Educational Freedom



 

 

"I don't want my children fed or clothed by the state, but if I had to choose, I would prefer that to their being educated by the state."  These thoughtful comments were made by a grain dealer in Iowa named Max Victor Belz.  What Max realized is that the mind of his children was something to guard zealously. 





     The ability to learn where you want and what you desire to learn is a freedom that has blessed our nation with many great discoveries and inventions.  The more this freedom is restricted the more we will find less of these benefits to society.  Education can be a result of our freedoms that helps preserve them, or it can be the medium that forms our chains. Education, like other forms of communication, works to indoctrinate. It is impossible for it to be otherwise. This is a very powerful thing, and must be entrusted to the right people.  It is a fundamental right for parents to assume this role of guarding the minds of their children.  

 

      Education will come from somewhere, but not all forms of it will be desirable.  Perhaps this why God gave parents the role of educating their children. Who else could determine better the gifts children possess than the parents?  No one would have better intentions to help children than their parents. Of course, there are exceptions to almost everything, but exceptions should not make the rule.   Not everyone would agree with giving parents this fundamental right.  When I was a child, a school official told my parents, "We know your child's needs better than you do."  This was one of many circumstances that led my parents to send me and my sister to a private school.  Even in a private school, parents will encounter teaching that they don't agree with, but an advantage to having private schools is that parents have more choices.  Just imagine how many choices we might have if all schools were private schools.  Think of the variety of schools we would have. 

 

     If you send children to a Catholic school, you can expect them to be taught Catholic teaching. If you send them to a Muslim school, you can expect them to learn Islam.  If you send them to a Christian school, they will hear about Christ.  If you send them to humanists, you can bet your money on it, they will teach the religion of humanism.  The teaching material in publicly funded schools is only allowed to present the religion of secular humanism.  This won't bother a humanist, but it should bother anyone who believes in something bigger than themselves.  The influence of this can not be overstated in a time of such serious stakes.  This is why Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union said, "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed that I have sown will never be uprooted."  Lenin serves as a reminder of not just the bad effects of humanism, but also the the problem of giving bureaucrats control of children's minds.

 

      The one size fits all structure doesn't work.  It may be convenient, but it costs way too much.  There needs to be freedom in education for a better tomorrow.  

 





  

 

A protest to the monopoly that the religion of humanism currently has in publicly funded schools.