Some time ago my eldest daughter was told in a discussion that she shouldn't waste her time studying anything except the Bible. What a ridiculous thing to say! Do they really think that? Really?!
Seriously, the Bible has nothing in it about algebra, physics, US history (or much world history), carpentry, electricity, and I could go on and on. Is knowing about those things pointless?
God created the human mind with an incredible capacity to learn and an insatiable curiosity. Did he really give us that so we could only learn Bible verses? Can anyone honestly believe there is no value in learning about the world around us, how it works, its history, its present, and its future?
There is so much to learn and know. And I am very glad that the electrician who works on my house read something besides the Bible. I'm so thankful that the doctor who performed my surgery studied something besides the Bible.
And even if I don't need the knowledge for a career choice, what is wrong with just learning it just because I want to know? What if I just want to know about microbiology? Do you not think it pleases God that I am interested in his creation? What creator of art or technology doesn't like his creation to be admired?
Yes, the Bible is sufficient for matters of faith; but there is so much more to the world. So much to be learned and explored.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Friday, May 20, 2011
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Intellectual Espionage
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3b.htm
Portion from a book by John Taylor Gatto...great stuff!
From the page:
"Looking back, abundant data exist from states like Connecticut and Massachusetts to show that by 1840 the incidence of complex literacy in the United States was between 93 and 100 percent wherever such a thing mattered. According to the Connecticut census of 1840, only one citizen out of every 579 was illiterate and you probably don’t want to know, not really, what people in those days considered literate; it’s too embarrassing. Popular novels of the period give a clue: Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826, sold so well that a contemporary equivalent would have to move 10 million copies to match it. If you pick up an uncut version you find yourself in a dense thicket of philosophy, history, culture, manners, politics, geography, analysis of human motives and actions, all conveyed in data-rich periodic sentences so formidable only a determined and well-educated reader can handle it nowadays. Yet in 1818 we were a small-farm nation without colleges or universities to speak of. Could those simple folk have had more complex minds than our own?"
and,
"Put another way, black illiteracy doubled, white illiteracy quadrupled. Before you think of anything else in regard to these numbers, think of this: we spend three to four times as much real money on schooling as we did sixty years ago, but sixty years ago virtually everyone, black or white, could read."
Interesting isn't it?
Portion from a book by John Taylor Gatto...great stuff!
From the page:
"Looking back, abundant data exist from states like Connecticut and Massachusetts to show that by 1840 the incidence of complex literacy in the United States was between 93 and 100 percent wherever such a thing mattered. According to the Connecticut census of 1840, only one citizen out of every 579 was illiterate and you probably don’t want to know, not really, what people in those days considered literate; it’s too embarrassing. Popular novels of the period give a clue: Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826, sold so well that a contemporary equivalent would have to move 10 million copies to match it. If you pick up an uncut version you find yourself in a dense thicket of philosophy, history, culture, manners, politics, geography, analysis of human motives and actions, all conveyed in data-rich periodic sentences so formidable only a determined and well-educated reader can handle it nowadays. Yet in 1818 we were a small-farm nation without colleges or universities to speak of. Could those simple folk have had more complex minds than our own?"
and,
"Put another way, black illiteracy doubled, white illiteracy quadrupled. Before you think of anything else in regard to these numbers, think of this: we spend three to four times as much real money on schooling as we did sixty years ago, but sixty years ago virtually everyone, black or white, could read."
Interesting isn't it?
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