“The answer give to this dilemma goes back at least to Socrates. If man is basically good, then he must do evil things because of ignorance. Therefore the savior for ignorant man must be education. The antidote to ignorance is teaching. But the contrast of Socratic thinking to the Christian faith is striking. In Christian …
Papers Please
“Nevertheless, parents still have a deep faith that accreditation means something because it ought to mean something. And so they come to inquire about possible enrollment at a private school, and one of their first questions concerns whether or not the school is accredited — even though the reason they have come to apply is …
Food Stamps for the Brain
“But if the government adopts responsibilities that God never assigned and begins massive redistributions of wealth accordingly, this creates an ethical problem. King Ahab stole Naboth’s vineyard. Even though Ahab was the established authority, he could not alter the reality of this theft by calling it something else — zoning alterations or land reform. Parents …
Tapering Off Backwards
“But in the meantime, private schools that care about their academic integrity need to resolve to have nothing to do with vouchers themselves. he who takes the king’s coin becomes the king’s man. Whatever kindness God may show to those making their way out of Egypt, those who have already made it out and who …
Partial Reforms
“Those who would bring about a controlled reform from the outside have a dicey problem. They want to use private sector pressure to make the government schools straighten up and fly right, but they don’t want this privatization to get completely out of hand. Once parents enjoy a real taste of educational freedom, the result …
Not a Decorative Flourish
“The Christian faith is not a condiment to be used to flavor the neutral substance of secular knowledge. Paul tells ust hat every thought is to be made captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10: 1-4). Christ says that anyone who does not gather with Him is scattering (Matt. 12:30). The Christian faith does very poorly …
Exclusive Education Requires Exclusive Worship
“Christian education cannot be sustained apart from the exclusive worship of the triune God. And such worship cannot be offered to Him and to demos. He will not accept it, and, incidentally, neither will demos. The establishment of a Christian school movement is in principle a threat to the current establishment, and the establishment knows …
The Idols of Pluralism
“Properly understood, pluralism is simply another name for polytheism. When we say ‘pluralism,’ what does the plurality refer to? The answer is, to a plurality of authoritative voices, the Babel of competing divine voices, all saying what we ought to do. Because this situation creates a potential for civic trouble, the powers that be impose …
Trying to Fit In
“In the nineteenth century, secular education was established because many Christians were fatally persuaded of the myth of neutrality. They were told that there were many areas of life that could be studied apart from any reference to the authority of Scripture. They accepted the pluralistic nature of American public life, not as a social …
What Does and Does Not Constitute “Movie Reform”
“If a man were to rent a video, and it turned out to be a poor movie, it is not ‘movie reform’ to rewind and try again” (The Case for Classical and Christian Education, p. 33).