Philosophies in Public Education

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I am looking for a few suggestions on philosophies taught in our public education system that contradict a belief in God (or obedience to God). I understand each teacher (or professor) brings his own views to the table, but I am interested in identifying some of these philosophies that seem inherent to modern education. I will give a few examples.

Naturalism: Nothing exists outside the natural. While by definition science doesn’t attempt to explain the supernatural, our education system is heavily focused on only that which we can perceive with our senses. Schools and teachers may not outright teach Naturalism, but the ideology behind Naturalism is pressed upon young minds while religion is pushed out the door.

Relativism: Concepts such as beauty and ugliness are subjective to the individual. Gay marriage is a relative issue currently receiving a great deal of attention. We could take a step back and say the right and wrong of sexuality in general is relative. What is wrong to one student isn’t necessarily wrong to another.

Freudianism: Virtues such as courage, love, hope, etc., are nothing more than connections in the brain resulting from mental conditioning. I believe C. S. Lewis referred to this as, “Men Without Chests.”

I realize the way these philosophies are surreptitiously introduced to students varies from school to school, and state to state. I am merely curious to learn about other ways the values and beliefs of Christianity are being undermined in education. I am most interested in public education K-12, but university examples are also welcome.

Another way to word it: What philosophies are drawing students away from God and muddling their ability to distinguish right from wrong, and why is there a lack of remorse for those wrong choices?
 
This is a topic that has come up a number of different times in slightly different presentations on these forums lately. I did not experience anything that undermined my faith when I was in the public education system. While there are certainly examples of these types of things going on, I have seen no evidence that it is a widespread problem.

I think that one important thing to remember about public education is the fact that it is indeed public and therefore open to all. It is very difficult to discuss things from a religious point of view when there are so many viewpoints in the classroom. You would almost certainly offend someone if you tried to do this. I believe that this is why most teachers/schools tend to stick to a secular curriculum.

That being said, there are a couple of things that I think you can do if this is a major concern. First, you can send your children to a catholic school where you know the beliefs will be more in line with your own. However, be aware that most of these schools do teach the Big Bang theory and theistic evolution. I believe in these theories so this is not a problem for me, but I know from reading other threads this would be a problem for some. The problems that I see with this approach is that first of all, it is expensive. Secondly, it leads to sheltered children that are less exposed to other thoughts and ideas.

The best approach in my opinion and the one that I am going to take with my children, is to teach them what we believe and why, and then teach them critical thinking skills. This way they can be exposed to all kinds of different ideas and views and use the skills that they have to be able to sift out what is true/accurate/fitting with their beliefs from what is not.
 
CatholicGeek1 said:
That being said, there are a couple of things that I think you can do if this is a major concern. First, you can send your children to a catholic school where you know the beliefs will be more in line with your own. However, be aware that most of these schools do teach the Big Bang theory and theistic evolution. I believe in these theories so this is not a problem for me, but I know from reading other threads this would be a problem for some. The problems that I see with this approach is that first of all, it is expensive. Secondly, it leads to sheltered children that are less exposed to other thoughts and ideas.

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Sending your children to Catholic school seems like a must to me. Unless you want your children to hear about how condoms save the world, abortion is good for women and now same-sex relationships.

Also, it surprises me that you mention that the Big Bang Theory and evolution as being a problems for Catholics. All our recent Popes believed in theistic evolution. Both are absolutely in line with Catholic doctrine, why would one object? Our faith is a logical one.
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Also, it surprises me that you mention that the Big Bang Theory and evolution as being a problems for Catholics. All our recent Popes believed in theistic evolution. Both are absolutely in line with Catholic doctrine, why would one object? Our faith is a logical one.
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I agree that there is no problem with these, but I have seen many others on these boards that have MAJOR issues with them, which is why I stated that it could be a problem for some.
 
I actually just wrote a paper on Political Correctness and the abandonment of the individual in Public Universities.

The philosophy of Political Correctness and the ideas of speech codes may not contradict a belief in God in theory but in application strips away rights of the faithful.
 
