The Cultivation of a Moral Society
A Christian does not need to go far into media reports or social media platforms in order to question whether the West is still a moral civilization or whether it has truly lost its way. To recount the myriad ways society has moved away from the teachings of Jesus and the common-held truths of how society functions would easily be a series of articles in and of itself. Suffice it to say, our culture continues to spiral further away from the moral absolutes or even moral guidelines readily accepted and supported by generations past.
As Christians, we often wring our hands and lament how far our culture has descended, yet we do not often seem to find success in combatting this downward spiral. Now, that is not to say there are not those in the Christian community who avoid the difficult and challenging things that need to be said, but there are times when it seems as though the culture is still riding down the hill with glee.
The goal of this piece is not to look at how Christians in general – and the Church in particular – can and should push back and reinforce the moral teachings of our faith from a holistic perspective, but rather how education can play an integral role in reshaping and saving our society. If culture and society are to see a slowing of our precipitous fall from morality or, ideally, a turnaround, then education is a critical piece in that equation.
Firstly, let us look at how education played a part in the downfall of culture in terms of the growing moral depravity we experience today. Since the Progressive Movement of the early to mid-twentieth century, schools have been bent on progressing society and inculcating students toward a fixed set of ideals; those were typically at odds with the moral absolutes one finds in the teachings of the Bible. One would see and hear such sentiments as finding your own truth or the determined effort to hold discussion under the guise of morality, but which were focused not on a true view of morality, but rather on a skewed sense of critical thinking. For quite a time, the focus then moved to the feelings of students, implying their emotions would always be of greater importance than any moral absolute.
In a landmark text Charles Sykes noted this fascination with feelings in a course on citizenship where students were to “clarify and discover their own values on issues like lying and cheating” [1]. Sykes develops this idea further when discussing a 1978 work titled Values Clarification: A Handbook of Practical Strategies for Teachers and Students where he notes that the passing on of values from parents to students was a negative aspect of a student’s education, so much so that it was “dangerous to the ethical health of children” because when they passed on a set of moral values, “parents were hampering the ability of children to come up with their own values” [2].
While many fought valiantly, the trend of values clarification continued, causing even William K. Kirkpatrick, an author who wrote sharply against psychological issuances in the world of education. Kirkpatrick noted in his great work, Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right from Wrong that “one of the main thrusts of recent moral education has been to set reason up on its own: to create, in effect, a culture-free morality” [3]. With this as a backdrop, is it any surprise we have witnessed the furthering of this values clarification movement transform into outright values rejection during the first two decades of the twenty-first century? If education was a prime piece in the creation of this upheaval, then it certainly can – and should – be a major aspect of its reversal and return to the moral objectivity once held in our culture.
Beginning in the admonitions of the Book of Proverbs, let us begin our search for the opportunity to reclaim the placement of moral training in education. In a well-known verse, we are reminded of the importance not of the academic aspects of education, but of the preservation of morals: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” [4]. There is in this verse not a promise or prophecy of moral uprightness, but an impress of urgency to those involved and invested in the raising of children to ensure the teachings necessary to raising a child are not simply assumed so they are not inadvertently neglected. By training a child in the way he should go, there should be confidence in the discipleship that will take root and be the well one may draw from and hold fast to during the pits and falls of life in this fallen world.
This impetus falls mainly on parents, and it can be complemented by the work of a school that shares the moral foundations of parents. Thereby two of the most important decisions parents make is how they will educate their children and, should they elect to send them to a school, which type of school? In this decision parents should realize the importance we are left with in Luke’s Gospel when Jesus reminds us in a parable that “a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” [5]. While our classical Christian schools may not model the ancient Jewish rabbinical schools, educators have a profound impact and effect on the moral development of their students. Consider, the average student spends roughly 1200 hours in school each year under the instruction of teachers.
The moral training of our youth, then, will occur regardless of school choice by parents. It is thus imperative for Christian teachers to unashamedly hold fast to the truths of our faith and to teach them openly and in a way that demonstrates to potential parents as well as those parents who are well-established in our school the standard of truth and, therefore, morality that will imbue their children’s education throughout their time in our classrooms.
Christian educators should take the charge from the ancients, the leaders of the early Church, and from more contemporary sources for their leading and guidance in this labor. C.S. Lewis, in his speeches turned to the wonderful book The Abolition of Man offers a myriad of suggestions in order to ensure our society does not end up simply raising men without chests. He points teachers back to Augustine and the concept of the ordo amoris as well as to Aristotle and the notion that “the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought” [6]. Lewis performs his usual feat of taking complex concepts and boiling them down to a digestible and workable foundation from which to do good work. He does this by blending the ancients with the great thinkers of the early Church and by showing the importance of the words earlier noted from Proverbs that “when the age for reflective thought comes, the pupil who has thus been training in ‘ordinate affections’ or ‘just sentiments’ will easily find the first principles in ethics” [7].
