I must first preface this piece of writing with the following.

I am by no means a skilled or
articulate speaker; nor is my writing ability admirably adequate or ornate. That said, I apologize
in advance if what follows seems at times to be overdrawn, unclear, or just plain rambling. I feel
very strongly for what I write about, and I hope that my passion doesnt overshoot the accuracy
of my aim.
On the Completion of My Public Education: An Observation, Reflection and
Invocation
How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!
-Proverbs 16:16
If we are going to be wise, spiritual people prepared to meet the crises of our age, we
must be a studying, learning community that values the life of the mind.
-J.P. Moreland
After thirteen years enrolled in the public education system here in the United
States of America, I can finally say that I am done with it. I am no longer under any
federal obligation to continue schooling and further my education. To be honest, the
feeling is not as surreal as some may say. At least to me it isnt. That being said, I wish to
take this time to reflect upon what I have learned these past years now having completed
elementary school, middle school, and high school.
First, I shall comment on an aspect that is ever so persistent and evident among
many in the public education system, especially in the high school demographic. From
my experience, from what Ive heard with my own ears and what Ive read on numerous
social media sites, it seems as if there is a deeply virulent attitude towards the idea of
school. Such harsh stances against school take their form in countless Twitter, Tumblr,
and Facebook posts consisting of such pervicacious statements incessantly lashing out at
the institution of school, be it specifically the homework load, teachers, or just broadly
the idea of being forced to go school in the first place. I have come across so much
diatribe against schooling that Ive come to think that perhaps our energy to complain
about things outweighs our energy to actually be constructive and act upon our situation.
Granted, not all of this negative polemic Ive heard and read is ungrounded. Trust me, Id
be first in line to say, Yes. The public education system does indeed have many flaws.
The problem is not necessarily in pointing out the flaws. The problem is in the
deconstructive attitude. All this to say, I just want to lay out my current observation.
There is much anti-school talk going around.
The problem I see with all this vitriol goes beyond the superficial complaints.
Theres something deeper. I think its something that speaks volumes about the nature of
our society. This gravely concerns me. I fear the underlying factor is a lack of
appreciation for education. Furthermore, this disregard for education is accented with an
apathy or ignorance against cultivating a robust intellectual life.
Before I delve into that, I would also like to note two specific things I find
troublesome with the largely present tirade against public education. Our government
provides its citizens with free public education, (flawed though the system may be).
Unfortunately, there are many less developed countries whose residents have little to no
access to forms of even basic education. Here we are with all of our smart phones, smart
tablets, and the like with access to the astoundingly vast internet literally at our fingers
and with that access to so many valuable and free educational resources, and yet much of
our time spent online is for such trivial matters. (I am guilty of this more than anyone!)
Here we are with free public education being given to us, and there is overloads of
complaining about how much we hate it. This ingratitude seems arrogant to me.
Education is a right, and there are too many being deprived of that right in less developed
countries. We have access to enjoy that right, and yet Ive met so many who are dying to
give up that right. There is something wrong with this picture.
Second, much negativity I have heard and read is spurned from dislike of certain
subjects and their difficulty. It seems a trend nowadays that if something is too hard or
difficult to understand then it should be disliked and (as it so commonly follows)
complained about. I think our culture has lost the appreciation for a goal needing hard
work and effort. As Ron Belgau puts it:
An arduous good is a good that requires struggle. A good that is worth fighting for.
And a good that inspires fear and hope and endurance in the face of adversity.
Arduous good is also a phrase that is seldom spoken in Hollywood, and almost
never heard on Madison Avenue. In that silence, the poverty of our culture is laid
bare.
Perhaps we should not be so quick to give into frustrated defeat when the going gets
rough.
I have pointed out my observations about the negative attitude against school and
education, and I have at least made two points regarding why I find some trouble in the
populations complaints. In reflection, it is disheartening to me that we treat our access to
education as an almost worthless commodity and how hard work to overcome difficulty
is rarely considered as a viable option. Now I will reflect upon that directly related to
what Ive learned during these years in the school system.
Autobiographically speaking, until sometime in my sophomore year of high
school, I was very well one highly active in spewing distaste for school and such. (Until I
realized the futile nature of this tiresome complaining. I began to wonder, How can I be
more constructive?) However, a transformation occurred in me, the seeds of which were
planted in the summer of my last year in middle school by a dear friend of mine whose
influence on my life has been great. I came to realize that my faith and my education
became, in a sense, inseparable. Caring about my education seemed to go hand in hand
with pursuing a healthy intellectual habits which, in my faith, was a call that went too
long unanswered.
