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To Teach or not to Teach?
CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL FOOD·MONDAY, MAY 27, 2019
INTRODUCTION
In the United States, there has been a recent push to put the Bible back into the school curriculum, however, is this appropriate? This is a comprehensive topic for which people have very strong views; therefore, a critical examination is required be able to first understand in order to take a position on this issue.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION
As citizens of the United States of America, we should first ask ourselves, what is the purpose of our education system? Many will say is that the purpose of school is to educate our children. Next, we should ask, which topics and subjects should children be educated on and why? Without much debate, the basics come to mind, Math, Reading, and the Sciences. Well, how about the Arts, Music and Physical Education, and Foreign Language, is that ok for the school system to teach or expose children to the Arts? Many will say yes. Ok, how about philosophy and religion? We know that in colleges and some private schools there are many philosophy and world religion courses which educate students on different perspectives in those fields, is that appropriate for the public school system? Some will say no, others will say maybe, and others, I don’t know. Finally, we ask, is the purpose of our educational system simply to produce adults who can hold a job, or is there also a need to educate the next generation to be productive, law-abiding citizen with values and character?
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
With any such critical and sensitive issue, we should start with the facts which are open to the public domain. Fact number one, the Bible was once taught in schools in America. Fact number two, in 1962 and 1963, the Supreme Court decided in Engel versus Vitale and Abington School District versus Schempp, that school led prayers, and Bible readings violated the first establishment clause of the First Amendment. These two landmark Supreme Court decisions centered on the place of religion in public education, and particularly the place of Protestantism, which had long been accepted as the given American faith tradition. Fact number three, the Bible is not currently banned from schools. Libraries in school can have the Bible, students can bring their Bibles to school, however since the Supreme Court ruling the Bible has not been allowed to be taught as part of the formal educational curriculum anymore.
Having the factual knowledge that the Bible was once removed from the public schools curriculum, and the knowledge that the Bible is not currently banned from the school (student can bring their own Bibles to school, teachers, however, are not able to teach from it), doesn’t that put the matter to rest? The answer is no, it does not, unfortunately. History tells us that the Supreme court is not infallible because its rulings changes with the population and the time-period. For example, under 200 years ago in the Dred Scott decision, formally Dred Scott v. John F.A. Sandford, the U.S. Supreme Court on March 6, 1857, ruled overwhelming (7–2) that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States and the rights in the constitution did not extend to Blacks. Under 100 years ago, the court changed societies position on Woman’s right to vote, Under 80 years ago, the courts changed society’s position on abortion, and most recently under just 5 years ago, the Supreme Court changed society’s position on same-sex marriage. Regardless of one's position on these issues, the point is to illustrate that society’s positions change over time and therefore the fact that the court has made one interpretation on an issue is insufficient in itself in defending the status quo. Instead, one should ask, are there any benefits to teaching the Bible in the public schools, and if so, how would it be taught?
ARE THERE BENEFITS TO TEACHING THE BIBLE?
Regarding the benefit of teaching the Bible, there are two that the proponents of Bible literacy share. First, there is the historical benefit and second the benefit of teaching values. A question comes to mind, should public schools teach values? As a former school-based therapist, social service supervisor of foster care services in Baltimore City, and former school-based coordinator of mental health in Talbot County, from experience I can share that student behavior in schools are deplorable. Though certain areas are much better than others, in every state, teachers are physically assaulted by students (from 1st graders to 12th), students are sexually assaulted in schools, and in some limited cases teachers and students are having sexual relations with each other.
Since the 1850s there have been documented school shootings in America, thus it would be disingenuous for Bible literacy advocates to say that the removal of the Bible led to school shootings. However, within 3 years of its removal from schools, America noticed a dramatic increase in school shooting frequency and intensity. After over 100 years of school shootings resulting in a death toll of 4 or less per incident, within 2 years of the removal of the Bible from the school system America witnessed the first mass shooting in a school in which more than 4 people died happened in. In 1966, 2 to 3 years after the Bible and prayer were pulled from school, Charles Whitman, shot and killed 15 people and wounded 31 during a 96-minute shooting at the University of Texas. Since then the data shows that after the Bible was taken out of schools there has been the addition of metal detectors & professional security guards to deal with violence, professional therapist and counselors to deal with emotional issues, and a slew of medical services such as birth control to deal with a hyper-sexual population.
