John Seel continues to be one of my favorite writers. In this article he talks about the state of our educational system. Just a bit of what he writes,
And so it is that the April 2009 McKinsey & Company report, "The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools," finds American schools wanting. The economic cost of this gap is larger than the US recession of 1981-82. "These educational gaps imposed on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession." The longer a student spends in an American school the wider the gap becomes. In short, increased exposure to American classrooms makes one increasingly uneducated.
3 comments:
I read the article. It's good. CS Lewis's educational views would not go over well today. Our schools are products, perhaps even mirrors, of our culture. So one might ask, "What did you expect?" If you want your children to grow up to be exactly what your culture dictates, send them to the public school and don't challenge anything that they are learning. On the other hand, can you send your children to any school and be fiercely counter-cultural in your home and family, and perhaps ameliorate some of the poor values and habits being taught in the classroom? This is a reason for Christian day schools, to help parents with this challenge. But what if our Christian day schools also mirror many of the same destructive values in our culture? Are the schools themselves counter-cultural enough?
Dave,
This is a question that Linda and I discuss regularly. The struggle is with parents who don't want that radical counter-cultural ethos. What they want is safety for their kids, some Bible teaching, and a place that has good Christian trappings--but nothing dangerous. To get counter-cultural schools we need counter-cultural parents. Those are in short supply.
So how do parents of young children raise them up to be dangerous for their faith?? I talk to a lot of moms about this topic.
Torie Haveman
Post a Comment