Test Case: Education

Links to previous posts are now at the bottom. Chapter 4 continues in the series, "What Would Jesus Vote?" with the test case of education.

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Jesus Principles
1. So what core principles might Jesus bring to bear in relation to the education of a people. What is the purpose of education? I believe he would have prioritized faith education.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 tells the parents of Israel to teach the commandments of the Law to their children. Similarly, Deuteronomy 4:9-10 instructs parents to pass stories about God's mighty works on to their children. No doubt this teaching is part of the training of children that Proverbs 22:6 talks about.

Textbook: Proverbs 22:6

The New Testament assumes this training took place for Jewish children. 2 Timothy 3:15 indicates that Timothy had been trained in the Scriptures from childhood. Christian fathers (and mothers) are expected to raise up their children in the instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). It is no surprise that, in late 1700s England, the "Sunday School" movement began with the goal of systematically teaching the children of England about God and the Bible. The movement would jump the pond to America as well.

Surely, then, Jesus would have been in favor of children being taught the scriptures. Why was this important? It was important because God is the most important thing. All other importance is derivative from God's importance. More than anything else, Scripture teaches us about God. Scripture teaches us the stories of God and, thereby, the nature of God. Scripture reveals God as holy, God as love, and God as just.

Textbox: Jesus would have prioritized faith education.

2. From a psychological standpoint, a child is not yet mentally capable of abstract or critical thinking on a high level. Teaching at this age is an important kind of imprinting of values and beliefs. The values that are instilled at a young age will be hard to shake. They are intuitive and unthinking. We default to them without even knowing why. They are in our "guts."

C. S. Lewis went through a period of time when he was an atheist. What brought him back to God, kicking and screaming? It did involve an intellectual argument. But even more, it was the fact that good and evil were concepts in his bones. He just couldn't bring himself to believe that good wasn't real, and it was this sense of the reality of good and evil that eventually brought him back to God.

It is much more difficult to instill values with such depth once a person gets older. I would say it is almost impossible to do by way of reason. Dramatic experiences have the best chance, I would say -- experiences of God or personal experiences. The bottom line is that faith education is extremely important for children from a Christian perspective.

3. Is faith education something for the government to do or something for the church to do? For example, should the Ten Commandments and the Bible be taught in public schools?

On the one hand, I personally don't think that it would contradict the "non-establishment clause" of the Constitution to teach the Ten Commandments or the Bible in school. These can and often are taught in a non-partisan way -- for example, the Bible as literature, the Ten Commandments as a historical legal text, etc. Might God speak to children through the text itself even if the teacher was not using the Bible to promote Jewish or Christian faith?

We also have to consider the opposite possibility. When the State of Oklahoma requires the Bible to be taught in its public schools, how will it be taught? I imagine that many public school teachers in Oklahoma are Christians and would teach the Bible quite positively. But could there also be instances where the Bible would be taught in such a way that children would think of Bible stories like Greek and Roman myths? State standards probably cannot constitutionally treat the Bible as inspired Scripture. What would it look like?

Would some places then feel the need to introduce students to the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, etc so as not to "establish" a religion? Would Indiana kids be pushed toward Christianity and California kids away from it?

I personally think the responsibility for teaching the Bible should primarily lie with churches. Whether it be a children's church or Sunday School, churches should intentionally teach students both the content of the Bible as well as the proper theology, ethics, and values that come from its proper interpretation. That means an intentional curriculum and the best practices of teaching. 

4. The Gospels don't give us any teaching from Jesus on the general education of children or youth that was not faith-related. Jesus did of course value children -- more than his disciples did (Matt. 19:13-15). So it is clear that Jesus would want the best possible upbringing for children that is possible. That plays into the second part of our journey -- the greatest good for our children. 

For the Public Good
5. Where did American public education come from? Public education itself began in New England where the Puritans rightfully wanted to make sure that young people knew the Bible (more accurately, their understanding of the Bible). Then the American public school system arose in the 1800s. 

