Does It All Add Up?

While speaking with a teacher this past weekend, I commented that many homeschool mothers spend inordinate amounts of time trying to be "as good as their public school counterparts" when it comes to subjects like math. The following is this teacher's account of what much of state education has become. Although this account focuses on the UK, I have heard corroborating accounts from many teachers here in the U.S.

By What Standard?*
by M.T.

State education has sought to divorce itself from a Biblical standard and as a result every school is left to determine the standard for itself. Everyone does what is “right in his own eyes.” The results should not surprise us.

As a high school mathematics teacher I am increasingly aware of the lack of standards. With no set standard in place, teachers are encouraged to do “what looks the best” for the school. The State argues that it has introduced standardized tests to ensure that all schools are meeting established standards, but the reality is that these are counterproductive and their results are deceptive.

I could give many examples of this. Perhaps a good place to start is to share my recent experience with the Year 9 (grade 9) SAT examinations in the UK. The 2008 national SAT examinations for year 9 were a complete fiasco, and, as a result, the government of the UK has cancelled national testing of students in year 9. Many schools are still writing the examinations that had been planned for 2009 but are marking them internally. The school I teach in is doing this in order to track students’ progress in order to publish our school statistics as to how well we are achieving. That may sound good to most parents, but there is much that parents do not realize.

Our year 9 students have just written their examinations. I am marking them at the moment. I will have final marks out of 150 for each student, but will not know how my students have achieved until after the assessment process. We, as a department, are not able to determine what the grade boundaries are until after the results have been recorded. This is usually the case in standardized public school testing. Children’s results are, literally, first determined and then the grade boundary (what level of achievement for an grade A, B, C , etc (in USA terms) – or 6, 7, 8, etc(in UK terms) would be acceptable. Our school has set targets as to how many students should have a certain level of achievement, and the idea is that the grade boundary should be adjusted to meet that – else the teachers’ heads will be on the chopping board. In a world where students’ laziness cannot be an adequate excuse for lack of achievement, teachers are made the scapegoats for poor grades and, therefore told by schools to adjust marks so that the truth of the students’ lack of achievement is not revealed to parents. Conversations involving being asked to alter results or “make up a grade that fits” are not unusual and are common practice – though for obvious reasons disguised.

That is just one aspect of the testing that takes place. The other side is that when exams are being set, standards are being dropped so that the grade boundaries do not have to be so low. I think this will be more obvious to you if I give you some examples of the type of questions on this year’s final year 9/grade 9 (13-14-year-olds) mathematics examination.

Here are some examples:

1) Join the numbers that add together to equal 1

0.1        0.99
0.11       0.9
0.01       0.999
0.91       0.89
0.001      0.09

2) How many millilitres are there in half a litre?

3) Houses cost GBP60000 one year ago. They now cost _______________. This is a 25% increase.

Many parents will recognize that this level of mathematics is what they did in primary school yet it is now high school curriculum. I graduated high school less than 10 years ago and can see a lowering of standards in that time, which to me is mind-blowing.

Schools are teaching-to-the-test. They tell students to answer "examination style" questions in a certain way. Since students are unthinkingly following a rote method, they have little comprehension of what they are actually doing. As a result, parents who help their children with their homework often find the schoolwork difficult as they do not understand the one method that students are being taught. The truth is that many parents are more than capable of doing the math, but their method of getting to the same answer is often different from their child’s “reproduce what the teacher does” method. This leaves parents thinking that the level of education is high when, in fact, it is designed to give parents that impression and make them more dependent on the schoolteacher.

The public school system is symptomatic of a society seeking to live autonomously, throwing out the standard of God’s Word. Each person seeks to benefit "self" and do what will make "self" look good. If a few grades need to get altered in the process, then that is what happens. Students, teachers and parents are left confused as to how their children really are progressing (or regressing). That is why I believe that only a school that recognizes the absolute and unchanging standard of the Word of God can truly be effective in educating children.

* (In order to maintain her anonymity, the pseudonym "Mae Thematics" has been used!)

Lines That Divide

Brian Godawa's Lines That Divide: The Great Stem Cell Debate is an excellent resource to understand and explore the core ethical and scientific issues involved in the use of embryonic stem cells.

This 57 minute documentary is an important addition to a family or church library and would make for an excellent Sunday School presentation, sure to produce lively discussion. I recommend that Christians purchase this excellent educational tool,and lend it out for viewing to other family members and friends as an effective means by which to unmask all the euphemisms and double-speak surrounding this topic.

