Education is Never Neutral (6 May 2008)

Print

Education is Never Neutral

Dear JOY Magazine
 
Thank you for a great article on Education in your April edition. Thank you also for citing the www.christianaction.org.za website. There was, however, one significant point made in the article that I disagree with. The author states that "The South African education system is not all bad; many of us graduated from high school and university without losing our minds, however the climate today is not as neutral."  
 
Education is never neutral. All education, from the text books to the teachers (whether people realise it or not) is religious. Humanism is a religion. A key reason South Africa is in the mess it is in today is because Education in South Africa has become increasingly humanistic (man-centred) over the last 50 years. The philosophy of the classroom will become the philoshophy of government in the next generation. We have a humanistic government because our grandparents and parents were educated to be humanists. Yes, they had more Bible teaching in schools than my generation (born in 1980s) but most Christians today have Christian hearts but humanist minds. We need to go back to the Bible and apply the Lordship of Christ to every area of life, especially in education.

Nearly 500 years ago, the great German Reformer, Martin Luther, warned: “I am much afraid that schools will prove to be wide gates to hell unless they diligently labour to explain the Holy Scriptures, engraving them on the hearts of the youth. I advise no-one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not constantly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.”

Taryn Hodgson

Africa Christian Action

Christian Action P.O.Box 23632 Claremont 7735 Cape Town South Africa info@christianaction.org.za - 021-689-4481 - www.christianaction.org.za
DMC Firewall is a Joomla Security extension!