Battle for the American Mind 2022, 265 pg by Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin This a scholarly work on US education and culture. Goodwin has been the president of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, ACCS since 2015. Book Preface: Western (American) Christian values-ethos have been replaced by progressive anti-christian culture and values by removing the bible and christian ethos from schools. The authors use the word “paideia’ which is like ethos= (the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations) for this. The word was developed by Lawrence Cremin‘s book on “American Education” I will use Ethos for this term. Thus many on the left, in the US, now favor Marxism and some, favor riots. Pete provides his knowledge of journalism and politics, and David his research in education. Both have concern for bettering Kids education. How did we get here?, What have we lost? and is there still hope?
Chap 1. We have heard of the problem of Critical Race Theory CRT, but is only the tip of the iceberg and the problem in the schools began long before that! In the US in 2020 and 2021 we had the Covid-19 epidemic and teachers unions forced home online classes and the textbooks were at home. The quality of our education suffered, but became exposed. We had the Black Lives Matter riots in the summer of 2000. When the New York Times published the controversial ”1619 Project” in August 2019, it marked the 400th anniversary since the first Africans arrived in a mainland English colony. Historians believe this group of captives arrived in Virginia as slaves aboard English privateer ships. Thus the beginning of democracy and slavery together in the early colonies was noted as a start of racism. We now had open CRT often disguised as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, DEI. We also had full on attempts to redefine gender, infuse climate fatalism, and turn our kids into “woke” activists. Parents were now questioning what was happening in our classrooms, but the Biden administration and teachers unions were strongly supporting it. We even had teacher coached gender transition surgeries against the parents will, (like cutting off girls breasts). Still Marxism, from which much of this comes and also the Howard Zinn book on anti-american history were hardly every mentioned in the news. In colleges this was taught and anti-racism activism is encouraged; and even when not much racism is present, one should suspect racism. Our colleges are becoming indoctrination camps, where free speech is limited. Still Christians and conservatives have been living under the false impression that schools, colleges and universities are self contained groups, with little impact on the broader culture. This is false. as the Ethos and culture have been affected. Kids get 16,000 hrs. of training in the US classrooms. Books they use include: ’A is for Activist,’ ‘Antiracist Baby’, ‘A book about Whiteness’, L is for LGBTQ,T is for Trans., Black Brother The Whiteness book says white is inherently evil and Black means you are inherently oppressed. These books tend to divide students by race and gender and are used for indoctrination. Also at your bookstore, it’s often the same books that are highlighted. It’s also on television and social media. Even the Muppet’s for kids, show cross dressing. These use targeted temptation to lure kids away from God, traditional values and love of country. The social pressure for kids on social media and their phones is great. Politics is downstream of culture, meaning things change in politics because our culture has already changed. Abe Lincoln said the philosophy of the schoolroom in a generation, becomes that of the government. Even the US military became woke. America has become full of censorship, political correctness, cancel culture and division of the races and genders. Schools have taken over the roles of the parents in teaching values and moral truths, and favor value-free truths and each can set their own values. In many cases the teacher unions control the classrooms and they have the largest union in the US. They have become a monopoly as 90% of U.S. kids are educated in liberal public schools.