Lewis reminds us all that it is through our affections – how we are trained to love the things worthy of our love that will create our worldview. For teachers, that means highlighting the glory of God, His majesty, the order He created, and the glory of the Christian faith in our teaching. We should not do so in a forced way, but in the natural tone in which one would teach that two plus two equals four. Students should hear and see that moral clarity is not something unique, special, or reserved only for a chapel service or a Bible and theology course, but flows through all the academic disciplines and allows us to see the world not simply through our human eyes, but through the eyes of the Lord.
A school is in many ways a microcosm of society and possesses the ability to train students to rightly love virtuous living and behavior not through the modern set of rewards, but simply through pointing them continually to Christ and to the things that are Good, True, and Beautiful. Demonstrating for them in the order of a school day, the order of curriculum, play, adventure, and the freedom from chaos, students will appreciate and will take for natural that life is ordered when we set our lives in such a way that surrounds it around Christ and those who seek to follow after Him with their lives. Moral clarity is achieved even in physical education courses, science experiments, and studying great works of art just as much as it is in discussions on Aristotle and philosophy, on Luther and theological debates, on Jane Austen and literary dialogues.
Rembrandt’s famous painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son (1661-1669) is a fine example of how teachers can utilize any number of mediums to study their discipline while also inculcating in students moral clarity and discussion. When looking at the painting, one is typically and immediately drawn to the father welcoming his wayward son – a beautiful lesson in forgiveness, grace, and mercy. Without stopping there, though Rembrandt does not describe the other figures in the painting, many have guessed one of the figures with the unhappy look may be the older brother who later debates the forgiveness of the father. What an opportunity to discuss how we are to relate to one who held true to his father’s teachings and moral foundation (the older brother), but missed the ultimate point of grace and mercy contrasted against the younger brother who rejected all his father previously taught him, but came to the realization of his moral and intellectual failure only when reduced to eating the food of pigs and then realizing the glorious grace and mercy of this father as he is welcomed home.
In sum, the work of the Christian educator is one that is of such great importance it cannot be understated, but it is not simply in the realm of academic disciplines. The integral role of partnering with parents to ensure moral foundations and the perpetuation of our Christian faith are of primary importance. Demonstrating through their lives, examples, teachings, and discussions the role that Christ plays and how He is at work continually in our lives provide a foundation that, we pray, will be the anchor students may fall back on when faced with the undeniable challenges of this world.
To fight against the values clarification that has been usurped and allowed to degrade further to the world where there is not absolute truth but personal truth should not completely shock the Christian. In many ways the Church, Christian parents, and Christian educators fell asleep at the wheel, finding the importance of the early self-esteem movement would be beneficial to students. Now, we see how this slippery slope wound its way down to students choosing their gender, their truth, and goodness knows what is next. The time for sounding the alarm is way past. Now is the time to exit the watchtowers and engage in the cultural battle that is before us already. Turning a blind eye is no longer acceptable (was it ever?). If the Church wants to reclaim a moral high ground and reach students while taking a firm stand for Christ, it is time to ensure that teachers and parents are encouraged and enabled to provide a moral certainty rooted in the timeless Truth of our faith rather than in the swaying and ever-changing whims of this post-modern age. How is this accomplished? Ensure teachers are highly trained academics, though this is secondary to teachers who are discipled and disciplining others with an unashamed and orthodoxically accurate approach to Christianity and are willing and able to share that faith and the moral order it brings to students without wavering.
In some ways this seems a large and insurmountable obstacle, but it really is not. History teaches us that when the Church is facing persecution, there is growth in not only numbers, but in fervor. While our persecution may not be that of the ancient Roman Empire with its executions and gladiators, it is a not-so-subtle persecution towards the hearts and minds of our children. We must take a renewed vigor and fervor ourselves to prepare them so they will not depart from it, but will order their lives and their loves in worship of our Savior always.
Works Cited
Sykes, Charles, Dumbing Down Our Kids, 1995, p. 159.
Ibid, p. 161.
Kirkpatrick, William K., Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right from Wrong, 1982, p. 113.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Proverbs 22:6
Luke 6:40
C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, p. 16.
Ibid, p. 16.
