America needs high-quality Christian education!
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Dan provides professional education consulting & training to schools, home school groups, & church education ministries:
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What does quality Christian Education look like?
1. Teach the way God designed people to learn: conceptually. Isaiah 28:10 - "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:" We must add new knowledge to existing knowledge in such a way that it makes a logical connection to the existing knowledge. This approach works across every subject area and is evident in the Trivium (learning the grammar, logic, and rhetoric of each subject) as practiced in Classical Christian education (though any school can incorporate the conceptual approach to education).
2. Make Christian Virtue the center of every educational experience. Websters 1828 Dictionary defines virtue as: "Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law."
Education must be Christ-centered to create virtue in students. True virtue can only come from having Christ as Saviour and Lord. Thus, the first goal of quality Christian education is to lead students to Christ. The second goal is to teach them about the world through the prism of the Bible (each subject speaks to and reveals God's creative genius). The third goal is to disciple children unto spiritual maturity throughout the learning process.
The Problem with Modern Education:
Government schools are intended to create citizens who are trained for career paths predetermined by the government and local businesses, greatly limiting freedom and opportunity and resulting in a poorer quality education for most students.
In addition, since removing the Bible from schools in the early 1960's, government has risen to become the final authority in citizens' lives instead of God. Apart from the absolute truths found in the Bible, citizens pursue immorality based on relativistic thinking. The more wicked American citizens become, the more powerful the government becomes to reign them in. This creates a downward spiral as we continue to lose more and more of our God-given, Constitutionally-affirmed rights. Unfortunately, many Christian schools fail to live up to their full potential for excellence, which limits their ability to impact their communities for Christ.
By turning education back to the Bible-based approach embraced by our Founding Fathers, with an emphasis on excellence, we can make great progress in turning America around, thus staying God's hand of judgment. Consider these quotes by the famous and infamous:
1. Teach the way God designed people to learn: conceptually. Isaiah 28:10 - "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:" We must add new knowledge to existing knowledge in such a way that it makes a logical connection to the existing knowledge. This approach works across every subject area and is evident in the Trivium (learning the grammar, logic, and rhetoric of each subject) as practiced in Classical Christian education (though any school can incorporate the conceptual approach to education).
2. Make Christian Virtue the center of every educational experience. Websters 1828 Dictionary defines virtue as: "Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law."
Education must be Christ-centered to create virtue in students. True virtue can only come from having Christ as Saviour and Lord. Thus, the first goal of quality Christian education is to lead students to Christ. The second goal is to teach them about the world through the prism of the Bible (each subject speaks to and reveals God's creative genius). The third goal is to disciple children unto spiritual maturity throughout the learning process.
The Problem with Modern Education:
Government schools are intended to create citizens who are trained for career paths predetermined by the government and local businesses, greatly limiting freedom and opportunity and resulting in a poorer quality education for most students.
In addition, since removing the Bible from schools in the early 1960's, government has risen to become the final authority in citizens' lives instead of God. Apart from the absolute truths found in the Bible, citizens pursue immorality based on relativistic thinking. The more wicked American citizens become, the more powerful the government becomes to reign them in. This creates a downward spiral as we continue to lose more and more of our God-given, Constitutionally-affirmed rights. Unfortunately, many Christian schools fail to live up to their full potential for excellence, which limits their ability to impact their communities for Christ.
By turning education back to the Bible-based approach embraced by our Founding Fathers, with an emphasis on excellence, we can make great progress in turning America around, thus staying God's hand of judgment. Consider these quotes by the famous and infamous:
- “I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth.” Martin Luther, Protestant Reformer
- "Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, and habits . . . it is founded on morals and religion..." Fisher Ames, Framer of the First Amendment
- “Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” Joseph Stalin, Communist Dictator (Communists used education to control people in the former Soviet Union)