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Public Schools in America Take a Downward Slide

What was the original purpose of the school in America? Was it to send everyone, no matter what profession he aspired to, to a university? Was it to make children humanistic puppets of the state before they reached the age of 10? Or was the reason for something much more holy and Christian in origin? That is where it started!

  • Russ Warren
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What was the original purpose of the school in America? Was it to send everyone, no matter what profession he aspired to, to a university? Was it to make children humanistic puppets of the state before they reached the age of 10? Or was the reason for something much more holy and Christian in origin? That is where it started! Originally, the purpose of schools was to teach children to read so that they could read the Bible! What a long way we have come, when the Supreme Court can arbitrarily decide to outlaw the Bible in those institutions!

I am currently attending a secular high school, and for much of my life was not a Christian. Now that the Father has led me to be a Reformed believer, I look back on my life at school and look at what these schools did, how their fall came, and where they are going.

When I was in elementary school, I was young and "innocent." I believed everything the teachers told me because my parents said to. As a young man now, I see the humanistic, statist trash they were hurling into my impressionable years. A key ingredient of their propaganda is the backward concept of self-esteem. Ask any student in the secular system and he will tell you that he has lived through years of hearing about this. It is all based on psycho-heresy propagated by Freud, Jung, and other "greats" in psychology. This statist doctrine can be summed up by saying: No one is perfect; therefore, you must be proud of what you do, even if it is wrong. Even if you commit an action so heinous that a newspaper won't print it — be proud, be happy. This is what I was taught for so many years. When I open my Bible, I see that the doctrine of self-esteem is a glaring contradiction to the Faith (Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:16, etc.). It is the first building block in making a pathetic, worthless, secular "Christian." From what I see, the public schools are doing a great job. Take away sin and its consequences, and you have a Genesis 3:5 on your hands! They make us to be gods, the deciders of our own destinies.

The next doctrine of the public school is the utter denial of the Biblical Faith. In elementary school it wasn't that bad; we were even exhorted to go to church. However, once I set foot inside my high school's doors as a new believer, I was under attack. Right now I am researching a paper to present to my school; it will show the utter falseness of the public school's teachings about the Puritans and Reformers. The public schools took all of the information about these godly Christians and compacted it, twisted it, distorted it, so that the students hate anyone who believes the Bible. One of my teachers called Luther an "Anti-Semite"! Any serious student of Luther would know this to be false: Luther (like any serious Christian!) just hated the idea of God being blasphemed by anyone. However, godless teachers know the power of Christ through these men, so they must make them look bad. My teachers have criticized me for being, in essence, a Puritan.

The last doctrine of the State's Church (the state school) is that of evolution. So many students I know have to compromise their faith for alleged science. No one even gives creation a second look.

All of this ended for me last year. The Lord brought me into his covenant and set me free. Knowing that the Lord must win the battle, I am working against the humanists in my school. Gary DeMar states, "Reclamation of multiple authorities comes about when the individual assumes his responsibilities under God and thoroughly transforms his family, and working with other like-minded individuals, transforms his school, church, vocation, local community, state, and national civil government" (DeMar, Ruler of the Nations, 1987). The family must take up a program of self-government under God's law and reform (or reconstruct) the family according to the dictates of God's law. After that the Statist Church, the public school, will come crashing down. The Christian schools that arise to challenge and surpass its educational and civil standards will replace it. Inner-city schools that are decreasing in educational value (even though tax dollars are being pumped into them) will lose students to the schools that offer safety, the law of God, and education that does not deny the total depravity of man. This is not a fight of weapons or violence, but a fight of ideologies. It is fought with the weapons of the Bible, the mind, and the determination of Christians to reclaim society. No bloodshed is needed by any party; victory will come by a gradual process as the kingdom of God spreads as prescribed in the word of God.


  • Russ Warren

Russ Warren is a 16-year-old student at Westside High School in Omaha, NE. He plans to attend Covenant College once he has graduated from high school. He attends Messiah Church (PCA), a new church in the Omaha area. He hopes one day to go into the pastorate. Russ has an email address at [email protected] and a web site at http://members.truepath.com/CRSW6.

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