Thanks for the reply! I should have been a little more clear with my intentions. I don’t have kids of my own and I am not researching this topic for a comparison of schools. I am mostly interested in identifying what aspects (philosophies) of the public education system contribute to the way kids think about the world, virtues, God, etc. The examples I gave could probably be listed under the broader category of post-modernism, but I am interested in finding more specific examples under modernism and post-modernism.

I realize public schools bring in children with various backgrounds, but I would like to identify what kinds of philosophies are being taught that allow children to grow up without virtue.

I’ll use relativism as an example again. Children are not taught the virtue of Chastity or the Vice of Sensuality. Instead, as Light points out, kids are taught that sexuality is subjective by promoting condom use, abortion as an option, and STD testing for the sexually active. It wasn’t long ago that I saw something on the news about a college campus having “sex week.”

Relativism expands far beyond sexuality, but I am interested in learning about other philosophies that contribute to this lack of moral standard and virtue (neither of which are exclusive to Christianity). It seems that virtue has been expelled along with religion in secularism. We have become a culture centered around self-promotion under the false sense of freedom and equality, and I believe much of it can be attributed what our children are taught growing up.
 
I see two larger themes that run through public education today.

I work as a Dean in middle school.
  1. The “state” not God mentality.
    In organized public schooling there is this idea that the lower rung folks must be “protected” or “punished” by the higher rung folks. It fixes itself deep in the social strata of the school and within the school administration. Now you would think that this constant drumming of the psyche into conformity to authority is right up a Christians alley…because you could superimpose God to be the highest on the rung therefore he decides everything. But in education you appeal to the state not God. We can almost mass produce young adults who if they make it through the gauntlet…theoretically “owe” the government for protecting, for free school, and the worst thing…the state is the highest authority. It gives me the hebegeebees.
  2. The need for socialization.
    This strange idea that we must subject our children to a mass socialization in public school. For the reason that these children will be “normal” and not weird. This is absurd as humanity successfully socialized itself throughout the centuries without the aid of mass public schooling.
 
Steve80 said:
Thanks for the reply! I should have been a little more clear with my intentions. I don’t have kids of my own and I am not researching this topic for a comparison of schools. I am mostly interested in identifying what aspects (philosophies) of the public education system contribute to the way kids think about the world, virtues, God, etc. The examples I gave could probably be listed under the broader category of post-modernism, but I am interested in finding more specific examples under modernism and post-modernism.

I realize public schools bring in children with various backgrounds, but I would like to identify what kinds of philosophies are being taught that allow children to grow up without virtue.

I’ll use relativism as an example again. Children are not taught the virtue of Chastity or the Vice of Sensuality. Instead, as Light points out, kids are taught that sexuality is subjective by promoting condom use, abortion as an option, and STD testing for the sexually active. It wasn’t long ago that I saw something on the news about a college campus having “sex week.”

Relativism expands far beyond sexuality, but I am interested in learning about other philosophies that contribute to this lack of moral standard and virtue (neither of which are exclusive to Christianity). It seems that virtue has been expelled along with religion in secularism. We have become a culture centered around self-promotion under the false sense of freedom and equality, and I believe much of it can be attributed what our children are taught growing up.
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I am not sure that the problem of morality or the lack there of really lies with schools. I wish that schools would focus more on abstinence, yet there are many kids that are going to have sex regardless of what the school teaches, and if they are going to, why not show them things like condoms that could stop a stupid mistake from ruining their whole lives.

I think the problem is that parents are not taking responsibility for their own kids and their moral education/development. If more parents could address these issues, maybe the schools would not have to teach these things. If more parents had done their jobs a generation ago, perhaps not so many in public office would be interested in teaching these things today. Ultimately when you decide to become a parent the responsibility for that child and their moral development lies with you and not the schools. If you do your job right, what the teacher says won’t change anything.

I was in public schools my whole life. I learned about condoms, STD testing, birth control, etc. I still managed to only have one sexual partner in my life and that is my wife!
 
