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It may have been Abe Lincoln who said,
“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”
(Lincoln, Abraham. Attributed. Herald Star (Steubenville, Ohio, 1984) | Stephen K. McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America’s Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988), p. 79; (4th printing, 1994), p. 95 | Karen Morgan, People of the Past (Historical Presentations, P.O. Box 426, Cortland, Ohio, 44410, (330) 638-8606))
Perhaps no statement better summarizes the direction life in this world will take. Since the word “govern” means “to control”, what happens in government is going to determine the boundaries you and I walk in during our brief stay on this earth. Lincoln correctly reasoned that whatever goes into the mind will show itself a generation later in the type of government that is ruling. Whatever is good in government; attribute that to the education of the previous generation. Likewise, whatever is bad in government, lay the blame for that at the feet of the education system of the previous generation. And to think of it, I can’t think of very much that’s good in our governments today. Oh well, ‘if the shoe fits, wear it’!
The Bible taught us this principle long before Abe Lincoln related it to education and government. It says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7). God has built an unchangeable law into this universe that teaches everything is the fruit of a previous thought and action. It’s inescapable. That being so, shouldn’t we carefully consider what we are putting into our children’s minds? In our day information comes at our children in many ways: Music, magazines, movies, TV, friends. Information through friends, however, is the most important to young people according to the surveys. This could make school the most important thing in our children’s lives, for that is the chief place most young people make and maintain friendships. Therefore, the credit—or blame, as the case may be—for the way this generation thinks, falls at the feet of the school. That being true, what kind of education should the school be imparting to our children? Since the greatest education system the world has ever known was our American education system up until about 1920, let’s find out what the Father of that system said we should be teaching.
Noah Webster was the man who gave us our education method for that great system. Here’s what he said was the most important thing in education:
“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed…No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”
(Webster, Noah. 1828, in the preface to his American Dictionary of the English Language, (reprinted San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967) Preface, p. 12 | Peter Marshall & David Manuel, From Sea to Shining Sea (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1986), p. 412 | D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God – How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 10)
He also said,
“For this reason society requires that the education of youth should be watched with the most scrupulous attention. Education, in a great measure, forms the moral characters of men, and morals are the basis of government.
“The goodness of a heart is of infinitely more consequence to society than an elegance of manners…
“The education of youth [is] an employment of more consequence than making laws and preaching the gospel, because it lays the foundation on which both law and gospel rest for success.”
(Webster, Noah. H.R. Warfel, Noah Webster, Schoolmaster to America (New York: Octagon Press, 1966), pp. 181-182 | Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 76-77)
Webster summed up what he believed about education with one short statement. He said:
“Education is useless without the Bible.”
(Webster, Noah. “Our Christian Heritage”, Letter from Plymouth Rock Foundation (Plymouth, MA: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 5)
Shouldn’t we listen to the wisdom of the man who created the greatest education system in world history? Shouldn’t our schools teach that way again?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.