Chap. 2 Pete was talking with friends at a diner and some talked of family values, faith and supporting the police. He shared some of that on Fox and Friends on TV, and got negative kickback from the left. Mark Levin, TV host noted in his book ‘American Marxism’ said that this counter-revolution is in full force in the US. The book then describes how the left took over. Back in 1922 Russian Marxist V. Lenin took over the economy by putting major industries in Russia under government control. In the US the progressives labored to take over the schools and were cultural Marxists. They now have commanding position in most schools. The 2 largest teachers unions the AFT and NEA favored the takeover and have million dollar legal funds to defend teachers who run afoul of teaching CRT or gender ideologies. They call it DEI and use appealing name for it and overcoming racism. They have also modified the term equality, which means equal opportunity- to equity which means equal outcomes for all and thus socialism-Marxism. It’s about deconstructing the founding principles of America and our faith and morals and pride in our country. The public schools in the major democratic cities have very poor math and literacy rates and scores for many yrs. now, as they push an agenda more that traditional learning. They oppose school choice and propose fake solutions to better grades, p 33. Recent polls have shown that youth favor socialism over capitalism and that America isn’t the greatest county. The number of atheist’s is growing. Sam Alinsky wrote the book ‘Rules for Radicals’ in 1971 and his goal was to translate radicalism into political power. The NEA used him as a consultant to train their staff. They then issued a NEA training document titled: ‘Alinsky for Teacher Organizers,’ for social change. For more that 60 yrs the NEA has favored cultural Marxism.They favored Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 180 of these NEA members I voted as democratic convention delegates. Carter then created the Dept. of Education, in 1979. The Dept. later issued the Common Core Curriculum. Obama built on this in 2010 and it became mandatory for getting federal education aid. This gradually removed classic books that teach kids morals and patriotism. It gave complete new lesson plans including lessons against fossil fuels, how our founding fathers were salve owners and evil men and much on anti-racism , anti -family, and anti-truth. Mary Grabar a professor and author of the book : “Debunking Howard Zinn” said the Common Core is a far left program that promotes the ideas of H. Zinn and the 1619 project. As of 2022 this curriculum is still in place, p 40. Zinn also wrote a book: “A People’s History of the United States” that is widely use in schools and colleges. Zinn described himself as an anarchist and socialist, but it reads like communist propaganda. He always tried to bend history to portray the US as an evil country. The NEA favors this work and uses it for teacher training and they fight against parents who challenge CRT. Now the profession of these teachers has become to teach their view in social justice, culturally Marxism, rather than basic skills of education. The Left has strong position with the schools and colleges, the teachers unions, the textbooks, the standards, laws and some of the the government bureaucracy. It feels hopeless, but how can we fight it? Let’s dig deeper. Chap 3. Christian Education and Ethos. Our county and much of Western civilization-Europe was formed on a christian Ethos with christian education. This Ethos is the thinking, affections, viewpoints, virtues, values embedded in children at a young age. This is also what makes cultures distinct and can be simplified to their vision of the good life. For the Italians large extended families, loyalty, and a romantic youth, for Germans it was precision engineering, direct and driven personalities, for Irish It was music, dance, assertiveness, and friendship. For America it was traditional families, church, communities, industriousness, freedom from a king, and a virtuous people. But now this is being transformed into freedom of personal choice, control of your identity, being accepted for who you are, finding adventure, and finding meaning in particular causes like anti-racism, gender identity, or climate change. We don’t think much about the roots of our assumptions and we don’t realize the power this Ethos has. Our culture sinks deeper into this identity crisis, suicide rates climb, families and churches shrink. Selfishness and hyper-sexuality climb as we worship the creation rather than the creator, and self constructed identities. p. 45-6 The ancient Greeks in 400 BC held that man has a special connection to the metaphysical and a bridge called the Logos or the ideas in the minds of men. The Hebrews held that man was made in the image of God, was fallen, and awaited a messiah. When Christ came he was the Logos to the Greeks, a king to the Romans and a messiah to the Jews who became Christians. Few consider the full picture of Christianity’s assent to being the world’s largest religion today. It’s effects are far reaching from technology, civilization, developing of moral laws, and more democratic governments, with people rights. Today this is being dismantled by humanistic Progressives.