In keeping with the "neutral zone" concept, individuals like Horace Mann (1796-1859) started a "common school movement." The goal was to provide universal, free, non-sectarian public education with a professional guild of teachers. 

If we dig back into the background of utilitarianism and capitalism, both assumed that these systems would not work properly without an educated populace. Jeremy Bentham, the founder of modern utilitarianism, was emphatic on the need for the people to be educated so that they would know what the greater good actually is. He viewed misinformation as a major potential problem that could prevent the greater good from happening. 

So he was a major influence in the founding of University College London, and he donated his body to the university upon his death. The remnants of his body were prominently displayed there to help fight what he thought were superstitions about death.

Similarly, Adam Smith's concept of capitalism assumed that the consumer knew what product was in his or her best interest. I believe he would strongly approve of something like the Better Business Bureau to help us know when we are being scammed. The bottom line is that democracy just doesn't work if those who are voting are not informed or are susceptible to deception and manipulation. The current susceptibility of the American populace to conspiracies, misinformation, and media manipulation is a major danger to democracy.

6. Certainly, Horace Mann's "non-sectarian" education did not mean "moral free" or value free. Morality was a key feature of public school teaching in the 1800s, and Judeo-Christian values as understood by the culture of that day were the name of the game. 

From the "separation of church and state" perspective, the teaching of values in public school is a little tricky. But I believe it is still very possible and actually quite important. What are we talking about here? 

We are talking about things like respect for life and believing in the equal value of others. Looking down on the "other" is (fallen) human nature. We are herd animals and naturally (after the Fall) devalue other herds. Prejudice, racism, sexism -- these are all predictable human patterns and behaviors since Adam.

It will take some work to teach our children to value those who are not like them. Ideally, we drill the value of others into our children. Once they leave our schools, they will be free to hate whomever they want -- and they regularly do. But just maybe we can instill into their consciences something deep down that will work against these forces within ourselves and human society once they grow up.

Respect for the property of others is another common value both in Christianity and the American social contract. Honesty and integrity are important for human thriving. These values and others can be taught without privileging a particular religious perspective.

7. However, some argue to the contrary that the danger that public schools will "mis-form" our children is very real. Fearing that their children would be taught everything from evolution to the normalcy of LGBTQ lifestyles, many parents have turned to homeschooling or private Christian schools. The reality of such fears no doubt will vary from place to place. 

At the beginning of this school year, there was a rumor going around my own town that the public schools were putting kitty litter in middle school bathrooms for students who identified as "cats." This was quite a hilarious (and ludicrous) claim. But many Americans seem very susceptible to these sorts of rumors. Most American teachers take their jobs very seriously and are committed to a quite normal -- even at times boring -- education.

There are countries where homeschooling is against the law out of the opposite fear, namely, that families will promote ideas and values that are harmful to children and the country. The two times that my family lived in Germany for several months, our children were required to attend public school even though we were Americans only temporarily in the country. The Germans fear that something like the Nazism of the past might rise again if homeschooling were allowed.

America tries to balance the freedom of individuals and families to educate their children their own way with the public concern that its children don't grow up to be terrorists. An alleged attempt is made to educate our children neutrally in public schools while individual families are allowed to homeschool and private schools are also fully allowed. Very broad, non-sectarian state standards are meant to provide a baseline standard for all these venues. 

In theory, public education is meant to be non-sectarian. That would generally mean teaching widely accepted, evidence-based knowledge that reflects expert consensus. In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled in Edwards v. Aguillard that teaching creationism in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because creationism was religious in nature. In the 2005 federal district court case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, the judge ruled that intelligent design was also a form of religious teaching and could not be required in public schools alongside evolution.

