Even Teachers "Never Stop Learning"!
It’s officially August, and you know what that means. . .the school year is just around the corner! Recently some of our FLCA teachers attended a conference where the keynote speaker was Christian Historian Dr. David Barton (see kids even teachers “Never Stop Learning”!). David Barton is a resident of Texas who has served as an educator and school administrator, and later founded the Wall Builders organization. He is passionate about our country and education, and is a wealth of knowledge on the Founding Fathers of America, and the documents that they wrote to establish our nation.
One of Mr. Barton’s topics during this conference was “Education: Now and Then” where he addressed 3 objectives of early education. The first objective that the Founding Fathers believed was essential to education was to “teach religion, morality, and knowledge”. This was the first and foremost goal in school because as a political institution our leaders believed that these three aspects were “necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind”.
The second objective of early education was to “teach thinking skills”. This concept of teaching thinking skills is something that is foreign to many Americans today because our school system has since moved to teaching students how to learn content rather than how to think about content. The result is a shift from the emphasis being on the student, and the student being an active part of the education process, to the emphasis being on the teacher, and the teacher becoming a depositor or knowledge.
Mr. Barton’s lastly introduced the third objective of early education as “instill high expectations”. As David Barton listed examples of the requirements to enter college in the early day of our nation, we were impressed and maybe a little humbled by the high expectations set forth. Many of the students seeking a college education knew multiple languages, extended passages of the Bible, and many other impressive standards.
This exposure to the early education paradigm has spurred many conversations amongst our FLCA teachers as we continue to pray and seek God concerning His direction for our school. We greatly appreciate Dr. David Barton and the knowledge and experience he offers. We recommend any parent or student to visit the many resources found on his website: http://www.wallbuilders.com/.