- and maybe a new force-( culture mixing with Muslims, via open borders in many Western countries who weaken the cultures-Ethos of many nations and by AI-for a one world government technocracy by AI assisted experts even using mind control, my note). The progressives say we are simply a product of naturalistic evolution and there is no God. The call this humanism which is closely related to atheism, P. 48. My note: socialism-communism and its root Marxism, has a root in satanism. In these systems the people have no God given value, and are only pawns of the system and in theory there are only rights of the masses, not the individual. The governments of these often lead to a technocracy (government of experts) or a near dictatorship, for example Russia and China, where there is no free press. Lessons were learned after the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, where the people had Ethos of following Islamic laws and religious cleric. The US and it’s Western allies defeated the armies and tried to institute a more democratic government, (spend billions) but the people and tribes reverted back to their old system, and the Tailban p.48. The Western ethos grew with historical Christendom and included North Africa, the Middle East, eastern Europe western Europe, North America, and Australia. Karl Marx said- ‘religion is the opium of the people’ and he had to remove that, to institute his Marxism. Progressives in the US are now trying to do the same thing. The Western Christian Ethos was used for democratic self governing people who liked freedom and the pursuit of truth. Our founding fathers used this in forming the US constitution and bill of rights. Eastern Europe had most of this Ethos, but they still had kings and queens; but the christian church was also part of the Ethos. This resulted in some great civilizations, including Britain, France, Germany and America. The authors gave some contrasts of the possible change in Western Christian Ethos WCE in the US below:
WCE: A lifelong search for greater meaning in life Today: Search for job
WCE: Seek wisdom Today: see the facts
WCE:Teach the application of Reason Today: Preach acceptance of Indoctrination
WCE: There is divine order revealed in Christ Today: There is humanist anarchy
WCE: Strong spirited citizens who are better together
Today: Weak spirited citizens who must serve the State
The WCE ideas of religious freedom, freedom of speech, natural rights, equal justice, are an exception in human history, not the rule; they are in danger of being lost. In colleges and society we are becoming a technocracy, and the State will decide what best for us. p 59 Chap. 4. The Left has strong position with the schools and colleges, the teachers unions and colleges, the textbooks, the standards, curriculum, laws and some of the the government bureaucracy. School was made mandatory. Many warned of the effect of the take over of education. Economics and politics follow culture and culture follows faith. America’s founding fathers were christian, but of differing denominations. Horace Mann did circuit riding between 1840-1860 and organized school districts and a common curriculum in many states. He was German and many German philosophers were not christian. Then came John Dewy, he father of progressive schooling in the US.; Still the bible remained in schools until the early 1900 hundred. The protestant denominations in the US started to divide. Dwight Moody did revivals and was the father of fundamentalism. William Galden was a congregational minister who promoted the social gospel and the liberal church. He did not believe in the inerrantcy of the bible. This gospel promoted labor laws , temperance, woman’s rights, and social activism. The more fundamental churches divided into the evangelicals and the mainline protestants. The evangelicals largely ignored social action which they left turned over to the government. Atheistic Marxism developed in the late 1800’s and was active in the 1917 Russian Revolution. A socialist minister Francis Bellamy Authored a precursor to the pledge of allegiance called the Bellamy Salute in 1982. It copied the Roman saute with outstretched arms and was used in many schools. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” In 1942 it was replaced by the US congress adding- Under God, after Nation, due to fears of Marxism, p 77. The Bellamy salute served a purpose of replacing nationalism for Christianity in schools. In the 1870’s Frances Willard was promoting christian temperance, socialism, and women’s suffrage. She developed an anti-alcohol curriculum for schools used starting the in the 3rd grade; this led to later passing of an 18th constitutional amendment on temperance(banning the sale of alcohol in 1919). It was later repealed in1933, as liberal president F.D. Roosevelt encouraged this. John Dewey gave many talks in the 1890’s on the school of social progress which encouraged more vocational training as opposed to classical christian education. He is the father of progressive education. Progressive history textbooks noted this ended child labor, but it didn’t mention that is lessened christian influence. Chap. 5 The Humanist manifesto was supported by John Dewy, Wm. James, Margaret Sanger and Eleanor Roosevelt. President Grant and Senator James Blaine wanted to ban public funding for religious schools and pursued a constitutional amendment for this, which was narrowly not approved, but 36 states passed such