Many Christians believe that such teaching is actually anti-Christian bias rather than "non-sectarian." Accordingly, many Christians have turned away from the public school system. Nevertheless, many public school teachers are Christians and do not teach with an anti-Christian bias. In other places, there probably are teachers who promote values in conflict with Christianity. It really depends on where you are and who the teacher is.

8. What would Jesus "vote" with regard to public education? I believe he would want every child to have an opportunity to thrive, and a good education plays a major role in that possibility. In theory, we could completely privatize education. This might lose the value of the public school system as (at least in theory) a neutral zone. In general, the public system seems like a good default that fits with the non-establishment clause of the Constitution. 

It is not without its problems and challenges. For example, public schools have a reputation for ever-changing standards and methods. It can seem that the state is trying something new all the time, jerking teachers and students around every year. Then there is the politics of education, where teachers and students get caught in the cross-hairs of politicians at the state house beating their chests over some alleged atrocity, trying to score points with various voters. Meanwhile, the teachers just want to do their jobs.

The bureaucratization of public teaching is also real. I heard recently of an eighth-grade math teacher who was required by the state to teach exponents when her students couldn't even multiply yet and, in one case, didn't even know all the numbers. So there is the idealism of the state house versus the on-the-ground reality of the students sitting in front of you (if they are sitting). Unfortunately, it is usually the lower socio-economic student who ends up in the worst schools with the least resources and the largest challenges. The difficulties come from the students' home environment and rarely have anything to do with the tireless teachers, whose burnout rates can be astounding.

I see the public school system especially as an educational safety net for "the least of these" (Matt. 25:45). The wealthy and privileged will always get the education they want. If for no other reason, public education is there for those who otherwise wouldn't get much education. And education is still the best path out of an impoverished context. At this point, public education seems to overlap strongly with the values of Jesus.

In my view, the challenges of public education shouldn't lead us to throw the baby out with the bath water. Private schools and homeschooling have their own potential challenges. For example, the number of private schools rose dramatically during the time of desegregation ("segregation academies"). Although it was not the only factor, it seems incontestable that racism was a factor in the spike in private schools in the late 60s and 70s. For a long time, homeschooling was largely done by white, middle-class, Christian families. However, this is increasingly changing.

America also is not immune to the fears that have led Germany to prohibit homeschooling. When you think of some polygamist Mormon groups, they homeschooled their children to indoctrinate them in the particular beliefs of their sect. From a secular or Christian perspective, these were not healthy situations. Similarly, the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas did not let their children attend public school, but children received whatever little education they had there at the compound.

I personally believe that we can continue to support both public and private education while doing everything we can to overcome their challenges. On the one hand, public education seems like an appropriate use of our taxes -- especially for the "least of these." As we argued in relation to health care, a properly Christian perspective is not just concerned with what I get for my taxes but with what others get as well. At least in theory, public education is for the common good.

At first glance, voucher programs make sense because the parents of those students are paying taxes for their children's education. Shouldn't they be able to use their tax money for education however they want? At the same time, it seems important not to "starve" public education. It makes sense that public education would be the first priority of the state since it is meant to provide a baseline for an educated citizenry. 

As we get into the details, the voices of C. F. H. Henry and Richard Mouw are in my head, warning me about wading too deep into controversies on which I am not an expert and on which authentic Christians disagree. My primary goal was to identify what Jesus' values would be in relation to education. Here, I believe that 1) Jesus would want everyone to have access to a quality education. 2) I believe Jesus would strongly reject any system that devalued any "lost sheep" while privileging those with means. Finally, 3) Jesus would not want to empower forces that work against the good. Then begins the debate over what those forces are.

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Here is the series so far:

1. Would Jesus Even Vote?

2.1 (He would vote) As a Kingdom Citizen
2.2 We're citizens in two kingdoms

3.1 (He would vote) for love of neighbor and enemy
3.2 (He would vote) for the greater good
Test Case: Health Care (under revision)

4.1 (For the greater good) ... Without Hurting the Rest
4.2 The Separation of Church and State