VANISHING AMERICAN EDUCATION

I am excited to share this post with you! See these dusty books? They are indicative of what I want to communicate.

For a long time I've been thinking about doing more "devotional" style blogs again--I've been silent too long.It was so evident to me this week as my grandchildren and I visited a nearby country school, still open to the public for tours, that we have lost something very valuable over the last century.

 American education is simply not what it was when our granparents filled classrooms like these and studied from books like the McGuffey readers. My respect to all you teachers, this is not intended to cut down your service. I know many teachers and most are a very dedicated group of public servants. But I think we can learn some things from observing the vanishing American schooling trends of the past.

The heavy, durable desks and furnishings were just one example of a culture that valued quality and long life. Things were expected to last--money was viewed differently. Things were hard to come by and therefore quality and durability mattered. Textbooks and supplies were not replaced every year.

How about these slates as an example of environmental consciousness? Each child could pick one up each morning and use it repeatedly without wasting sheet after sheet of paper. How's that for "green?"  And we think we are on the cutting edge!

But even more obvious than all that, I was struck by the pictures that hung in this classroom. Portraits of the Presidents, Washington and Lincoln, were proudly and prominently displayed at the front of the room and elsewhwere on the walls. Other pictures depicting events of American history were displalyed as well. The desks were arranged with larger ones to the backs of the rows for the older students and they gradually got smaller toward the front of every row. This was a vivid reminder that we once could put all age groups together and that the older ones helped the young to learn. No need for multiple classrooms and special age-related programs.

All these observable differences point to the fact that scholastics and character-building mattered more than all of the frills we often associate with a well-rounded education. These vanishing (or vanished) American educational trends served a society that honored Christian principles and produced some of the world's greatest leaders, inventors, statesmen, and heroes.

What has our progress cost us?

More on the next post....until then, Blessings, LORI