When I was in school I never really experienced a whole lot that undermined my faith, at least not to my knowledge. But then again, I wasn’t Catholic when I was in school either. That said, I think the landscape of public education has changed significantly since I graduated 11 years ago and therefore if I ever get married and have children I will flat out refuse to put my child in any public school. The two primary reasons for this is because I believe public schools often teach philosophies contrary to Catholic philosophy and also because it is a well known fact that private schools often do far better than public schools when it comes to actually educating your children.
 
  1. The need for socialization.
    This strange idea that we must subject our children to a mass socialization in public school. For the reason that these children will be “normal” and not weird. This is absurd as humanity successfully socialized itself throughout the centuries without the aid of mass public schooling.
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While I agree that we were able to socialize children for a long time without public schools, however, how do you propose that we do that today?

In the times when this was done, you had strong communities and also limited travel. People grew up in a community together and stayed there for their whole lives (for the most part). Now the community is gone, and when going out in the world as an adult, you need to be able to interact with people from very diverse backgrounds. Where are kids today going to learn these skills if not in school?
 
Holly3278 said:
When I was in school I never really experienced a whole lot that undermined my faith, at least not to my knowledge. But then again, I wasn’t Catholic when I was in school either. That said, I think the landscape of public education has changed significantly since I graduated 11 years ago and therefore if I ever get married and have children I will flat out refuse to put my child in any public school. The two primary reasons for this is because I believe public schools often teach philosophies contrary to Catholic philosophy and also because it is a well known fact that private schools often do far better than public schools when it comes to actually educating your children.
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There are many cases where what you are saying is true, but it is not universal. Not all private schools are great and not all public schools are terrible. You have to be careful when using broad generalizations such as this.
 
CatholicGeek1 said:
While I agree that we were able to socialize children for a long time without public schools, however, how do you propose that we do that today?

In the times when this was done, you had strong communities and also limited travel. People grew up in a community together and stayed there for their whole lives (for the most part). Now the community is gone, and when going out in the world as an adult, you need to be able to interact with people from very diverse backgrounds. Where are kids today going to learn these skills if not in school?
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Strong communities of home-schools exist as we speak, but yet they cannot escape the stigma of being “weird.”

The assumption that you are making is that public schools do actually “socialize.” But a close study of schools as a whole does not suggest this happens any better with this model. We can make a good argument that it is socialized…as it is provided to the people by the government…but I have not read anywhere a correlation to public school being the only answer to a problem of socialization.

I would even contend that the existence of public school contributed to the demise of the very community that was so important throughout history.
 
To be blunt, I’ve never seen what you talk about in high school. The worst that occured was an otherwise-good math teacher ranting for a class how the school board was dealing the teachers’ union a bad hand. If anything, the teachers I had actually seemed pretty conservative, with the exception of the ex-hippie music teacher. This was 2005-2009.

As to naturalism, well, the entire reason for a public school is that it’s neutral to religion, simply because this country is a multireligious society. Too much discussion about religion one way or the other, the argument goes, can lead to accusations of proselytism or lack of equal time to the religions with significant presence in the community.
 
SonReacher, I agree that many people put state before God. I think we could use a broad term like virtue and people would still put state at the forefront. I sometimes question what would happen if the government said crime would go unpunished and without prosecution for one hour. It’s unfortunate that the only way some people are able to exorcise restraint is through fear of punishment and not through their own morality.
CatholicGeek1 said:
I am not sure that the problem of morality or the lack there of really lies with schools. I wish that schools would focus more on abstinence, yet there are many kids that are going to have sex regardless of what the school teaches, and if they are going to, why not show them things like condoms that could stop a stupid mistake from ruining their whole lives.

I think the problem is that parents are not taking responsibility for their own kids and their moral education/development. If more parents could address these issues, maybe the schools would not have to teach these things. If more parents had done their jobs a generation ago, perhaps not so many in public office would be interested in teaching these things today. Ultimately when you decide to become a parent the responsibility for that child and their moral development lies with you and not the schools. If you do your job right, what the teacher says won’t change anything.