laws. Progressives made a model progressive school in Gary, Indiana, called the Gary Plan. This was later instituted in N.Y. City in by 1914. It raised a debate and had the goal of replacing Christianity and mention of the bible in schools, which the majority of schools had. Progressives knew they would have to move slowly, or their takeover might fail. The New Republic magazine had many articles favoring the progressive plan. They stressed democracy should not pass on their christian dogma to kids. They used the Marxist habit of falsifying language, and giving new meaning to familiar words; One word they used was democracy, and made it mean good morality and fairness, rather than a system of government without kings. They also change the word ‘equal’ for equal opportunity to ‘equity’ -for equal outcome. The instituted social studies in schools to replace the liberal arts, this deleted the former history and philosophy that encouraged seeking wisdom. The correct history of our founding fathers is deleted. The say the old is outdated and irrelevant, and in with the new. They say our founding fathers were racist. They downplay the role of the parents in child training. Eph. 6:1-2 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. “Honor your father and mother…”This is a very important commandment with a promise.” Woodrow Wilson was progressive and declared flag day 6/14, 1916. The idea was to have the flag replace christian allegiance. They also were for vocational education for the worker class as it was easier to manage people who were not thinkers. They were against the focus on wisdom and divine truth. They wanted students focused on scientism (science is the only way to find truth) and on equity and neo-Marxism( the government can and should focus on solving all inequalities. John Dewy and Charles Potter formed the Humanist Society and did writings on freeing man from supernaturalism and God and saying- the chief end of man is to improve himself and his race. The christian catechism says- the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever,p. 95. Dewy favored an affirmative faith in democracy and the flag with servitude, without questioning. This led to high priests like Anthony Fauci, who decreed-follow the‘Science’ and forced vaccinations, the closing of schools, and some churches and businesses, p.98. How should we address drunks and drug addicts? The christian view is to pray for them and have them go through a christian therapy program. The progressive view is to look for systemic problems in the system( not sin, as society may have repressed him) and equity would say to support their chosen life style, give them needles and a tent to live in, or better, project housing for them. Chap 6. Critical Theory and Antifa. 1962 was the time of eviction of God from the classroom. In 1963 bible reading in public schools was banned, as was out loud prayer. Earl Warren of the US supreme court was a progressive and promoted these decisions. Then progressives worked on a new Critical theory in the Frankfort school in Germany in 1923. Herbert Marcuse of the school published ‘Repressive Tolerance’, it said that in order to be tolerant, one can’t allow intolerance. Also postmodernism proposed an alternate theory of morality-with the oppressor and the oppressed. This led to the justification of violence by groups like Antifa. Concepts of political correctness, the cancel culture, silencing of speech and modifying language developed. Also we got dismissing objective reality and promoting individual feelings and experience. Thus ‘the biology of sex has no authority over how I feel’!. First it was sexual liberation and then gender obfuscation and transition. Colleges had gender studies, queer studies, African studies, and intersectionality studies. Books on this were often disguised by a different names- like Gender Unicorn, and diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI. In 2021 some California teachers had an Antifa flag and a Pride flag in their classroom. Their goal is not to educate (in the old sense of the word ) but to indoctrinate, p.106. The Frankfort school focused on radical social change and criticism of all things Western. They believed Marxism had failed to deliver on it’s egalitarian utopianism and more radical changes were needed. When Hitler took power in 1933 the Frankfort scholars fled to N Y City and were welcomed at Columbia Univ. It was during WW2 that they did more work on their Marxist based Critical Theory, p. 111,2. disguised under the Name of Social Science, and focused on tearing down societal, cultural, political, religious and economic layers of Western society. Before progress can occur, they must tear down religious faith, capitalism, and the American family, p.114. Their teachings also spread to Harvard Univ. and the Univ. of California, others and the major teachers unions, the NEA and ATF and the left wing of the democratic party. It’s questionable if they should have teacher’s unions, as they have a public monopoly, p.118. Previously parents and the school board had some control, but now it’s the teachers, their unions, government, the laws and the courts. Recently these theories have burned down some cities, drove censorship by big tech social media, indoctrinated our kids into social justice advocates, and divided our kids into 2 groups-the oppressors and the oppressed, p. 109.
