The following is a transcript of the video above, edited for readability.
I think for the Christian parent, when we get into particular goals, we need to think of wisdom and virtue, and eloquence. That's a long-term perspective. Referring back to Romans 12:1 and 2, this idea that our minds, that we shouldn't be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may be able to discern what is good and acceptable and perfect. That's the idea, right? We want our children at age 30 or 40 to be able to discern the good, acceptable, and perfect. Getting into a good college or getting a good grade or a good job is a decent goal. It's just way too shortsighted. So we ought to have the right goals in educating our children, and they ought to be more long-term, not so shortsighted as the next grade or even college admissions or even a good job.
That's the heart of classical Christian education is to go back to these ideas of education as being more about soul formation than information, more than downloading information into a hard job, but the cultivating of a human soul. I think that kind of education includes a full understanding of the person of God. The dignity, it has a high value of the dignity and nobility of man. It also places a priority on being a part of a community that pursues and loves ideals of truth, beauty, and goodness. Or if you wanted to expand that to Philippians 4, where we're taught to think on the things that are pure and lovely and noble and right and so on. Those ought to be goals in our education. I think we ought to go for an education. We ought to have the goals of a generalist, not specialist.
The specialist education has dominated the landscape for the last 100, 150 years. It grew out of a Post-Enlightenment, Deweyan, Secular, Humanist, Industrial Age idea, and kids started being treated more like products in a manufacturing line than these human souls being cultivated. As a result, we started having students specialize. And they knew a lot about a few things, but they didn't have a general understanding. And if we go back to the idea that all these branches of knowledge are from God and He has something in them for us, we want to be a generalist. We want the scientists to be able to read poetry and appreciate poetry. We want the poet to problem solve effectively and to be able to think critically. So be careful of an education that is too specialized. I would say not only is it not practical, but it's not Christian, it's not human in that sense, that God has something more fully for us in a generalist education.
We've been saying these kinds of things for years. But with the changing economy, it seems like once a week, I see some article from the business sector or from the college world, as I visit colleges with my son, they're really, really hitting on this idea of a generalist education and not specializing. Just yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, they have found that in this study called Academically Adrift, which is trying to measure what students are really learning once they get to college, they have found that more than a third of seniors leaving campus have shown no improvement in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, or written communication skills. And so I think through this, I think as we develop a generalist type of curriculum with the goals of wisdom, eloquence, virtue, we hone in on specific skills of critical thinking, problem solving, and communicating. And our programs, our curriculum, and our methodologies have to be wired toward students being successful in those areas. And so you might think, "Well, those aren't necessarily Christian." Well, yeah, they are. Absolutely, they are.
(Article first published August 25, 2014)
What Factors Should Parents Consider Regarding the Education of Their Children?
Christianity.com: What factors should parents consider regarding the education of their children?-Keith Nix from christianitydotcom2 on GodTube.
The following is a transcript of the video above, edited for readability.
The first thing that I would start with is this idea that it's the parents' responsibility. We understand that God has given us our children and that we have a great stewardship responsibility, so that ultimate responsibility lies with the parent, that there's not a full outsourcing option where we can just hand that over. And so I think it's important whatever choices parents make about educating their children or whoever they involve or partner with in doing that, they understand that ultimately what their child learns or doesn't learn, knows, doesn't know, skills they have or don't have, it's their responsibility. Now, of course, the work of the Spirit is the work of the Spirit. God does that, but parents are responsible for creating the right environment. So no matter which path you choose I think that's the starting point.
I think secondly, the purpose has to be clear. The word education comes from the Latin educatione. I'm not a Latinist, so I may not have said that right but the idea is that that means to lead out of, or lead from. And what we know in Christian education, Ephesians 4:17 through 25 talks about that we were darkened and alienated and hard, and that we're supposed to be about the process of renewing our minds, leading students in the renewing of their minds from darkness to light, from ignorance to wisdom. And so you have this picture of this process of leading a student through cultivating an environment where the student is led into wisdom and light and understanding. And that's consistent with Romans 12, one and two, that we're not to be conformed to the world, but we're to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
And so the priority of the mind, which hasn't always been as prominent in Christian education or in Christian discipleship as it needs to be I think, that the value of the development of the mind is a part of discipleship. What happens in that process is that it's liberating. We move from darkness to light. We move from ignorance to wisdom, and that's a liberating process. It's where we get the term liberal education. We're no longer in bondage, but we're free. We're free to be able to be used as God would have us to be used I think also along with the purpose of education, to be leading from ignorance into wisdom. I like what the founders of Harvard said in 1643 when they were considering the aim of their institution. They wrote, "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well that the main end of life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning."
So we get this picture. I think they had it right, that a school committed to the highest caliber of education had to get the cornerstone right, the foundation. If you think about the other areas or disciplines that would come on top of that, they would be blocks, but they would sit on that cornerstone. That's important if from the Christian worldview perspective, that we understand that in Him, in Christ, all things were created. So the study of the natural world is an arbitrary, it's the study of the world He created. Math isn't a manmade construct, but it's from God. And so each of these disciplines that we study in school or in education emanate from the person of Christ. And Colossians one also tells us that in Christ, they're held together so they not only have a unity in their origin, but a relationship with one another.
And so I think Christian education has to start there with the foundation of Christ and the understanding that the subjects aren't compartmentalized or fragmented, but are studied in Christ and they have a natural relationship with one another, and we call that integration. Those to me would be the starting points for a Christian who's considering what education should look like for my child.
(Article first published August 26, 2013)
For more info about Keith Nix:
www.veritasschool.com
www.christianity.com
A Prayer for Teachers and Students
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, you have committed to your holy Church the care and nurture of your children. Enlighten with your wisdom those who teach and those who learn, that rejoicing in the knowledge of your truth, they may worship you and serve you from generation to generation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. — Modified from A Book of Collects in Two Parts by John Wallace Suter and John Wallace Suter, Jr., Milwaukee: Morehouse Publishing, 1919.
(From from "6 Encouraging Back to School Prayers for Students and Teachers" by Christianity.com Editorial Staff)
Further Reading:
Why Is a Christian Education Important for Children?
What Are the Benefits of a Christian Education?
Homeschool, Public School, or Christian School?
What Is the Christian Teacher's Duty?
How Should Christian Parents Educate Their Children?
Photo Credit: Getty Images/tiero
