first five years of his life and he will be mine forever.” (5) Abraham Lincoln said: “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of governance in the next.” (5) Fourth, the government decides what children are taught and how they are taught. Fifth, the government molds our children to view it as the ultimate authority. Our Judeo-Christian belief system and values tend to become second place next to government-controlled ideologies. Finally, the government uses fear to control a parent’s attitude about public schools. Many parents are fearful of having their children taken out of their home by a government social service agency. (5)