Change the Course of History: Learn the Definition of Education
By Contributing Writer, Kelly Crawford
Our society revolves, almost entirely, around the greatest hoodwinking of all time: the false definition of education. In fact, I feel bold enough to say it is a major player in the modern church’s demise as well. We do not understand what education is, what it is for, and so we are on a mad, idolatrous pursuit of the impostor.
We’ve been duped into believing that education is the attainment of knowledge. And that the right knowledge gets us the right grades, the right grades gets the right papers, and the right papers gets the right job, the right job, the right husband or wife, the right house, the right LIFE. Boil it down: “If my child gets a good education, he will be happy.”
When education has only slightly to do with gaining knowledge. At least the kind we think of.
Education is the transfer of a way of life. And that changes everything. If Christian parents got this, it would change the course of history.
The most important fact about the subject of education is that there is no such thing. Education is not a subject, and it does not deal in subjects. It is instead the transfer of a way of life. -G.K. Chesterton
The question every believer must ask is, “What ‘way of life’ do I want my child to follow”? And then, “by what means could I best accomplish that?” Taken a step further, what was Jesus’s model for transferring a way of life–educating–his disciples?
It is no coincidence that Scripture states: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”. Before we can even begin to attain knowledge, our worldview must insist upon the lordship of Christ over all things.
I lamented, in “The Problem With Education…”:
As a Christian, submitted to the lordship of Christ, I am bound to “transfer a way of life” to my children that is wholly consumed with Him. Education, means then, to a Christian, that all facets of life–including the small one of imparting knowledge–must spring from an inherently Christian worldview–a transferring of life, lived out each day in a thousand ways.
Is my child’s purpose in life to be happy, to get a good job, to get married, to be financially stable? We should shout a resounding “no”! My child’s purpose is to glorify God in everything, to walk as a living sacrifice, shining as a light in a dark place, to love mercy, to do justly and walk humbly with his God.
Everything else is icing on the cake–a mere by-product of the desire to live fully for Him.
But my job as a parent? To transfer a way of life–using every detail, every hardship, every conflict, and every joy–to educate my children in the way they should go.
Tags: Education vs. Schooling
Thank you so much for this post. I’ve shared on Facebook. I feel that even single people can learn from it in guiding themselves (or their inner child) in the way (s)he should go. Focusing not on this world, but on God instead.
I loved this post! We are to disciple our children, not merely stuff them with facts. As Christians our educating should look different from the rest of the world, and that is a good thing! Thanks for you insightful words.
And I am so thankful that you *are* bold enough to say it. Great, great post that is so desperately needed.