Once Upon a Time: Challenging the Status Quo

Once upon a time, there were children who were eager to learn to read. They wanted as much help as possible to be able to read wonderful books like the Bible. This was not surprising because these children watched and listened as their parents and older brothers and sisters looked at pages with small, black symbols on them and learned important ideas such as our duty to love and obey God and how Jesus Christ died on the cross to make atonement for His people. In fact, in many households, the reward for learning how to decipher this code was a Bible of one’s own. These children did not work for test scores or scholarships. They just wanted to learn. (more)

A Father's Charge

This clip provides an excellent example of the vital role God directs a godly father to play in the life of his daughter and her future family.

Work & Responsibility

It is important that education does not become an end unto itself, but rather a means to an end.

Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary defines education:

EDUCA'TION, n. [L. educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties. (emphasis added)

Christian homeschooling provides the atmosphere and supervision to achieve the educational ends expressed in the definition above. A truly Christian education identifies all people as sinners in need of a redeemer. All subjects are taught within this framework and each subject is brought under the guidance and direction of the Bible, with an eye to refining and advancing the talents and gifts God has placed in each student so he can fulfill his calling under God. On the other hand, humanistic education promotes the deception that people are inherently good, but require the guidance and direction of an all-powerful, Messianic state in order to help them reach their fullest potential, which they define as service to the state. The Christian model is firmly planted in the real world. The humanistic model is the world of illusion, a flight from knowledge, and a pronounced escapism, which reaches its fullest expression in the area of higher education.

Rushdoony, in Law and Liberty (p. 123-24), states:

A prominent area of escape for the past century has been the academic world, the university in particular. Men who found the realities of the workaday world unpleasant turned to the university as a way out. It was not scholarship they loved, but the business world which they hated. To them the test of a working world was anathema; they were in a sense a new kind of hermit, running away from the civilized world and renouncing it for a new way of life. Speaking of some of these men in England, the critic Edmund Wilson spoke of them as belonging to the “monastic order of English university ascetics.” Their asceticism was forsaking the world of capitalism and Christianity, the world of the family and its morality, for a new order, an anti-Christian one. Everything in the old world was and is to these men evil and anathema, and they denounce it with religious intensity and passion…

The university is still a major form of escapism. The perpetual student who is unwilling to grow up and leave the university is a common fact today. Most universities are crowded with non-students or unweaned students who cling to the school because they are unwilling to face the hated adult world of work and responsibility.

Parents who have taken on the God-ordained role of teachers in their children’s lives must not lose sight of the fact that the overriding purpose of the educational endeavor is to further the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Thus, ample time needs to be spent in searching out and developing those gifts and talents God has placed in each student, with an eye for effective service in the Kingdom. However, this will not happen unless parents become Kingdom-minded themselves, placing more emphasis on furthering God’s agenda rather than working for test scores, athletic achievements, and potential earning power. Home education needs to prepare students for much more than just being students.

Laying Waste Our Heritage

[From the soon-to-be-released book by RJ Rushdoony, In His Service: The Christian Calling to Charity (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 2010)]

Children are a God-given inheritance for our conquest of the world for Christ. They are a means of subduing the earth and exercising dominion under the Lord. If we give our children to state or private schools which are not systematically Christian in all their curriculum, we are then giving the future to God’s enemies, and He will hold us accountable for laying waste our heritage. We thus must have Christian schools and Christian homeschools for the Lord’s children. We are commanded to “bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the LORD” (Eph. 6:4). This is a necessary step for that great consummation of God’s will, announced beforehand for us in Revelation 11:15:

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

"Learning" from Liars

Many homeschool graduates venture into the world of college and university. For a variety of reasons, they often do not end up in Christian colleges. Finances, distance,or career focus issues send them to secular settings.

A walk through college bookstores reveals that, for the most part, they are religious bookstores thriving because of a monopoly over customers (students) who have to pay outrageous sums for indoctrination materials.

Take, for example, biology texts. One example with nearly 1000 pages “connects the concepts” for its students:

Before the 1800s, most people believed that each species had been created at the beginning of the world, and that modern organisms were essentially unchanged descendants of their ancestors.

… Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle….had ample time during his five-year voyage to reflect on the ideas of [various] authors…. From them collectively, he built a framework that helped support his theory of descent with modification.

One aspect of scientific genius is the power of astute observation – to see what others miss or fail to appreciate. In this area Darwin excelled… [emphasis added]

…The theory of evolution has quite rightly been called the grand unifying theory (GUT) of biology….*

The Bible has this to say about Darwin’s astute observations:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:18-23)

Christian students, rightfully, are dismayed at the prospect of going through science classes forced to “learn” and “spit back” concepts they know are false at their root. So, what should a student do who feels called into a specific profession that requires a college diploma?

First, it is important to view these classes as comparative religion rather than science. As I said to one student, “You wouldn’t take it personally if you were studying Islam and discovered that a Muslim’s faith and practice were different from yours. You would be studying to understand its theology and application. Likewise, you should view a required science course as a religion course in the belief and practices of secular humanism.”

