Editorial Comment on “Are students really first in America?”

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                  Vol. XXIV, No. 4, April 2011

     editor

The fundamental error in the entire government school system is the (usually subconscious) assumption that, by definition, people in positions of authority must know best. The unspoken reasoning goes something like this: “I have the education; see the initials after my name. I have the position; check the wording on my office door. The rules and regulations invest me with the authority to run things. I’ve spent ten, twenty, thirty years in education. Obviously I know best, and moreover, it’s my job to control, design, and administer education in this (take your pick: school, district, county, state, nation).”

This attitude omits several vitally important basic truths.

First, no man is in control, only the one true God. Satan tempts man’s fallen heart (“Ye will be as gods, knowing good and evil.”). And the lure of power, position, status, influence, higher salaries “is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Those who advocate centralization, not just in education but in virtually any area, are acting out of pride, ego.

Second, the proponents of centralization close their minds to the truth that efficiency results from competition, inefficiency from centralization. After all, if no one is competing with you, why go to the trouble to seek out innovation? This is demonstrated in the economic marvels of capitalism which stand in stark contrast to the inefficiencies and failures of centralized economies under socialism and communism.

Third, educational bureaucrats ignore love. Now, they will maintain that all they do is out of love for the students, but in fact this is a gross lie. Of course there are many on school staffs who do feel deeply for their students and work tirelessly for them. But the system as a whole has always been intended to indoctrinate, not educate students. Moreover, its very size requires that it emphasize uniformity, not individualism. However, the love of which I write is that of the family as given by God. No one loves children like mothers and fathers. No one senses each child’s unique abilities, talents, and weaknesses like parents. Assembly-line production works great for producing bottle caps, but is horribly counter-productive for developing well-informed young adults who are equipped to be effective Christians, parents, innovators, workers, and citizens. Bottle caps are not innovators. God commands parents to raise and educate their children, and we see the wonderful results in the growing numbers (currently estimated at over 2,000,000 in the U.S.) of home-schooled children who excel academically, socially, and in the community.

Fourth, centralization demands rigorous conformity; even if they wished, its bureaucrats simply cannot adjust to the idiosyncracies of tens of thousands of individual students. Imposed conformity produces such ridiculous reactions as the recent suspension of the boy who blew paper spit balls at three classmates, and the even longer suspension in a different state of a teenage boy who had a two-inch pocket knife in the trunk of his car in the school parking lot. If those boys were home-schooled, the first would have been laughed at by his mother or father and perhaps have been instructed not to do that agin, the second would have received no reaction at all.

In sum, God assigns to parent the responsibility for the education of their children; He does not give it to the state. Moreover, the U.S. Constitution assigns all powers not specifically given to the national government to the states, and nowhere in the constitution is education mentioned as a national government responsibility. In short, the U.S. Department of Education is illegal, unconstitutional. It is high time (1) to: completely defund the U.S. Department of Education, (2) for every Christian pulpit to encourage parents to homeschool or place their children in truly Christian schools, and (3) for all parents, Christian or not, to ask themselves seriously what is best for their children.