Philosophy of Public Education

By Walter Maurer

Historically, the motivation for establishing American public schools was to promote literacy in order to read the Word of God and laws of the state. This paper presents supporting excerpts from the historical record, describes the modern-day humanistic (godless) approach to public education, and concludes with actions that I would support to help realign public education with its foundational Christian principles.

"Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principals of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world." - Benjamin Franklin

"A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district - all studied and appreciated as they merit - are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty." - Benjamin Franklin

"Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ." - Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, first President of Princeton University

Historically, the motivation for establishing American public schools was to promote literacy in order to read the Word of God and laws of the state. Consider a few excerpts from the historical record:

- 1647: Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the first law in America requiring communities to establish public schools for Biblical literacy and consequential good citizenship.

- 1690: New England Primer published by John Quincy Adams: first-grade textbook in America for two centuries. Included the Rhyming Alphabet ("A- In Adam's fall,we sinned all; B - Heaven to find, the Bible mind; C - Christ crucified, for sinners died ...) and the Shorter Catechism.

- 1789: Northwest Ordinance Article III stipulated that for a territory to become a state, its schools must teach religion and morality as well as knowledge.

- 1805: President Thomas Jefferson was made president of the school board for Washington D.C. public schools and authored its original plan of education in which he placed the Bible and Watt's Hymnal as two primary reading texts. He explained, "I have always said, and always will say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens."

- 1806: Educational policy paper "A Defense of the Use of the Bible as a Schoolbook" published by Benjamin Rush: physician, author, chemistry professor and the first Founding Father to propose free public schools under the Constitution to promote Biblical literacy and consequential good citizenship.

- 1832: History of the United States published by Noah Webster (1758 - 1843): Founding Father, educator, and author of spellers, primers, books on history, government, science and astronomy, and his Dictionary. He wrote, "...it is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the new Testament or christian religion." He remained consistently outspoken about the importance of Christianity to education: "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". After his death, the publishers of his materials placed over his picture this epigraph: "He taught millions to read, but not one to sin."

- 1844: Vidal v. Girard's Executors: U.S. Supreme Court ruled that since school was receiving government assistance, it therefore must teach religion and the Bible and Christian principles. "Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament?"

Now, let us glance at godless "humanism", the foundation of modern education:

- 1933: John Dewey (1859-1952), the "Father of Modern Education", coauthored and signed Humanist Manifesto I which stated:

"Today man's larger understanding of the universe, his scientific achievements, and deeper appreciation of brotherhood, have created a situation which requires a new statement of the means and purposes of religion... While this age does owe a vast debt to the traditional religions, it is none the less obvious that any religion that can hope to be a synthesizing and dynamic force for today must be shaped for the needs of this age. To establish such a religion is a major necessity of the present... We therefore affirm the following: [excerpts]
- Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.
- Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as a result of a continuous process.
-Religion must formulate its hopes and plans in the light of the scientific spirit and method.
- We are convinced that the time has passed for theism, deism, modernism, and the several varieties of "new thought".
- In the place of the old attitudes involved in worship and prayer the humanist finds his religious emotions expressed in a heightened sense of personal life and in a cooperative effort to promote social well-being.
- It follows that there will be no uniquely religious emotions and attitudes of the kind hitherto associated with belief in the supernatural. The humanists are firmly convinced that existing acquisitive and profit-motivated society has shown itself to be inadequate and that a radical change in methods, controls, and motives must be instituted. A socialized and cooperative economic order must be established to the end that the equitable distribution of the means of life be possible. The goal of humanism is a free and universal society... So stand the theses of religious humanism. Though we consider the religious forms and ideas of our fathers no longer adequate, the quest for the good life is still the central task for mankind. Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task."

A contemporary of Dewey wrote:

"Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday school's meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?" - Charles F. Potter, Humanism: A New Religion, 1930

1962 - 1963: As a result of Supreme Court decisions (e.g. Engel v. Vitale), religious principles were separated from public education. School prayer, Bible reading, and any instruction which purported to have any type of religious connection were all prohibited in schools. The Court decision was the first action in American educational history to separate religious principles from academic endeavors.

1983: John Dunphy, author of prize-winning essay "A Religion for a New Age,":

"The battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith. ... These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new -- the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism." - The Humanist, Jan-Feb '83

National Education Association resolutions that have been proposed and adopted in recent years (anti-homeschooling, anti-voucher, pro-"safe sex", pro- campus clinics, etc.) clearly demonstrate that this powerful union is aligned with godless humanism, not the Christian principles upon which public education was founded and to which I subscribe.

As a tribute to our Founder's educational philosophy, I would seek to replace "Spring Break" and "Winter Break" with their original names. I would also seek to ensure that IWV students are educated about the Founder's views; are exposed to a balanced Creationist viewpoint; and consider introduction of a legal, nationally-recognized elective course wherein the Bible and other religions are studied from a literary viewpoint. I would also seek to replace the Board's "moment of silence" with an invocation as is currently done in City Council meetings.