Education as a Standard
Since the early 1900s, American generations have grown up believing that reading, writing and math are the main goals of an education. (Perhaps we might add that activities like sports and band and drama are important ways to gain some social and team-building skills.) We also live in a world where experts are constantly passing along to us new and improved ways to do life. We are very used to technology and trends constantly changing. This has led us to accept that a credentialed teacher will know best how to prepare our children for the modern world. Much of our children's childhood is spent in the care of schools under the pretense that they are being educated. Certainly our public schools teach our kids learn to read, write, and add, but something is wrong. Generally speaking, graduates of public schools today don't know how to work; they see themselves as victims and entitled; they scorn their history and have very little interest in or respect for their parents and grandparents. And in the worst case scenario, they are jacked up on ideologies or drugs that are doing devastating damage to them. They are not being educated...as it was understood long ago. They are not inheriting the traditions of the American, or Christian, or Western way of life.
This is a general cultural reality. We are all affected by our culture, but in Christian circles approaches to education vary greatly. Lots of Christian parents are educating their children at home or are sending their children to a Christian private school like Knox. Both require real financial sacrifices on the part of the parents. At least, that’s what we call it when we compare private school and homeschool to the public option of free education. I think free education, however, is a part of the current American reality that we should, as Christians, readily accept as a danger to our homes and communities. It is not serving us as it is supposed to. As Knox parents, you know this and have made the decision to send your children to a private school. I thank you. And I ask you to consider more ways to help.
Spring is coming quickly. As we look ahead toward the Spring Concert, Spring Break, and the Spring Banquet, I want to take a step back and remind us of the big picture.
It is imperative that we rally around faithful, Christian education of our children. It is a standard that brings Christians together. Duet. 6:4-9 and Eph. 6:4 both lay the responsibility of educating children upon parents - most particularly upon the father. At Knox, I also like to reference Psalm 143, verse 5, which begins with "I remember the days of old". We must impart to our children a reverence for the past - for their past. G.K. Chesterton said that education is the process by which one generation passes on a way of life to the next. Christian parents must pass on their way of life to their children.
Free education may have had some altruistic roots. Today, it simply means that our children are the product. For several generations now, American taxes have supported a system, a bureaucracy, that is systematically and effectively separating one generation from another. Yet, there remain many Christian parents who, for one reason or another, do not see a way out. The fundraising efforts of Knox Academy are intended to help provide that way out. If you have friends whose children you would like to see enrolled with your students, please invite them to our upcoming Open Houses. Extend invitations to the Spring Concert. And please consider ways that you can support the Spring Banquet, which is our largest fundraiser of the year. The procurement process is under way and we need your help in securing raffle and auction donations. Please come to the event, and please bring your friends. Contact the office or the Parent Teacher Network (PTN) for more details. Thank you!