Evangelicals Fight Back: In 1950 about 77% of the 14,000 private schools in the US were Catholic. In 1990 there were 27,000 private schools (many evangelical) and about 33% were Catholic. Still there was a serious disconnect. The protestant schools were unaware of the old classical education model, as it had been driven out of existence in the prior generation. A lot of the books and content was still progressive, as were many teachers and the accreditation. The progressive lifestyle favored leisure and many have adopted it; after all, science, technology and government had solved many problems, as there was more time for leisure. Christians have joined the culture without realizing it. The anti-authority, free-sex, weak family, and drug-friendly culture had done much damage. MY note- the majority of states passed the 18th amendment banning alcohol in 1919 and it was taught in schools then with the bible. There was a different culture back then. C.S. Lewis noted the change in culture, turning education into a informational machine, makes students weaker. When christian goals are starved- suppressed, we make are students more open to temptations and to propaganda. Progressive educators have dismantled our christian ethos; they don’t believe God’s law is written on our hearts; they don’t believe objective truth or morals exist; it’s man made and changing; Democracy has become shorthand for Marxist social equity. Equal protection under the law has become equal outcomes based on shifting measures of fairness. We now see shoplifting-stealing without consequences, molestation in public and school bathrooms being disregarded due to gender identity, riots in some streets with property destruction- called peaceful demonstrations, my note-girl’s breasts being cut off against the parents will in the name of ‘gender affirming care’ funded by some states p.123. But like any recovery, the first step is recognizing the depth of the problem. Then we can design a battle plan- some solutions. My note: noted christian apologist Wm. Craig has always won the moral argument in academic debates with atheists on the issue- ‘there is no good source of true unchanging morals, absent God and the bible’. Chap 7 The Greek Philosophy influence. C S Lewis said- ‘if education is beaten by job training , civilization dies.’ Our founding fathers(FF) we schooled in and influenced by Greek philosophy and Reason. The Greek and Roman influence on our founders is evident: we have senate, a republic, an eagle symbol and laws. Christianity and philosophy were in their minds. FF’s background: Christians: John Jay, Patrick Henry, Roger Sheman, John Witherspoon, Benjamin Rush; Mixed Theology: Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, George Washington; Deist’s: James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Pain. All were thinkers with Reason. Today our republic is threatened by both rejection of Reason and Christian or Godly thoughts. The last times in history the world was lacking the Christian/Reason duo, brutal totalitarian empires cycled and did not last but a few hundred yrs,: Assyrians, Babylonians ,Persians, Carthaginians to name a few. Those outside the West often were brutal totalitarian societies including the radical cleric theocracies and Marxist ones. Reason and virtue were intertwined for the Greeks Ethos involved reason and logic,(intellectual virtue) and second, it admired Transcendental truth, goodness and beauty(moral virtue)., p.129 Thus brutal power was replaced with these 2 virtues. Some of this was passed on to the Roman culture and fit well with the coming christianity. Greek ethos had 3 idea parts: Arete, Logos, and Telos. The Arete included the moral and intellectual virtues; the Logos represented a grand blueprint for these that existed in pure form with God, but was partially described in words. The Telos implied that everything had a greater purpose including man had a purpose., pg 137-9. This appeared a setup for Paul in Acts 17:16-32 who preached in Athens to the philosophers about the Logos and purpose of man. Its not a coincidence that the new testament is in Greek, Paul preached to the Gentiles and that John Chap. 1 refers to the Logos=Word. Here are some Quotes of early men of reason: John Locke ”Freedom then of man and liberty of acting according to his own will is grounded in his having Reason.” Noah Webster “No truth is more evident to my mind than that the christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to insure the rights and privileges of a free people.” G. Morris “I believe that religion is the only solid basis of morals.” G. Washington Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion,–Forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle”p.130-2 The authoritarian response to Covid-19 in Europe and Australia foreshadows the coming autocratic, bureaucratic globalism there and around the Western world. God is gone, and the all powerful bureaucratic socialist are in charge, p. 128. Our founding fathers knew that bribes, corruption, clever rhetoric, or the offer of wealth would, if allowed to flourish, due to the lack of cultural knowledge, undermine the republic p.133. My note, If society believes we are only animals and the strongest survive, what is to stop corruption and brute dominance? Didn’t Minneapolis Mn. have corruption? The Epoch Times in 11/17/25 documented that US socialism-communism is spreading and that it was based on Marxism and that Marxism is rooted in Satanism. The Movie ‘Inception’ shows the power of and Idea that spreads. If the Greeks had not planted the idea of a divine ideal for man, the world would be unrecognizable today, p.139. John was an apostle to the Greek cities of Asia Minor. The early church survived there despite government attempts to stamp it out. Never in history has any peaceful movement become so influential so quickly and broadly as Christianity. In 300 yrs. it had spread throughout the known world. ”Logos: Jesus Christ himself was the Logos, the divine man who called his followers to transform themselves into His image. Arete: through the work of the holy spirit, a christian could approach Christ-likeness. Telos: The chief end of man is to glorify God.: p 142-3 Clement of Alexandria in 150-200 AD, an early christian leader and educator argued that classical and