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We are told by
everyone – parents, grandparents, the media, the president, countless academic
studies – that attending college is the way to ensure a brighter future for our
children. It is the new American
dream.
While there is a lot
of evidence that college is a good choice for many people, there are other
things to be considered. In 2012 unpaid
college debt passed credit card debt nationally, and people are having a harder
time paying if off. Many students who
go to college either fail to graduate with a degree or are unable to find work
in their field of study after graduation.
There are also many students who are either not prepared for college or
who are not interested in spending another four years in the classroom. Some students would be much better off if
they received training that equipped them to enter the workforce soon after
high school.
With those
considerations in mind, a college and scholarship oriented education seems a
little short-sighted. With my own
children I am trying to take a broader view and prepare them for whatever they
may do in the future – whether it be college or a job or marriage. The following quote embodies
much of my own educational philosophy.
“The end of learning is to repair the ruin of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love Him, to imitate Him, to be like Him.” - John Milton
It is true that much
of the ruin wrought on mankind at the Fall was spiritual. Man went from being alive to God to dead in
his trespasses and sins, a ruin which only Christ can repair. But I believe that on top of that spiritual
ruin, man lost more than that in the Fall.
Adam was created in
the image of God. Man’s nature was made
to reflect who God is – His justice, His love, His mercy, His creativity. All those attributes of God that we love to
study and praise show up to a lesser degree and in a broken form in His sinful
creation. We feel a strong sense of
justice and injustice because we are created in the image of God. We feel pity and mercy because we are created
in the image of God. We desire to create
– music, art, literature - because we were created in His image.
Just think how much
more like God man must have been before the Fall, before his mind was clouded
by sin. His justice was more sure and
right, his mercy unmixed with selfish motive, his creativity unhindered by the
curse of hard labor. What a joy it must
have been for Adam to live and work in the Garden of Eden.
I think Milton must
have been thinking of this when he penned the quote above. Education is not just about learning to read
so you can read the Bible and become a Christian. It is much more than that. It is learning to think about the world as
God thinks about it, learning to see creation for the marvelous work that it is,
learning to see man for who he is and pity his fallen state. It is about learning to see the order of the
world around us and to trace the mysterious hand of God through history. And in all this we must stand back and marvel
at our great God, to love Him more and more, and as far as possible to order
our minds to be more like Him.
It is this ordering
of the mind that I wish to instill in my children through their education. I want to instill in them the discipline and
love of study. I want them to learn not
only to read and write and do math, but to learn how to think about and study
and analyze the world as well. My goal
is to equip them to do well at whatever their hands find to do.
"I am merely striving to think God's thoughts after him."
- Johannes Kepler
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