I was in public schools my whole life. I learned about condoms, STD testing, birth control, etc. I still managed to only have one sexual partner in my life and that is my wife!
Click to expand...
I completely agree that the majority of the weight is on the shoulders of the parents and that influences range far beyond the education system. I know for myself, high school was a period of time I started questioning my beliefs based on interactions with peers, which was magnified by a lack of moral guidance from the school staff. God bless my parents for their patience and perseverance during that time of my life. :o

I think part of the error is that our society looks at morality and virtue as something that should be left to parents alone. Unfortunately, that leaves many children in the dark and they never have a positive example to go by as it is deemed inappropriate for teachers to help instill such morality. It brings to mind the old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Now a teacher can’t even hug a child without risking her job or the threat of getting sued.
 
SonSearcher said:
Strong communities of home-schools exist as we speak, but yet they cannot escape the stigma of being “weird.”

The assumption that you are making is that public schools do actually “socialize.” But a close study of schools as a whole does not suggest this happens any better with this model. We can make a good argument that it is socialized…as it is provided to the people by the government…but I have not read anywhere a correlation to public school being the only answer to a problem of socialization.

I would even contend that the existence of public school contributed to the demise of the very community that was so important throughout history.
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The problem that I see with the communities of home-schools is that most homeschoolers do so for similar reasons and therefore, are going to have similar beliefs/thoughts etc, how does one in that environment learn to deal with a diverse and ever more global world?
 
Steve80 said:
SonReacher, I agree that many people put state before God. I think we could use a broad term like virtue and people would still put state at the forefront. I sometimes question what would happen if the government said crime would go unpunished and without prosecution for one hour. It’s unfortunate that the only way some people are able to exorcise restraint is through fear of punishment and not through their own morality.

I completely agree that the majority of the weight is on the shoulders of the parents and that influences range far beyond the education system. I know for myself, high school was a period of time I started questioning my beliefs based on interactions with peers, which was magnified by a lack of moral guidance from the school staff. God bless my parents for their patience and perseverance during that time of my life. :o

I think part of the error is that our society looks at morality and virtue as something that should be left to parents alone. Unfortunately, that leaves many children in the dark and they never have a positive example to go by as it is deemed inappropriate for teachers to help instill such morality. It brings to mind the old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Now a teacher can’t even hug a child without risking her job or the threat of getting sued.
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I don’t disagree with you that it is a major problem that many children do not have good role models at home. This is sad but true. That being said, I am not sure that the government is the entity to fix this problem. I am not sure they can. If the government got in this business, what morality do they teach, Christian, Buddhist, Islamic? Either way they are going to isolate some people.
 
Cojuanco said:
To be blunt, I’ve never seen what you talk about in high school. The worst that occured was an otherwise-good math teacher ranting for a class how the school board was dealing the teachers’ union a bad hand. If anything, the teachers I had actually seemed pretty conservative, with the exception of the ex-hippie music teacher. This was 2005-2009.

As to naturalism, well, the entire reason for a public school is that it’s neutral to religion, simply because this country is a multireligious society. Too much discussion about religion one way or the other, the argument goes, can lead to accusations of proselytism or lack of equal time to the religions with significant presence in the community.
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The complaint that I have is that in order to adhere to the secularist idea, virtue and morality have also been thrown out. As a Christian I believe virtue and morality to be universally tied to our Creator, though many of the great philosophers looked to virtue (even without a belief in God or gods) as being imperative to a successful and thriving society. Philosophies behind post-modernism suggest virtue and morality to be subjective and not universal, which I believe leads to pseudo-virtues that allow people justify their actions.
 
CatholicGeek1 said:
I don’t disagree with you that it is a major problem that many children do not have good role models at home. This is sad but true. That being said, I am not sure that the government is the entity to fix this problem. I am not sure they can. If the government got in this business, what morality do they teach, Christian, Buddhist, Islamic? Either way they are going to isolate some people.
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The government is definitely not the answer, haha. And I know I certainly don’t have the answer. I just find it sad that we continue to progress in the wrong direction under the guise of equality and subjectivism. Unfortunately it usually takes a catastrophic event to get people back on a virtuous path.
 
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