christian education go hand in glove. Philosophy was a gift of God to the Greeks; It was to the Greeks what the Law was to the Hebrews. By the time of the the council of Nicaea in 325 AD the church fathers had a long tradition of classical Christian education including philosophy and reason. Socrates spoke for the ideal of one supreme God p.144. The book also notes how the British Alford the Great promoted classical christian education in 890 and how Charlemagne of Germany also used this education in his Holy Roman Empire in Europe p. 146-7. This lasted about 1000 yrs. until 1806. Chap. 8 Reason and Virtue: 2 Towers of Freedom, also wonder and beauty, concepts progressives avoid. The college SAT test and score is based on verbal and quantitative reasoning and correlates well with success in college. However since some races do poorly on it, progressives labeled it racist and replaced it With the Common Core, which the Obama administration favored. It has factual questions one can memorize and study for. In Michigan, college admission of minorities were give a 20 points bonus advantage over other students. The supreme court ruled that as discriminatory in 2003. This aided the push against the SAT test. Some minorities in the US ( East Asain) do high on the test, so its not completely against minorities. Possible childhood factors that may contribute to poor performance include broken families, poor prior schooling, and poor parental help. Progressives also favor industrial jobs training and omission of traditional training in logic, reason and clear thinking. Also omitted are study of world history, philosophy, and theology and timeless life questions that makes one think. Virtue. The west and Christian culture has been the guardian of civility, passing virtue onto the next generation. “Here an innocent man was on his knees begging for mercy, only to be roundhouse kicked in the head by an Antifa protester, while on looker cheered; this is like a line of christians on their knees being beheaded by Muslim terrorists; The former was in Portland, Oregon in Aug, 2020, the later in Libya in 2015. The lack of civility in the so-called protests in 2020 surprised many Americans. Such barbarity is usually far away from our shores; but today it’s not. Speeches, signs and graffiti are riddled with the F-word, not to mention burning of buildings and destruction of property,”p.161. During the mayhem of 2020 we saw the, destruction of property and the assault of police officers and bystanders. Many were murdered out of the lawlessness of “defending the police”. Black Lives Mater, BLM, chairmen in N Y said on TV-”Give us what we want, or we will burn down the system”. The mayors of N Y city, and Wash. D. C. supported BLM and had BLM painted on their streets. Seattle and Portland mayors allowed lawless “autonomous zones” with high crime in the cities. This is contrasted with Martin Luther Kings’s MLK march on Wash. D.C in in 1963. 1/4 of a Million marched on the national mall in a civil protest, but Praying for God’s hand in it. Civility is rooted in the virtue of it’s citizens. When governments encourages crime and riots, and the news calls it peaceful protests, our civil society is lost. This has come about due to what is taught in our schools and colleges. This innate Knowledge of goodness was challenged by moral skeptics like David Hume, who believe ethics were sourced from one’s emotions. Virtue is not the same as values that has been modified by leftist’s. With virtues there is some conformity with the law, but also and alignment with the divine, so there is a hierarchy of virtues, with love being the highest. For example, Rahab lied to the city officials about the Israeli spies. It was noted in Matt. 26 it was greater to worship Jesus than feed the poor. Augustine wrote on ordering affection and virtues in 400AD. Also some virtues if done in excess, can lead to overlooking other ones. For example work is a virtue, but too much of it can lead to ignoring family. Progressives used the word values over virtues and morals, as shown in a chart on p.172; it showed this change over hundreds of yrs. They also put a very high value on the word tolerance and inclusive and being against intolerance. The try to cancel anyone who uses intolerant words. Chap. 9 Wonder and Beauty Some old classic books like Pinocchio and others gave some moral lessons, but they have been deleted by educators. In 1964 Disney continued neutering of their good stories Like the Jungle book. Jack London’s book ‘The call of the Wild’ has also been deleted. This book also Classical christian cultivates wonder within the bounds of Divine truth goodness and beauty. Progressive education has stifled wonder by focusing on the practical. Some the US’s greatest story tellers were C. S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien; also Dorothy Sayers and G K. Chesterton. Wonder is helped by noting the bigness and beauty of Gods world. Some good books on wonder and beauty: F. Shaffer’s the Trilogy; G.E. Vieth’s State of the Arts; D. Sayers’s The Mind of the Matter, L. Ryken’s The Liberated Imagination, S. Caldecott’s Beauty for Truth’s Sake; Ned Bustard’s ‘It was God: Making art to the Glory of God.’ p187. My notes: The concepts of virtue, wonder and beauty fit with the Ontological Argument cited by many apologists and philosophers and summarized in my book: Evidences for God and His Creations pg 41: God is the greatest conceivable being, so nothing greater that God can be conceived. So if he exists in the mind, he must exist in reality. Also at Answers in Genesis, AIG museum has an exhibit on Radiance using immersive art, light effects and explores the themes of purpose value, and identity rooted in the bible and in Christ. Youth today are taught a false identity, that they themselves can form. AIG cites Isa. 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Gen. 3:5 Man is wise in his own eyes and wants to be God, deciding good and evil. See Prov. 27:22. Also there is the book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius for $4.99; quote “Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if you will ever dig.” Some of the great classics in art, music and architecture are christian.p.189 Classical Christian Education CCE is different featuring history, truth, goodness and beauty.