So what are we as Americans to make of this? Is there a correlation in these stats which actually reflect a relationship of causality and if so, how should we respond without infringing upon the First Amendment rights of Americans to not have religion forced upon them?
MAKING AN ARGUMENT
Being the most read book in the world, with over a thousand of years of human history, culture, tradition, customs, and known historical events, suggest that that the historical reason for teaching the Bible leaves little to be argued against. Hence it's literacy for historical purposes makes sense. However, the more beneficial/controversial focus of teaching the Bible does not seem to be the historical aspect, but the aspect of teaching of values. Many will ask, should the schools teach values? However, the answer is, they(we) already do. Most of my readers are aware that most schools have character counts coaches and lessons on diversity in which we are teaching children the value of character pillars (honesty, trustworthiness, citizenship, etc.). Proponents of Bible literacy will share that the Bible has many places where values are shared, such as the book of Proverbs.
In my research, it did become apparent that many (myself included) fail to realize that we are already teaching some of the values of the Bible in schools; however, we are just not giving it credit. I realized that the Golden rule, "treat others as you would like to be treated" taught by many teachers to students in elementary school comes from the Bible, Matthew chapter 7 verse 12. Other values such as "To whom much is given much is expected" does not come from Spider-Man the movie but from the Bible, Luke chapter 12 verse 48. Even our laws taught in Civics classes to students prohibiting murdering, stealing, and not lying, all come from the Ten Commandments in the Bible found in Exodus chapter 20. It seems that schools are already teaching Bible value since such values were the bedrock of the foundation of America evidenced by the mentioning of God in our Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Pledge of Allegiance. Yet if a character counts coach in a school were teaching students about honesty and told a story from a Buddhist proverb which illustrated the point, many would not protest because they would get the point of the story. However, when such values come from Christian proverbs or stories, much resistance and discrimination is shown.
Some will argue that if you teach from the Christian Bible you must also allow Satanist to teach from their Bible, however such an argument commits the logical fallacy of False Dilemma/False Dichotomy. Such an argument would only be true if teaching the Bible was to teach religion. However Bible literacy seems to be about teaching values, therefore since the Satanic Bible does not have values that have been shown by evidence to enhance character and citizenship, citizens have no obligation to teach it.
SUMMARY
For one to say, we must not teach children to tell the truth or not to murder because the Bible teaches those things would not only be absurd, but it would be also be discriminating against the Bible solely based on its religious background and not the value of its content. Teaching the Bible to teach history is warranted and does not seem really up for much debate. Teaching the Bible to teach the Christian religion seems inappropriate as it would be forcing religion on it’s citizens. But teaching the Bible in order to teach values, is appropriate as our society is in desperate need of a character change. However Americans should not fool themselves into thinking that Bible literacy to teach strong values in the school will make much difference when outside of the schools, society, communities, families, and the entertainment media are not teaching such values. It makes sense (for a better society) for the school to teach values to promote good character and to indiscriminately use whichever resources (books) have been proven based on the evidence to help society meet those goals. However for it to be effective, such values should not only be taught inside the schools but outside as well.
Christian Spiritual Food
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References
When the Court Took on Prayer and the Bible in Public Schools
The Bible, the School, and the Constitution: The Clash That Shaped Modern Church-State Doctrine By Steven K. Green Oxford University Press, 2012 Today marks the 50th anniversary of a court case that changed the way Americans think about religion in public schools.
religionandpolitics.org
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www.oyez.org
Luke 12:48 - Bible Gateway
Ten Commandments | Description, Bible, List, History, Text, & Facts
Ten Commandments are list of religious precepts that, according to various passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy, were divinely revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai and were engraved on two tablets of stone.
www.britannica.com
Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 7:12 - English Standard Version
The Golden Rule - “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
