Resisting the public education system in America is not just a good idea; it is a duty. --- and leave the masses uneducated?
Acts 5:29 ... Exodus 20 --- religious myth to ignore. On Wednesday, July 24, 2013 6:35:29 AM UTC-5, MJ wrote: > > > *The Messianic Character of American Education 50 Years Later > *By Allen Mendenhall > July 24, 2013 > > R.J. Rushdoony published *The Messianic Character of American Education > *<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1879998068/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=lewrockwell&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1879998068&adid=01YZDMTGET6PFFRV8WE5&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lewrockwell.com%2F%3Fpost_type%3Darticle%26p%3D444095%26preview%3Dtrue>in > > 1963 as American troop levels were surging in Vietnam, Americans were > digging bomb shelters in their backyards, hippies were experimenting with > recreational drugs and free love and generating an antiauthoritarian > counterculture, the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum even against > state-sponsored opposition, President Kennedy was assassinated, music and > fashion were changing, a second wave of feminism was spreading after the > publication of Betty Friedan’s *The Feminine Mystique*, Great Society > programs were being proposed, and governments everywhere were experimenting > with new forms of espionage and intelligence-gathering. Statism was on the > rise. It isn’t surprising that the American educational system, both in > terms of standards and curriculum, was destabilized during this time. > > “Education in this era,” Rushdoony claimed, “is a messianic and utopian > movement” for which the state had “become the saving institution” and the > schools proclaimers of “a new gospel of salvation.” Against the > “superimposition of the state on every order of life and every sphere of > human activity,” Rushdoony sought to restore education to its classical, > religious foundations. His book tracts the growth of statist education from > the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century and profiles > several educators (too many to list) who represent pedagogical paradigm > shifts. > > A Presbyterian theologian, philosopher, author, and grassroots organizer, > Rushdoony was influenced by apologist Cornelius Van Til and opposed > Statism, which he considered idolatry if not a religion. He was at the > forefront of the Christian homeschool movement and challenged the > fashionable practices and ideals that elected officials and public school > administrators were championing in government schools at the expense of > biblical education. > > “Education today,” Rushdoony said, “occupies an equivocal position in > contemporary life, functioning both as a scapegoat for every failure and as > a catch-all for every hope and expectation of society.” It is striking the > extent to which these words still describe the current morass in public > education. > > The U.S. Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 with > bipartisan support and thereby expanded the role of the federal government > in local education to unprecedented levels. This Act imposed strict but > arbitrary guidelines on teachers, shifted decisions from local school > boards to the federal government, mandated school accountability to the > federal government, and standardized student testing. Such centralization > of power exceeded anything that Plato could have imagined for his fictional > Republic. > > And the federal government was not done. Government subsidized failure in > the economy resulted in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, > which redistributed $100 billion (the figure differs from analyst to > analyst) from taxpayers to the public education system to prevent teacher > layoffs; increase teacher salaries; fund Pell-Grants, special education, > and the Head Start Program; and encourage the construction and repair of > school facilities. This Act was not benevolent or charitable; it gave away > money taken by force and demanded, in return, the allegiance and obedience > of local schools and school boards. Nor was the Act, as the White House > maintains, part of a “nationwide effort to create jobs and transform our > economy to compete in the 21st century.” Instead it was a mechanism to > ensure the continued worship and viability of state education; for the > system works only if its members remain happy and the illusion of integrity > and protection can be maintained. > > As if that were not enough, President Obama, in his State of the Union > Address this year, proposed “early learning” that would compel parents to > turn their children over to the government at a younger age. Rather than > attending private preschools, churches, synagogues, or daycares of their > parents’ choosing, four year olds apparently will become indoctrinated into > Statism and all its accessory ideologies (radical egalitarianism, > nationalism, central planning) in the public schools before they can even > read or write. The pretext for “early learning” is that education must be > universal so that American children can excel and compete in a global > workforce; but a more sinister and unstated purpose is, in Rushdoony’s > words, “the exaltation of the group, whether humanity, democracy, the > proletariat or the folk,” which “has steadily become religious, and the > state school a religious institution.” > > Rushdoony submits that the following assumptions undergird Statism: > > 1. That “the child is the child of the state or the property of the state, > which can therefore interfere extensively with parental authority.” > 2. That “[t]he state ‘priesthood’ of educators are best able to rear the > child and prepare him for life, viewed as statist life.” > 3. That “Statist education is alone ‘objective’ and hence true, the state > having the impartiality and transcendence of a god.” > > Accordingly, he says, statist education is an “entrance into the true > catholicity of the civil religion of the modern state.” Established > ostensibly to teach our children, public schools in America socialize and > shape children to be allegedly upstanding citizens in an allegedly > participatory democracy. They normalize the idea that the State is the > paternal authority to which biological parents must turn for the rearing > and nurturing of their children. > > As go the children, so goes society. Rushdoony himself puts it this way: > “If the child educationally belongs to the state and to its care or > oversight, it is then a far lesser thing to ask that property be likewise > surrendered to the state.” Why should we be surprised when the state > exercises its eminent domain powers if that which is, or ought to be, most > precious to us our children has been voluntarily handed over to the > government? In other words, public schools are merely one mechanism among > many for the State to supervise and discipline our children into > psychological obedience and conformity so that it might insert itself into > other areas of life, including private ownership. Children become adults > and pass their inculcated values onto their children; the cycle continues, > the State ever-increasing its power over time, involving itself with > matters once thought to be outside the province of government. > > “Since in the civil religion the state is god, and there is no right > beyond the state (or the state’s concept of its goal and the goal for > humanity),” explains Rushdoony, “it follows that right is what the state > requires, and the normal or healthy man that which the society requires man > to be.” The control of a few zealots can be preserved only when and if a > vast majority can be trained into docile submission to compulsive standards > and regulations, persistently instructed to accept certain ideas and habits > as unconditionally true, and versed in the rhetoric of Statism and punished > for any deviation therewith. The State offers lavish incentives and rewards > (public loans, scholarships, grants, public sector jobs, benefits) for > proselytizing on behalf of its religion. > > Acts 5:29 teaches that it is proper to disobey State dictates that are > contrary to God’s instruction. The first two commandments listed in Exodus > 20 prohibit our present idolization of the State as well as the > iconography, narratives, and rituals that seek to sanctify and validate the > religion of Statism. The history of Western Civilization teaches that > Christians have, at various times and to various degrees since the age of > Christ, struggled against oppressive State power. Resisting the public > education system in America is not just a good idea; it is a duty. > > Not only proponents of Christian private schools and homeschooling are > aware of the increasing messianic justifications for, and celebrations of, > state education. As early as 1909, Friedrich Nietzsche, who despised > Christianity, acknowledged that government subsidized education was meant > to condition the masses into following “the guiding star of the State!” > That so many politicians and teachers fail to acknowledge this fact > suggests they are either willingly complicit or thoroughly indoctrinated. > > Fifty years after publishing *The Messianic Character of American > Education*, Rushdoony remains relevant and perhaps even more important > than he was then. His words endure as a frightening reminder of what needs > to be done: “There is no escaping this dilemma of [educational] > socialization, with its subversion of learning to the goals of the state, > *except by the radical disestablishment of the schools, the separation of > school and state*.” May the disestablishment and separation begin. > > http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/07/allen-mendenhall/the-public-schools-are-a-nasty-religion/ > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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