Chap. 10. CCE quote by D. Hicks: “CCE provides a model for the way the mind works, as well as for the way a student will think as an adult.” It cultivates Christian wisdom and virtue in students. There is the axiom: “He who fails to study history is bound to repeat it.” It integrates history, literature, language, philosophy, theology, science, art, mathematics, and music. p.195. Today’s youth often seem distressed and fearful and are given self-esteem training in schools. They will easily go to protest, but can rarely articulate why they are protesting p.196. CCE is more integrated and shows interrelation of subjects like social science, psychology, and political science; while progressive education reduces knowledge to unrelated facts for a test, and is more easily forgotten and gives little wisdom p.197. Our founding fathers and realized the sinful nature of man leads to tyranny and corruption when power is concentrated in one man; thus they instituted the separation of powers, 2 legislative branches and a bill of rights. Some CCE’s use the standard textbooks that have the progressive Marxist ideas. Some of the Greek philosophy including the Socratic method of questioning and reasoning is needed in schools, p.199. The Harvard Classics and the Loeb Classic Library are collections of great books selected by some colleges. These great books cultivate virtue. M. Adler of Encyclopedia Britannica assembled a group of 35 scholars to assemble a list of great ideas(102) from great books. It was published in 1952 as ”The Great Books of the Western World.”, a 55 volume set. Adler revised it in 1990 as a 2nd edition of the Great Books and a 60 volume set, p 203. Also there are many great books for children written from 1800-to 1960. These are longer than what progressives use. Children would enjoy the challenge of reading these books, as story books are more interesting and have more virtues than brief fact books, that can be boring, p. 204. C. S. Lewis warned about this effort by progressives to dehumanize education. Dorothy Sayers also warned of the danger of not encouraging kids to read and think. Instead they are led to film, radio, TV and videos that prey on certain emotion laden words, that do not encourage thinking., p 205. She also said we need to teach the trivium: grammar(including sentence diagrams), logic (recognizing good and bad arguments), and rhetoric (speaking persuasive good arguments). Thus they learn to analyze and debate.p 206-8. Latin is often taught in CCE; about 65% of English words have a Latin origin. Science, law and medicine have much Latin. Those with Latin have higher SAT scores. Charter and many privates schools don’t to teach the CCE including truth, reasoning and Christianity. Wisdom and subject integration comes with CCE. Plato said Education is teaching our children to desire the right things. CCE may include great art, music, poetry, manners, clear thinking and wisdom p.214-6. Throughout history education has shaped society and led to the Renaissance and the Reformation. Chap. 11 A battlefield assessment for retaking of the American Mind. R. Dreher quote:” If future generations fail to learn to love our Western culture Heritage, we will lose it.” The clash of world views is a battle. The left has firm control of a warped education. We need a battle plan. One goal is to pursue CCE via private education, via vouchers, or better, via tax credits. A start has been to defund the Dept of Education. We can voice or opinions at school board meetings or join the school board. Home schooling is an option, but very time intensive. Public charter schools are a little better that core public schools, but still anti-christian. There are tactics of counter insurgency that are helpful. First we survive, regroup and organize. Second we do targeted sabotage by pointing out the problems an weakness of the progressive schools and we start some CCE schools. It will take time to convince others. These steps have began: see pg 226-8 Books (David Hicks and others)on the weakness of the woke education and the value and content of the CCE are noted. A CCE school in Indiana was founded, ‘Trinity School at Greenland’; Also the Cair Paravel Latin School in Topeka ,KS. ; The Logos School in Moscow, Idaho. It also started the Assn. of Classical Christian Schools, ACCS in 1994( it has annual conferences and publications). In 1999 Susan W. Bauer wrote” The Well Trained Mind”, which promoted classical christian home schooling. In 2001 the book Classical Education by Gene Edward Veith, 2009 “Beauty for Truth’s Sake” by S. Caldecott. In 2002 there were 125 CCE schools in the US and 17,420 students. By 2012 that number had doubled. By 2021 there were 300 schools and 60,000 students. My note: In the ACCS web site and map there are 500+ schools, and 16 schools in TN and one in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Cookeville and one in Athens,Tn. The objectives of an insurgency need to be clear: 1. initially- building awareness, 2. later building capacity. 