In order to help this student further, I contacted a number of graduates of secular colleges asking their advice, based on their experiences. Here are some of their answers:

From a woman with a BS in Biology who is currently working in veterinary medicine:

Been there and loved it! It just gave me greater ability to counter evolutionary theory. During my courses, my professors were very open about stating that there are areas requiring further study and/or theories that were proving incorrect based upon new research. In essence, they were furthering my knowledge regarding the fallacies of evolution because their theories were not holding valid. Student truly only have to regurgitate what they are being asked for, and use the scientific information to support discussions about Creation. They can always preface their answers with "according to evolutionary theory..." rather than agreeing with the professor or otherwise stating evolution as fact.

Another student who recently completed a masters program in nursing said:

The first advice I would give would be to be scrupulous in doing the homework required. Go above and beyond what is required. Read every assignment and be able to discuss it fully. Never be faulted for incomplete work. That should also take care of any problems with a grade in the class, if the instructor is fair, and it will prepare the student to discuss and refute the material. Most professors just want to have the material repeated back, so students should be prepared to do that.

Then I'd suggest books like Ken Ham's The Lie
and Bahnsen's Always Ready. These will suggest key questions to ask the teacher and challenge the material. In addition, students should be studying the Bible so it is fresh in their mind.

Also, remember that God created the world to run on orderly principles -- principles that can be discovered through scientific study. Students should view a biology class as a means to acquire the tools of beginning scientific inquiry and not consider it a total loss. But over all, going to a humanistic school will require self study if one really want to learn anything in that subject.

I faced almost complete opposition philosophically in school and used these techniques to survive. I even received an A + in one class where I completely disagreed with the instructor and told her so. Nicely, of course.

Another student who is currently attending law school suggested:

Think of this as an opportunity to learn the other side. Looking at the class as a way to bolster one’s own position by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the other side might help with the mental hurdle of actually learning the material.

I suggest a student change his frame of mind about the testing situation. Is the test really an attestation of belief or is it a demonstration of knowledge about a particular subject that he has been taught by the professor? If he looks at it as the latter, that might help.

Take advantage of office hours. Go to office hours and talk with the professor. The time to discuss in great depth personal issues about class material is definitely not during class and I would be careful to not use the office hours as a time for debate, but rather use it as a time to learn. A good professor will be open to teaching and answering questions if a student comes in with a genuine desire to learn. Office hours are an appropriate time to discuss things like this. A one-on-one discussion alerts the professor to the fact that this is not just a sassy college kid wanting to talk in front of a class, but rather this is an important issue that the student feels strongly about and wants the professor to know that his personal beliefs differ from the class material.

Another graduate who now works in the dental field had this to offer:

Oh the joys of secular education! It has been a while since my science classes, but I approached it in the following ways:

I maintained a high level of respect for my instructor, regardless of our differences...Meaning, that I never "confronted" her in class or belittled her in any way. There were a few outspoken creationists in the class, but they were annoying and disrespectful, and very poor testimonies to Christianity. I made it a habit to thank instructors after their lectures.

I strove to be the best student that I could, so that the instructor would respect me for my efforts, and consequently, respect my differences of opinion. This is not as much about getting an A or B, but rather, that the teacher notices that the student is doing his best. I would encourage other students to humbly go to the teacher with questions, so that the instructor knows that they truly wants to do better...that they’re not lazy, etc. I made it a point to go to office hours, even when I wasn't struggling, because I became a face to the instructor; it allowed for a relationship, and he knew that I was interested in his class (and in him as a human being too).

If the exam/homework were in essay form (not scantron, where you cannot write on the paper), I would write, "The BOOK says..." etc. I would sometimes write a little something in the margin as well, such as ..."I do not agree with this, however" ...but always in a respectful way.

I used these approaches in my bio class, and because of the respect that my instructor had for me, it opened up doors for deeper conversations...including creation, God, etc. One of our last written assignments was something about evolution, and I chose to go out on a limb, risk my grade, and write my opinion. Again, I maintained a respectful attitude throughout the paper, and I had already established a friendship with my instructor. She ended up giving me an A in the class, despite the paper, and she and I maintained contact even after the class was over.

These suggestions are offered in the hope that those confronted with similar situations can learn from the experiences of others. However, this should never cloud the reality that evolutionary scientists are suppressing the truth of God’s creation more than most other people, in spite of the fact that their profession is about investigation and observation. As Psalm 19:1-3 proclaims:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

God’s call to dominion and the Great Commission is operative in the secular realm. Christians called to battle in this realm need to connect daily with their Savior and make use of Christian mentors who will help them through the morass of these “academic deceptions.” In addition, they would do well to recall daily:

For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (Romans 3:3-4)

* Mader, Biology (McGraw Hill, 2010).