Education Problem?  Try Values Problem

 

 

In the news recently, there have been a number of stories foreshadowing the fact that extended school years, and longer school days, will be upon us sooner than later. These various stories refer to the fact that American school children are lagging behind their foreign counterparts, and specifically Asian kids, when it comes to educational prowess, and that this is drastically impacting our ability as a country to compete in this global marketplace. 

 

The reason why our kids lag those in parts of Asia is due to the fact that the Asian children, according to those who “study” the issue, is simple; the Asian kids spend more time in school.  So the solution to this problem, as proposed by many, is just as simple; extend the school year, and school days in order to get more knowledge in our kids’ heads. And the people behind this movement have some pretty influential allies such as President Obama. The President has recently begun outlining his intentions to extend the school year with the simple underlying logic that, "...if the Asians can do it, so can we." However, the logic applied to extending the school year, no matter how well intentioned, is a fallacy at best, and shameful naiveté at the worst.  To recognize that our society's problems regarding inadequately prepared students lies in the fact that the school year isn't long enough to learn, requires a willingness to take the easy way out.

 

It would be safe to assume that The President is acknowledging the accurate generalization that Asian students excel at a pace academically that is leaving their American counterparts in the dust.  But to attribute that chasm to a longer school year will create solutions that will never fix the problem.  The fundamental difference between our culture and theirs is VALUES.  They value discipline, structure, they have a reverence for teachers and authority figures, and most importantly, they value the lessons learned from failure.  And I'm sad to say that our country does not value those things equally.  We have created a culture that refuses to let our kids fail preventing them from truly learning.  And the byproduct of that ideology is a destructive sense of entitlement.  There are teachers in our country who are instructed to NOT hand out failing grades to students for fear of hurting self-esteem; only D- and above is acceptable, regardless of performance.  Do you think that happens in Asia?  

 

We reside in the greatest country on Earth, and by the grace of God, we enjoy freedoms and lifestyles afforded to few others on this planet.  But America didn't become great by accident.  It did so by building a culture on a foundational set of values, typically referred to as Judeo-Christian values, even though not all of our founders were religious.  But unfortunately, those values have been replaced by another set of religious values called Secularism. Where only the individual matters; where children have rights and can sue their parents, where good intentions justify disastrous results; where there are no privileges, only rights; and where life is manipulated to ensure equal results, regardless of performance and despite equal opportunity.

 

We spend more money per capita on education than any other country on Earth, but yet we still have people arguing that our kids are inferior because we don't spend enough! When are we going to scream UNCLE! We have a Values problem, plain and simple, and that is most influenced by the home environment. You can keep those kids in school all year, but as long as we, as a country, continue to focus on symptoms, our problems will persist.

 

But dealing with the root of the problem is extremely difficult and complicated as morality and values are next to impossible to legislate, and most likely immoral to legislate certain values.  Because we live in the freest country in the world, sometimes the price we pay is that we have a broad range of interpretations of that freedom and an even broader spectrum of values.  But if one really wants to get to the root of the issue, we have to look at how values are derived. 

 

In most cases, if not all, there is a direct correlation between a person’s religion, and/or world-view, and the type of values they have.  Meaning, if someone is an Atheist, they will have a different set of values than a Christ-Follower.  And a Christ-Follower will have a different set of values than a Muslim, or Secularist and so on and so on.  And the ways these values manifest themselves is through behavior.  An even simpler way to look it is: Theology=Values=Behavior.  And this equation is the most impacted by what takes place inside of the home.

 

Children don’t just magically turn out a certain way but rather, they develop values and behavioral traits by what they learn from their environment.  And despite what some may think, parents have the greatest impact over these things.  But it starts at a very early age and parents need to have the ability, understanding, and most importantly the courage to create a loving environment at home that does not waver about how the family’s value system is carried out.  Because sometimes, this will create tension between child and parent and the parent needs to be strong enough to stand their ground as they recognize the future consequences of decisions made today.  But then again, even our parental values have changed through the years.  Parents today would rather be liked by their kids and be their friends than to fill the appropriate role as a parent. The desire to be liked by their children will always trump the parent’s ability to be effective.

 

So in order to alter the educational course that our children are on, we really need to start addressing some things in our own homes.  Some of the best-educated and wealthiest people in this world have turned out to be some of the most evil, detestable, and violent people in this world.  And conversely, some of the brightest, most innovative, and creative people in history were school-system dropouts.  None of this to say that a good education doesn’t matter; clearly it does.  But it’s hard to believe that these people, or anyone for that matter would have turned out differently if they would have just spent more time in the classroom.  Education alone can’t change a person, but values can.