3. long term- building financial support(educational tax credits) and large donor support, p. 230. As a part of step 1 we need to note that Catholic and some christian schools are not classical in promoting reason and clear thinking. CCE grads. have much higher SAT scores. We also need to discredit the public schools and the union structure that supports it. A June national survey of parents on the question of what would they do if Critical Race Theory was mandated in their school?; 29% indicated they would teach their kids at home, and 28% said they would remove their kids from public schools in favor of private ones. The ideal of public worker unions is unconstitutional. Caps should be put on how much public worker unions can contribute to political candidates. “Right to Work” laws should be passed to allow teachers to leave their unions or not pay union dues. p.234. These unions make big cash contributions to the Democrats. Another helpful policy is to have video cameras put in the classrooms focused on the teacher. The average per student expenditure for public schools in 2018-19 was $13,187, while the annual tuition for christian schools was much less than that. These type of changes would take time. The SAT test needs to be restored over the Classic Learning Test, CLT. Remember the constitution says freedom of religion not freedom from any religion. The CCE is primarily about a moral Ethos formation, not just Christianity, p.236. Churches need to get involved in supporting CCE. From the ACCS web site: quote of Chuck Colson “I applaud CCE, it is absolutely wonderful because it teaches then 2 things that are so essential- the development of character and the ability to reason and think.” 2 Thes. 2:15 “So then, brothers, stand firm, and cling to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.” Prov. 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” We are in a Battle for Kids minds. Our history is being erased from our schools; Vice has become virtue and the Marxists a trying to finish us off. Will you join the fight for truth? Chap. 12 An Exhortation for Parents. We all come to this book with our own educational backgrounds; many of us did not have the benefit of any teaching of Greek philosophy, or history of western christian ethos; still our church and parents may have given us some christian morals. Today it’s harder for youth, as there is now the strong peer pressure of socialist-Marxist teachings and gender identity in schools,(along with the labeling of our founding fathers as racist) and atheist professors in many colleges who ridicule the bible and encourage students to be violent activists.(why not, if there is no God and no source of true morals). It will not be quick or easy to counter this, as the schools are strongholds set in their ways. The authors suggest the best thing for their kids is to take them out the public schools and put them in CCE schools and/or fight for the steps noted in Chap. 10,11. The authors give examples of some parents being happy with this transfer to CCE, some driving 45 minutes to the new school or even moving to a new location. At the new school the kids are challenged to question and reason well, often like their homework, are surrounded with christian kids, with much better influences. It’s excellence, it’s joyful, it’s faith filled, it‘s purposeful. Parents also network with like minded families. Some of the CCE schools offer scholarships. Eph. 6:4 ”Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” My note; My book and other references cite studies to show that 70% of the kids who say they are christian, fall away from the christian church by the time of college due the atheistic- Marxist teachings they have received. Training in christian apologetics greatly reduces this loss as, the clear thinking, reasoning, logic and alternate truths of God creating everything, as backed by science, are presented there.