Dr. Wilfred McClay has some thoughts on the current prevailing wind in today's education in the Dartmouth Apologia, a journal of Christian thought at Dartmouth College.
"There is a philosophy of education embedded in those words from Philippians [4:8]. And it’s very much at odds with the prevailing approach of many parents, educators, writers, producers, media providers, and kids. The prevailing view is that no one can really know for sure what is true, pure, and just—that such judgments are strictly individual in nature, and that it therefore would be an arrogant imposition of one’s values or tastes to assume otherwise. Therefore the only really fair and honest way to educate young people is to “expose” them to many things, as many things as possible, respect their “feelings,” and leave it to them to sort it all out."
"It is an approach to education that appears on the surface to be generous and liberatory, but is in fact far from being either. For it is an approach whose liberality is really only a veil for its lack of conviction, and for its indifference to the fate of the very ones consigned to its care. Not indifference to their physical fates, of which we are now perhaps excessively solicitous, with our growing mania for physical health and safety. But indifference to their intellectual and spiritual fates, about which an attitude of neutrality is in fact an attitude of abdication."
Dr. McClay's article is well worth the time it will take you to read it. As a matter of fact, if you read Dr. McClay's article, you will take the first step in following the advice found there. Blessings!
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