There is a call in scripture for Christians to pursue an active life of the mind.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind, Jesus says in Matthew 22:37. That last part, with all your mind, is glossed over
much. God gave our human species capacities capable of higher thinking and abstract
reasoning. I agree with major proponent of the Scientific Revolution, Galileo, when he
wrote, I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with
sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. We should be using those
capacities for a glory greater than our own. We should also use our mental capacities in
thinking about the implications of our beliefs. Why do we believe what we believe? This
sentiment is found in 1 Peter 3:15, But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be
prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that
you have. Why else is this important? Why else should we, especially as Christians, care
about education and with that, pursuing an active mind life? I think the well-respected
philosophers J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig put it strikingly clear in this lengthy
but important quote:
Our churches are unfortunately overly populated with people whose minds, as
Christians, are going to waste. They may be spiritually regenerate, but their minds
have not been converted; they still think like nonbelievers. Despite their
Christian commitment, they remain largely empty selves. What is an empty self?
An empty self is a person who is passive, sensate, busy and hurried, incapable of
developing an interior life. Such a person is inordinately individualistic, infantile
and narcissistic. Imagine now a church filled with such people. What will be the
theological understanding, the evangelistic courage, the cultural penetration of
such a church? If the interior life does not really matter all that much, why should
one spend the time trying to develop an intellectual, spiritually mature life? If
someone is basically passive, he will just not make the effort to read, preferring
instead to be entertained. If a person is sensate in orientation, then music,
magazines filled with pictures, and visual media in general will be more important
than mere words on a page or abstract thoughts. If one is hurried and distracted,
one will have little patience for theoretical knowledge and too short an attention
span to stay with an idea while it is being carefully developed. And if someone is
overly individualistic, infantile and narcissistic, what will that person read, if he
reads at all? Books about Christian celebrities, Christian romance novels imitating
the worst that the world has to offer, Christian self-help books filled with slogans,
simplistic moralizing, lots of stories and pictures, and inadequate diagnoses of the
problem facing the reader. What will not be read are books that equip people to
develop a well-reasoned, theological understanding of the Christian faith and to
assume their role in the broader work of the kingdom of God. Such a church will
become impotent to stand against the powerful forces of secularism that threaten
to wash away Christian ideas in a flood of thoughtless pluralism and misguided
scientism. Such a church will be tempted to measure her success largely in terms
of numbers, numbers achieved by cultural accommodation to empty selves. In this
way, the church will become her own grave digger; for her means of short-term
success will turn out in the long run to be the very thing that buries her. (from
Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview)
Education became something I naturally saw the importance of once my lens
changed. Ive begun to view education as something holistically formative. Education is
just as much for your heart as it is for your head. Education is a holistic endeavor,
professor James K.A. Smith writes, (It) involves the whole person, including our bodies,
in a process of formation that aims our desires, primes our imagination, and orients us to
the world. When we love God, we should want to learn and think about Him. It would
flow naturally that we would then want to learn and think about this vast universe Hes
created.
I realize that I may have got a bit off track in my writing, and for that I apologize.
Ill return to something a bit more school oriented, but the following will lead me to
digress from the theme of education and such.
For me, my whole outlook on the coming school day changed when I realized that
Id be spending it constantly crossing paths with people. There used to be a part of me
that couldnt get past seeing my fellow peers as just obnoxious people who one day Id
never see again. However, towards the end of my high school time, I began to see people,
my fellow peers, with new eyes. I began to see them as what they really were. Children of
God who mirror God and who are loved so much by God. I began to see everyone around
me as those who God enjoined me to act in conducing to their flourishing. One gets the
opportunity every school day to be an example of Jesus and an agent of shalom to peers. I
only wish I realized this in the severity I have sooner. Ill be the first to admit that dealing
with people can be hard, especially since the love command is so counterintuitive, but I
believe it is a noble pursuit and one that deserves our full energy.
Let me conclude swiftly. In noting my public education completion, what Ive
come to learn is a whole new approach to education deeply influenced by my faith. I now
want to give a direct invocation to those reading, especially those who may still be in the
public education system (or any education system). I urge you, echoing the words of St.
Paul, to do everything, including your work in school, for the glory of God. If subjects
are hard, work harder. There are so many resources available to you. If teachers dont
teach, take the initiative to learn materials on your own. Yes, sometimes it will be time
consuming, but life cannot be well-lived without sacrifices. Your education is important.
Let us grow to be a mindful people, valuing wisdom, pursuing our education and acting
for shalom. Above all, may we never forget how deep the Fathers love for us is. May
Gods peace be with us all.