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    The Lost Purpose for Learning: An Essay On United States Education With Implications for All Nations
    The Lost Purpose for Learning: An Essay On United States Education With Implications for All Nations
    The Lost Purpose for Learning: An Essay On United States Education With Implications for All Nations
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    The Lost Purpose for Learning: An Essay On United States Education With Implications for All Nations

    By Dr. Christian Overman

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    About this ebook

    “Whatever!” seems to be a common bored attitude of children toward school. Bribes, or threats, or lures of a future well-paying job fail to inspire them. This is to be expected, if we fail to give them a compelling reason for their very existence. All sons and daughters are endowed before birth with a remarkable mandate from God. It's a mandate that brings extraordinary meaning to education. Read about it in The Lost Purpose for Learning.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateAug 18, 2016
    ISBN9780997533033
    The Lost Purpose for Learning: An Essay On United States Education With Implications for All Nations

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      Book preview

      The Lost Purpose for Learning - Dr. Christian Overman

      ISBN: 978-0-9975330-3-3

      ©2016 Christian Overman

      Published by Ablaze Publishing

      Bellevue, Washington, USA

      Cover image by Victoria R. Sepulveda

      The Harvard crest appearing near the end of this essay is a trademark of Harvard University used for illustrative purposes only, under the Fair Use Act. Its inclusion herein does not imply any association with or endorsement by Harvard University. The original 17th Century Harvard shield is also included for illustrative purposes only. [See the Harvard GSAS Christian Community website at http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~gsascf/shield-and-veritas-history/]

      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

      Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture verses are from The New King James Version, copyright ©1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.

      Contents

      The Lost Purpose for Learning

      Can Secularized Schools Be Neutral?

      The SSD Infection

      Are Christian Schools Contributing to the Problem?

      The Lost Idea of The Whole

      God Made All Things, Owns All Things and Upholds All Things

      God Created Humans with a Specific Role and Function in Mind

      There’s No Room on Christ’s Throne for Two

      Secondary Creations Glorify God When Well Done

      The Circle of Knowledge: From God Back To God

      Set Your Mind on Things Above

      Earth-Tending is God’s Assignment for Human Beings

      What Exactly is the Great Commission?

      Education is for Earth-Tending

      What is Theology of Work, Economics, and Human Flourishing?

      Back to the Real Basics

      Endorsements of The Lost Purpose for Leaning

      For further reading

      About the author

      The Lost Purpose for Learning

      Followers of Christ in the United States are coming to the sober realization that the biblical foundations for law, civil government, economics, family and gender that once provided commonly accepted harbor lights for society have been replaced. An incessant move toward the secularization of society and the privatization of Christianity that took place in the 20th Century was enormously successful, being expedited greatly through elementary and secondary schools.

      The shaping of nations begins in the minds of children. Nation-shaping ideas acquired in elementary and secondary schools are not immediately felt on a national level because it takes time for little acorns to grow into giant oaks. But grow they will. And, as has been said many times: Ideas have consequences.

      This essay is a call to action for those who plant nation-shaping ideas into young minds, by design or by default: elementary and secondary educators. This includes school teachers and headmasters, Sunday School workers and other church personnel who interact with students between the ages of 4 and 18. This also includes parents, who educate their children daily by default or design, and it includes pastors, who educate from the pulpit.

      It’s time to restore the lost purpose for learning. This purpose has been neglected for 150 years in the U.S., and begs to be revived, both in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. This can be done if we will first understand what has been lost, and then take the necessary steps to restore the lost purpose in ways that are systemic, intentional and repeatable.

      This will not be a quick and easy fix. But we must begin by making modifications in thousands of schools and churches without further delay.

      Albert Einstein once said, The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution… With this in mind, let’s start by formulating the problem, to more fully understand what has been lost before we look at how it can be regained.

      Can Secularized Schools Be Neutral?

      U.S. schools prior to the 20th Century were predominantly Christian in orientation and practice. This is evidenced by the common practice of teacher-led Bible reading and prayer, as well as the academic texts that were used, containing much Scripture and references to Jesus Christ, sin and salvation. These texts included The American Spelling Book, by Noah Webster (1822), considered the standard spelling book in U.S. schools, The National Reader (1828), A Common-School Grammar of The English Language (1871), and the popular McGuffey Readers, which sold at least 120 million copies between 1836 and 1960. [Other texts included The English Reader (1825), The National Reader (1828), The Young Scholar’s Manual (1830), The National Spelling-Book (1858), and The American Preceptor (1811).]

      Perhaps the most noteworthy evidence of Christian thought being overtly mixed with education in the U.S. prior to the 20th Century is found in Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). This magnum opus took Webster 28 years to complete. It is full of Scriptural references in his definitions of words, as this Father of American Scholarship and Education standardized the English language for all U.S. citizens. Webster was also one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

      As the United States transitioned from non-regulated Christian schools to a centralized state school system in the late 1800’s, Princeton theologian A.A. Hodge wrote: "It is self-evident that on this scheme, if it is consistently and persistently carried out in all parts of the country, the United States system of national popular education will be the most efficient and wide instrument for the propagation of

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