HomeArticlesEducation: A Brief History and Cause of Decadency (Part 5)

Education: A Brief History and Cause of Decadency (Part 5)

All this has come to fruition with the national Common Core Standardization. The kindergarten writing standard states: “Phonetically or inventively write simple high-frequency words they often see or hear in books.”1) “Your Kindergartner and Writing under the Common Core Standard,” http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/196-kindergarten-writing.gs accessed 4/26/2015 This inventive spelling has produced functional illiterates for decades now. Consider the following example which John Stormer recorded of an event from Middletown California that occurred in October of 1994, when vandals broke into the school and caused thousands of dollars of damage to classrooms and computers. This event caused the eighth grade students to write letters to the responsible parties which were printed in the local newspaper. One sample of the students writings are as follows:

Dear Vandules,
I am verey made at you and it herts to see my teacher’s cry. Youhave to be a rill peep to do some thing so mean. Ther is know punishment that can fix whate hapend. I thenk that some one should go into your beadroom and do this to you but then we wold be just as bad as you and we are not. You touch awey our classroom and we are on the flour riteing thiss leter to you peeps. I hate you.2) The full account with more examples of the students letters are found in John Stormer, None Dare Call It Education, Liberty Bell Press, 1999, p. 7-9

Stromer records, “In the 26 published letters the eighth grade students spelled “vandal” ten different ways… In the week that followed, Time Star editor Teresa Sanders was viciously attacked by teachers and school officials for printing the letters [unedited].”3) John Stormer, None Dare Call It Education, Liberty Bell Press, 1999, p. 8-9 Samuel Blumenfeld reported, “Some years ago I tutored a very successful, intelligent man, a graduate of a midwestern university, who couldn’t read. He was a typical victim of a whole-word, sight method. He had no phonetic knowledge whatever. But when he told me that he would rather be beaten than have to read, I understood for the first time the kind of unbearable psychic pain that the sight method can cause. I taught him our alphabetic system, and in a short time he was reading smoothly and easily.”4) Samuel Blumenfeld, Education Letter, Vol. 7, No. 8 (Letter #72), August, 1992, p. 3 This standard literally encourages wrong spelling without correction by teachers or parents, claiming that the child is learning to work out the phonetic sounds for spelling. Gary DeLashmutt and Roger Braund wrote about the “Postmodern Impact: [in] Education,” asking:

Does an approach that refuses to call any answer “wrong” deserve to be call education?5) Gary DeLashmutt and Roger Braund, “Postmodern Impact: Education,” The Death of Truth, Bethany House Publishers, (ed. Denis McCallum, 1996, p. 105

They go on to explain, “During the past three decades – during which self-esteem has become the holy grail of much of American education – standard achievement test scores have plummeted 73 points, even though spending per student increased more than 200 percent during the same period.”6) Gary DeLashmutt and Roger Braund, “Postmodern Impact: Education,” The Death of Truth, Bethany House Publishers, (ed. Denis McCallum, 1996, p. 119 In truth, an excellent education is priceless and worth every penny, but these public schools have reveal their incapability to teach children basic skills.
To be specific, common core is not a curriculum, but a set of standards for the curriculums to abide by.

The Common Core is a set of “standards,” lists of competencies or skills that kids will need to know by the end of a given school year. Standards require what skills will be taught, while curriculum dictates other details such as how a given skill is conveyed to a second grader…. The confusing math that has been coming home in our children’s backpacks is a result of Everyday Math, a curriculum based on critical thinking skills, (so-called “fuzzy math”) developed at the University of Chicago.7) Jessica Lahey, “Confusing Math Homework? Don’t Blame Common Core” The Atlantic http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/confusing-math-homework-don-t-blame-the-common-core/360064/ accessed 4/26/2015

John Stormer gave an example of fuzzy math homework of Bob Unger a New York lawyer and his wife could not figure out their first grade sons math homework.

