The Death of Education and Our Way of Life

When you look at things only through the lens of this world, ultimately your lens will cloud over the true path that has been set by God. Eventually, if you’re not careful, you find yourself taking sides.

And division is one of Satan’s more powerful and effective tools. Right now, I’d say that Satan is enjoying way too much success and not just here, but globally. 

Now there are any number of reasons that can be debated as to why we find ourselves in this predicament these days. But the one reason I believe is the most overlooked but arguably the most important: the lack of education.

What does Common Sense have to do with it?

I first touched on this topic way back in 2018 with a blog post titled: The Death of Common Sense. Boy was I naive back then because I made the incorrect assumption that everybody, or at least most people, have common sense. But I began to realize that its just not true. And while it’s true some are born with a better sense of things than others, common sense is a skill that can be learned and honed only through education and life experience. 

Because common sense requires not only knowledge, but wisdom as well.

For instance, don’t walk out into the street without first looking both ways; that’s the knowledge. Here’s the wisdom: because you otherwise might get run over by a car!

As I write this, I fear our educational system is failing at teaching the kind of knowledge necessary to build the wisdom required to live a righteous life. And the negative impact is tearing us apart.

What does this have to do with Cicero?

You may have never heard of Marcus Tullius Cicero and thats ok, but if you were a student back in my 10th grade U.S. History class, you would have become painfully aware of him on the very first day back to school after summer break.

Cicero was a Roman orator, lawyer, statesman and philosopher born roughly 100 years before the birth of Christ. Many of his observations and declarations about life are salient to this day and its one in particular that I used on the very first day of class:

“Not to know what happened before you were born is to be forever a child”

After writing this statement on the board I would follow by informing my students that their homework that night would be to write a one page explanation of what they thought Cicero meant. 

I wish you could have seen the looks of desperation on many a student’s face as they realized that, in Mr. Jordan’s class, there was no easing into the new school year! They would actually have to think, to use critical thinking skills, to come up with a meaningful answer. (AI has, of course, eliminated any need for this type of critical thinking which is a topic for another day!)

You Can’t be Serious 

Yes, I assured them, I was perfectly serious but explained to them it was the only way to get the year off to the right start. And they would understand what I meant the next day.

As a teacher you learn early that if you want to keep kids engaged you have to create some meaning as to why they are being asked to learn what they are learning. There has to be a point to it. Otherwise, you lose them.

For most adolescent high school sophomores, learning about people who’ve been dead for hundreds of years has, in their minds, no point. It’s pure drudgery.

But whether my students did the homework or not, the next day’s class was always a lively discussion that proved why history class is so important. And why it’s even more important today.

Cicero’s point, we all eventually agreed, was very logical and hard to argue with: 

If you have no knowledge or understanding of things from the past (history) or how we have come to be where we are right now, you are destined to never have the intellectual, moral and emotional intelligence beyond that of a child.

The point was made and they got it. History is important!

What is the real purpose of education?

Many who are reading this will remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his impact on the culture of our country during the civil rights era of the 1960’s. But just as many won’t know of him which is a travesty and makes me wonder why we never talk about him anymore.

Maybe it’s because his message no longer fits the current cultural ethos we are seeing today.

Back in 1947, while still a student at Morehouse College, a historically black college, a young Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an article for the school newspaper entitled, “The Purpose of Education.” If you have a minute, I highly recommend you read the entire article but I’ve got several quotes from it that standout:

“The function of education therefore is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.”

Later he states:

“We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.”

But then Dr. King wraps up this article with a profound and prophetic statement. And remember, this was said in 1947:

“If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of closed minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful brethren, be careful teachers.”

Here was a young black man living with segregation and Jim Crow (Google it) declaring that education is the key to a better, more righteous life.

What do you think? 

Was he right?

The Takeaway

The recent celebration (at least for most) of our nation’s 250th anniversary is significant on many levels. If you know anything about history and specifically our 250 years of history, you understand what a big deal this is. A system like ours, a constitutional republic (Google it if you were never taught what that is) looks great on paper but can only be truly successful if everyone understands how it works and what their individual role is in making it work.

But I would contend that these days many, mostly of the younger generations, don’t know or understand what their individual role and responsibility is in making our system work.

It’s not necessarily their fault.

They are “child-like” in their knowledge and understanding of how we got to this point because our educational system has failed them. And it’s not getting any better.

Consequently, our way of life, the one many of us older folks grew up with and appreciated and some fought for, the one where individual freedom and the hope of prosperity was a model for the whole world, is dying.

Your Call to Action

This one is simple: get off your butt. Assume and take charge of your responsibility as a citizen of our constitutional republic. 

And a large part of that responsibility is making sure you are educated and knowledgeable on all matters related to the ultimate success of our way of life. 

As an old history teacher, I can tell you that what we are experiencing now is neither new nor unique. Just take a look at the time period directly after World War I and the decade of the 1930’s. History has proven to us time after time that the human race is fairly predictable which means we can learn so much from the past.

The question remains: will we?

Nobody said it would be easy but anything of any value isn’t easy. It takes work, dedication and a resolve to never give up in your quest.

The alternative, sadly, is unthinkable. 

Until next time: Stay strong, Keep the faith!