Teachers As Spiritual Leaders

Teachers As Spiritual Leaders?

By Lee Duigon ~ January 17, 2013

Here we go again. A teacher at an upstate New York high school has been told to remove Christian symbols from her classroom, and stop participating in the school’s Bible study group, or else. Or else what? Or else she’ll be fired, of course.

As usual, this situation arose because one unidentified crank allegedly complained to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who, as usual, threatened to sue the school district unless it promptly erased these vestiges of Christianity. Not wishing to be bankrupted by an atheist jihad, school officials “counseled” the teacher to keep her religion to herself.

That’s how they create an “inclusive” environment—by excluding Christianity. That’s the only thing “inclusive” ever means.

The teacher is filing a lawsuit of her own, charging the school district with singling out her viewpoint for discrimination. Which of course is exactly what they did. After all, the same high school has a “gay-straight alliance” dedicated to promoting homosexuality and exhorting teens to try it. That point of view is perfectly acceptable to school officials. They wouldn’t dream of “counseling” a teacher to take down “gay pride” posters. And if a local church or Christian group objected to any of it, the school officials would laugh in their faces.

On and on it goes, paid for by your taxes, kept in being by millions of parents who just keep on sending their children to the public schools. These parents will deny that they want their kids to learn that sodomy is good and Christianity is bad. But who can believe them?

I suspect most parents and grandparents, remembering their own school days, think our current Hellfire Club curriculum is something very new. But actually it’s very old.

In 1932 an influential professor of education, George Counts, published a pamphlet called, “Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order?” Don’t think for a minute that his answer was “no,” and never mind that other question: “Who the blazes asked them to?” Here are a few of his remarks.

“I am prepared to defend the thesis -

- that all education contains a large element of imposition— never larger than it is now!...

- that in the very nature of the case this is inevitable,

- that the existence and evolution of society depend upon it,

- that it is consequently eminently desirable, and

- that the frank acceptance of this fact by the educators is a major professional objective.”

Wow. Steering the evolution of society is a big job. No wonder they get such lavish pensions.

Counts again: “Teachers are at the same time the loyal servants and the spiritual leaders of the masses of the people… Above all, the teacher is a bearer and creator of social values.”

Some teachers are more spiritual leaders than others. That’s where the Freedom From Religion Foundation comes in. The atheist bullies get to decide what social values are to be transmitted—and created—by teachers.

I really like that part about being “creators of social values,” don’t you? Progressive educators never liked the idea of parents passing their social values on to their children. I mean, what kind of values can you learn from “the masses”? Boring! By imposing brand-new social values on the children of the masses—like “gay rights,” for instance—teachers really do become the spiritual leaders of society.

Mr. Counts was just one among a legion of education theorizers who’ve been preaching the same secular sermon since the 1850s. What’s going on in public schools today is only what educators like Counts and John Dewey have been cooking for a hundred years. It’s all about herding the poor stupid masses in the right direction—toward collectivism, uniformity (that’s what “diversity” means, in case you didn’t know), and zombie-like obedience to their glorious leaders. It’s about absolute rule by designated “experts.” This toxic drivel goes all the way back to Plato, 2,500 years ago.

All of which means that, with centuries of momentum behind them, the experts managing our public schools will not change course, they will not stop. They will pursue to the gates of Hell their dream of creating a new social ordered dominated by Godless idiots.

And the gates of Hell is exactly where they’re going to end up.

Are you sure you want your children going along for the ride?

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. "
Proverbs 22:6

© 2013 Lee Duigon - All Rights Reserved

Lee Duigon, a contributing editor with the Chalcedon Foundation, is a former newspaper reporter and editor, small businessman, teacher, and novelist.

(All quotes from George Counts are from The Messianic Character of American Education, by R.J. Rushdoony)

Note from Berit: Lee Duigon is a special friend and I truly appreciate his insights and gift of writing. But he and I don't agree on everything. For example, I'm no fan of Tolkien. But we both love our Lord, and I share his deep concern for our children, schools and nation.

Here is his website: www.LeeDuigon.com