And They Make the Classroom A Cauldron

“Moses required that the Israelites refrain from seething or boiling a kid in its mother’s milk (Deut. 14:21). The placement of this law in Deuteronomy is right at the beginning of Moses’ exposition of the fourth commandment, the Sabbath law. This insignificant law has many applications, which ostensible friends of the Sabbath need to learn. Unfortunately, it also contains a principle that has been too frequently ignored in broader contexts, including that of education. The law says that a young goat must not be cooked in its mother’s milk. The principle is self-evident. That which is intended by God to be the means of sustaining life must not be changed into an instrument of death. In this regard, God clearly demands respect for the natural order of things” (The Case for Classical Christian Education, pp. 145-146).