The philosophy in the school room of one generation, will be the philosophy of government of the next.
About 5 years ago my daughter began attending government schools for the first time. She was entering pre-K at the same school my wife had been teaching in several years. Both of us, like most Americans, grew up attending government schools. It seemed like the normal American thing to do.
However, since my wife became a teacher, we saw that the government school system my daughter had been enrolled in did not appear to be the same school system we attended. Violence, drug use, child abuse from teachers, anti-parent school administrations, out-of-control classrooms, sex, pornography, suicide, sexual assault, and an anti-Christian agenda had become the norm.
My wife increasingly had to deal with students flipping desks in anger in the middle of class, a total lack of support from administrators, meeting her middle school students at the OBGYN due to pregnancy, and aggressive and predatory homosexual behavior from cross-dressing second graders. We had issues with our daughter’s preschool teacher who thought it was appropriate to show 4 and 5-year-olds footage of people jumping out of the Twin Towers on September 11. All this, and I live in a small town in a blood-red county in South Georgia. But look at the upside, they had prayer over the intercom every morning.
It wasn’t until later that we learned this was nothing new. Nothing had changed in the school system, it was only bearing the fruit of the foundation laid over a century before. This was not a flaw, but a feature.
A Brief History
Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.
-John Dewey
Since around 500 AD, western society had been built on a Christian paideia. This refers to the ancient Greek idea of transferring culture from one generation to the next. It involved teaching men how to think because they believed a well-educated society was a liberated one. This was the beginning of a true Liberal Arts education.
Paul takes this word and redeems it in his instructions to Christian fathers:
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline (paideia) and instruction of the Lord. – Ephesians 6:4
This verse hearkens back to Deuteronomy 6:4-9 where God instructed the Hebrews to always be teaching their children about who He is, His Law, and what He’s done. Up until the Enlightenment Era, the Western Christian paideia recognized that while individual governments exist, all men are subject to the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the basis of Western education for over a millennium.
Before a standard government school system, children were educated at home and in the church. Universities were also Classical and Christian. In fact, the motto of Princeton University is still, “Under God’s Power She Flourishes.” This posed a problem for the deists and atheists who found themselves playing a prominent role in our new nation, some who thought true freedom would only happen once freed of dogmatic religion.
Many are surprised to find out that the Marxist push in America for state-owned and run school systems stretches as far back as the 1830s. It was Horace Mann, the father of American education, who worked from 1840-1860 to bring about an organized standard curriculum inspired by the Prussian school system. This system was already harboring godless enlightenment utopian philosophy along with the secular ideas of Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Karl Marx. The purpose of this new system was to replace the old Classical Christian system.
In order for God to be removed as the supreme authority, Christianity had to be replaced by something else — a mostly faithless nationalism, with America as “the Light of the World.” Allegiance and creeds to Christ needed to be replaced with allegiance to the state in the form of a new creed, the Pledge of Allegiance. Yes, the beloved American pledge was the product of cultural Marxists. The fact that it is so beloved, even vigorously defended as a creed, shows their success.
Originally called the Bellamy Salute, it was not until the 1950s that Eisenhower had “one nation, under God” added, in a noble attempt to keep God in the school system. In 1963, approximately 100 years after the start of government schools, the Supreme Court ruled mandatory Bible reading and praying unconstitutional. Since then, the moral and educational failures of the government schools have only snowballed into their current, abysmal state.
Mass Exodus
The 2020 COVID lockdowns increased the awareness of state indoctrination with woke ideology, secularism, and a general anti-parent agenda. Parents were finally seeing what their children were being taught. Americans began looking elsewhere for their children’s education. The number of homeschooled children doubled during the pandemic from 2.5 million to 5 million, with 1.5 million students leaving by the fall of 2020. This number has steadily risen and continues to rise 5 years on.
Due to increased violence, sexual abuse, and ineffective “remote learning,” many families are continuing to look for a place where objectively good virtues are reinforced and education is the priority. Many of these students have turned to homeschooling, but there is also growth being seen in Classical Christian schools. Since 1994, the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS) has seen a 5,000 percent growth, from 10 to 500 schools in 2023, with 250 schools opening since 2020. Although primarily for Christian families, there are a growing number of non-Christian families, who may not be professing believers but hold to biblical ideals, that are discovering the value of Classical Christian Education.
What is Classical Christian Education?
Classical Christian Education (CCE) is an education that is classical in its content and method, but Christian in its worldview.
It is classical in the sense that it predates the Enlightenment era. It draws from the medieval concept of the Trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. This simple educational concept produced not only the Renaissance but also some of history’s greatest scholars, philosophers, pastors, and theologians. CCE teaches a child basic concepts, or grammar, of every subject. As they grow and develop, they are then taught how to apply those concepts in their thinking, thus logic and rhetoric. CCE teaches them how to think rather than what to think. When someone is trained how to think, they no longer need to be taught specific job-related skills because they are generally capable of learning and teaching themselves.