“There are ten children in the small school Samuel goes to. There are five jars of paint. How many children can paint?” After trying to work that math problem for several hours they FAXed it to their CPA. From the school they ultimately learned the answer was: “If they share, they can all paint.”8) As cited by John Stormer, None Dare Call It Education, Liberty Bell Press, 1999, p. 4-5

Of course, this is not math. This is feel good about yourself, emphasis on relationships, affective domain, Out Come Based Education. Denying charges of fuzzy math one journalist claims:

Too often, it has been “plug and chug” math. In this approach, math is a bunch of memorized rules that don’t make much sense. Follow the rules, and you will get the right answer. Do something different, and you’re likely to get it wrong. “Analytical thinking” consists of figuring out which rule to apply. There is limited need for originality, explanations, or even genuine understanding. Learning enough rules will allow you to solve the problems you are given…. Common Core saves us from plug-and-chug. In fact, math is based on a collection of ideas that do make sense. The rules come from the ideas. Common Core asks students to learn math this way, with both computational fluency and understanding of the ideas.
Learning math this way leads to deeper understanding, obviates the need for endless rule-memorizing and provides the intellectual flexibility to apply math in new situations, ones for which the rules need to be adapted.9) Solomon Friedberg “Common Core math is not fuzzy: Column,” USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/09/15/common-core-math-education-standards-fluency-column/15693531/ accessed 4/26/2015

Such a defense does not make sense. There is no originality in math, and his excuse has proven to not work as students are ignorant of basic math skills. Common Core does not make the curriculum, but its standard is so pathetic, fuzzy math makes the cut. With no right or wrong answers, this is not a standard at all.
It is interesting to note that the Common Core “started with former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano…”10) Allie Bidwell, “History of Common Core State Standards,” http://www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/articles/2014/02/27/the-history-of-common-core-state-standards accessed 4/26/2015 with its origin in Arizona, the same state barred it only after four years.

In fact, the state of Arizona barred it after adopting the curriculum 4 years ago. With a 6-3 vote, Common Core was rejected in the state as Sen. Al Melvin (R.)-Tucson said “some of the reading material is borderline pornographic.” And he said the program uses “fuzzy math…” 11)Howard Fischer, Arizona Senate panel votes to dump Common Core, Arizona Daily Star, Feb. 21, 2014, http://tucson.com/news/local/education/arizona-senate-panel-votes-to-dump-common-core/article_512d157d-054f-5bc0-8a29-2076f69cc35a.html accessed 4/26/2015

With a decrease in reading, writing and arithmetic, the Common Core Standard emphasis is on depleting children of moral absolutes with sex education. “It is very difficult to keep sex-education films from becoming pornographic and erotic, particularly if they are produced by people who see nothing wrong with pornography. Consequently, like pornography itself, each film gets more offensive, making them increasingly unfit to be seen by young people.”12) Tim LaHaye, The Battle for the Public Schools: Humanism’s Threat to our Children, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1983, p.129 LaHaye also quoted Dr. James Parson, who, in a debate with Dr. Mary Caldrone, stated, “The sex educators are trying to create such an obsession with sex in the minds of our youth that they will have no time or interest in spiritual pursuits.”13) Dr. James Parson, as cited by Tim LaHaye, The Battle for the Public Schools: Humanism’s Threat to our Children, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1983, p. 142 This affects our children during the time in which their young hearts are most impressionable by the gospel and the majority of Christians make their commitments to Christ at this time in their life. This also reveals how dangerous these sex crazed children without moral absolutes will influence other children. Consider the following statistics:

Sexual behaviors among high school students (grades 9-12), 2011 14) High school data are from: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). 1991-2011 High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. Retrieved August 7, 2013, from http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline
Percent of high school students who have ever had sexual intercourse Wisconsin United States
Total Wisconsin – 42% United States – 47%
Male Wisconsin –42% United States –49%
Female Wisconsin – 41% United States –46%
Percent of high school students who had sexual intercourse for the first time before 13 years of age Wisconsin United States
Total Wisconsin –4% United States –6%
Male Wisconsin – 6% United States – 9%
Female Wisconsin –3% United States –3%
Percent of high school students who have had sexual intercourse with 4 or more persons Wisconsin United States
Total Wisconsin – 10% United States –15%
Male Wisconsin –10% United States –18%
Female Wisconsin –10% United States –13%
Percent of high school students who drank alcohol or used drugs before last sexual intercourse Wisconsin United States
Total Wisconsin –20% United States –22%
Male Wisconsin – 23% United States –26%
Female Wisconsin –17% United States –18%

Relationship of violence and forced sex among high school students (grades 9-12), 201115) High school data are from: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). 1991-2011 High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. Retrieved August 7, 2013, from http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline
Percent of high school students who were ever physically forced to have sexual intercourse (when they did not want to) Wisconsin United States
Total Wisconsin –N/A United States – 8%
Male Wisconsin – N/A United States –4%
Female Wisconsin –N/A United States –12%

This last chart reveals that the chances are greater than one out of every ten girls in an American public school will be raped. Parents are not capable of controlling who their children will be in contact with when they are in public schools. Remember the event of Jacob’s daughter Dinah being raped because she entered the wrong community (Genesis 34:1-2).
The case against public schools should be self-evident. Ernest Pickering related:

Traditionally, Christian schools have tried to maintain fairly high standards of personal conduct among their students. Thus there were rules to follow and discipline to be meted out if the rules were disobeyed. The young evangelicals, however, rebelled against this concept as “legalism.” Their approach has been adopted by many and has led to a looseness of conduct on the campuses of many professedly Christian colleges. 16)Ernest D. Pickering, The Tragedy of Compromise: The Origin and Impact of the New Evangelicalism, BJU Press, 1994, p. 85

One major reason for this is because the Christian schools teachers have been engulfed with the same dialectic training from Benjamin Bloom to earn accreditation. This false philosophy need to be exposed for what it is. Paul Smith stated:

The original Greek word dialektos is used in the New Testament to refer to a language or tongue spoken, from which we get the English word “dialect.” The philosophical notion of dialectic originated in ancient Greece and was popularized by Plato in his Socratic dialogues.17) Paul Smith, New Evangelicalism: The New World Order, Calvary Chapel Publishers, 2011, p. 151-152

This method only produces compromise in one’s faith, and convictions. Pickering expressed, “Youth in our separatist schools who are going to be future leaders in our local churches need to be exposed to the reasons that the separatist cause exists.”18) Ernest D. Pickering, The Tragedy of Compromise: The Origin and Impact of the New Evangelicalism, BJU Press, 1994, p. 161 It is thus a necessity to separate from error and not allow pagan philosophies to be synthesized into the Christian students thinking. This is to stay within the principle of Psalm 1:1-3. The second major factor is keeping the training and educating of our next generation under the local church. “The best training for effective pastors appears to come from schools of ministry planted on the campuses of a local church and Bible colleges that hold fast to the inerrant Word of God.”19) Paul Smith, New Evangelicalism: The New World Order, Calvary Chapel Publishers, 2011, p. 54 This is to recognize that the local church is God’s ordained institution, and as the creator of all things, His word must be recognized in all things: “that in all things he might have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:18). The question arises of how the future leaders of local churches could lead a local church if they were educated in a parachurch academic institution? Such an education would be hypocritical and paradoxical, only driving confusion about the doctrine of the local church.

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Heath Henning
Heath Henning
Heath heads the Set Free addictions ministry on Friday nights at Mukwonago Baptist Church and is involved in evangelism on the University of Wisconsin Whitewater campus, offering his expertise in apologetics at the weekly Set Free Bible Study every Tuesday evening. He currently lives in East Troy, Wisconsin with his wife and nine children. Read Heath Henning's Testimony

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