Along with the Trivium, CCE approaches each student according to both their natural ability and age. It recognizes that God has not made everyone to be doctors, lawyers, scientists, and scholars. Some students are strong in math and science, others in English and history. Some are not academically strong but have great mechanical intelligence. It also recognizes that boys are different than girls and a 15-year-old thinks and learns differently than a 6-year-old. It is not a one-size-fits-all system but instead works with the grain.
The early years of a child’s education are mainly songs/poems/and memorization. Children this age are sponges, making this a critical time to memorize basic, core ideas and principles. As they grow older, their minds develop and they become more inquisitive, asking questions and debating issues. Rather than squashing their natural development, children are taught to organize their thoughts and arguments. If they’re debaters then they’re encouraged to become good and godly debaters. Finally, the oldest students are challenged to take all they have learned and taught how to dissect truth claims, asking the big questions of morality, meaning, and destiny. They are encouraged to freely and deeply think about every facet of politics, philosophy, and religion.
Thoroughly Christian
CCE takes this tried-and-true teaching method and applies the Bible to those areas. It holds that there is no true knowledge and education without the foundational truth of God, who is the “fountain of truth.” Rather than being a typical government school curriculum with a Bible class thrown in, CCE is an entire worldview that shapes how every subject is approached.
Science is approached knowing there is a Creator behind the cell being viewed under a microscope. Math is approached knowing there is an unchanging God of order and wisdom who makes math possible. Art is approached knowing God is a God of beauty, and that He is the objective standard of what is beautiful and what is not. The whole student is shaped and educated as not just a mind, but a soul, who has been made in the image of God for God, with the ultimate purpose to glorify Him in everything they do.
The result is a culturally dangerous individual who knows who they are, where they come from, grounded in not only the knowledge of their Creator, but in the context of a community which is bigger than themselves. It creates a man or woman that is not afraid to question the status quo and tear down every lofty argument against the cross of Christ. They are unwilling to settle for a lie. These are the future leaders of our nation.
However, CCE does not just create cultural leaders, but also good, hardworking men and women. Not every student will rise to great prominence in their society. Most will simply be good and godly nurses, mechanics, carpenters, small business owners, and teachers. Honest, trustworthy, and reliable employers and employees who do not need to be micromanaged. As Martin Luther said, “The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
Different for a Reason
One of the surprising things I have seen over the years at the CCE school my children attend is people’s disappointment in the Classical Christian model because of how different it is from the government school system. They leave the government school system looking for something different and then leave disappointed because it is different. Essentially, they expect a government school with Jesus on top – a sort of 1950s version of the same deeply flawed system. One can hardly blame such thinking. We have all been taught that “Big Brother” knows best. In their minds, for proper education, you must have a large building, large classrooms, many teachers with many degrees, and most importantly — sports.
The problem is not money, staff, or lack of prayer, but the fundamental worldview behind it. The system is rotten at the root and therefore must be dug up and thrown into the dustbin. Putting fertilizer on a blight-covered fruit tree does not bring forth good fruit, only more infected fruit. If we recognize the current system is not working, which it clearly is not, then we must cast aside our preconceived notions of what we have been told that works and look at what actually works.
Here are some statistics provided by the ACCS that compare CCE students with all other school categories. Note the college and career readiness compared to government schools.
Not only do students from an ACCS statistically perform better compared to government schools, but they are far more likely to consistently attend church, read the Bible on a regular basis, and feel more confident in their preparation for college and the workplace.
Conclusion
We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.
-Voddie Baucham
The Classical Christian Education system is a rapidly growing movement despite being still relatively unknown. I encourage every parent who reads this article to see if there is a local CCE school and take a tour and see for yourself. Be prepared for different. That is what you want, right? It is a huge relief knowing you will not have to “un-teach” your child from godless ideas given to them at school each day, and that there is complete consistency between their home, school, and church.
As the government school system becomes more and more corrupt, a few hours per week at church and home is not going to undo 40+ hours per week in a god-hating system. It is becoming increasingly difficult for Christians to keep their children in these environments and remain faithful to what God has called us to in raising our children. Education is primarily the responsibility of the father and mother, not the state nor the church, and we will be held accountable for our actions.
We only have a few short years to educate our children and prepare them for their world. Any parent who has an older child will tell you how quickly the time goes by. You are not gaining time with your children, only losing it. The time to make a change is now.
I encourage all parents to remove their children as quickly as possible from government schools and consider the best and most biblical form of education they can afford. the future of not only our children, but our nation, hinges upon it.
The right decision for your family may be homeschooling or it may be CCE. There is probably a CCE school in your area that you do not even know about. It is worth your time to schedule a tour even if you don’t plan on sending your children there. If you do, know it will require sacrifice and a change in thinking, but the reward will far outweigh the cost. Remember, education is our God-given responsibility, and no one else’s.
Let us take back our duty as parents to educate our children with joy, and may God receive His due glory for the increase.
To learn more about Classical Christian Education, I highly recommend these resources:
- Geronimo! Amen. Documentary By Doug Wilson
- The Miseducation of America Series on Fox Nation
- Battle for the American Mind by Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin
- A Case for Classical Christian Education by Doug Wilson
- On Secular Education by R.L. Dabney
- A Vision for Education and Dumb and Dumber: The Desperate Need for Covenantal and Christian Education Esucation by George Grant
