College and Alternatives

By Jim Bartlett

New York Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto explained how corporations, foundations, psychologists and education professionals designed the public school system to mass produce a pliable workforce for global corporations. They purposely teach people not to think for themselves and to follow anti-Christian social orders according to Mr. Gatto in his books Dumbing Us Down, The Underground History of American Public Education, and Weapons of Mass Instruction.

If getting pliable followers, not Christian cultural leaders, into the corporate workforce is the goal of school and college accreditation structures and content, then Christians need to understand and evaluate the effects of institutional college education on their families, church and culture.

Getting into college should not be the goal of home education, but glorifying God in the means, purposes, details, and ends of both the college and or career education. Many home school families are finding or creating alternatives to conventional secular and Christian higher education to better serve God and their family goals.

Below are are a few references that have been helpful to home educating families when advising their sons and daughters on college and career decisions.

The North Dakota Guide to Home School High School contains information that may help with your college planning. That document is linked HERE.

A convenient list of many occupations is linked HERE.

For information on..
CHRISTIAN COLLEGES

A guide to 111 traditional Christian colleges is linked HERE.

CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

• AME PROGRAM
• BIBLICAL CONCOURSE OF HOME UNIVERSITIES
• COLLEGEPLUS
• NEW GENEVA CHRISITAN LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
• POCKETCOLLEGE

REFERENCES ON COLLEGE EDUCATION

• Freefall of the American University by Jim Nelson Black
• Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth by Ben Shapiro
• Success without College by Linda Lee
• The Case Against College by Caroline Bird
• The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges & Universities from their Christian Churches by James Burtchaell
• The Snare of College Accreditation by James Bartlett
• For Most People College is a Waste of Time in Wall Street Journal
• The Dorm Key Ritual by Gary North
• The Crisis and Politics of Higher Education by Larry Arnn
  

VIDEO REFERENCES

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed by Ben Stein

Christian Classical Education

By Dennis Woods

By way of introduction, I wrote the book on how the classics –the great books –stack up against the Bible. Some have referred to my book, Keys To The Classics, as the "Christian Cliffs Notes" and today it forms the heart of the classical studies program at King's Way Classical Academy.

So what makes classical, Christian education so special? Informal research conducted by the Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon has revealed that the two most important items missing in the government school curriculum are 1) training in skills of logical thinking, and 2) the ability to communicate the results of critical analysis in debate, speech and the written word.

The dialectic and rhetoric components of the classical trivium speak directly to these deficiencies. With a classical education your children are given the priceless gifts of ability to think for themselves and then communicate their thoughts with power and persuasiveness.

A classical Christian education can serve as a “finishing processl” for home school students and a Biblical “inoculation” for public school students. The classical core subjects are:

• LATIN: The best way to build a powerful vocabulary – after the Bible, and a key predictor of success in life.
• LOGIC: Critical thinking skills give your children overwhelming advantage in the workplace – and in life.
• RHETORIC: Make your child a force to be reckoned with in the political arena and on the job.
• GREAT BOOKS: Analyzing the classics in light of Scripture grounds your student in the Biblical worldview.

How can we best obey the command to love God with all our minds and not end up like those with an empty head and a happy heart? A classical Christian education helps provide both a happy heart and a level head.

Classical was the educational model that prevailed for centuries, prior to the late1800s. That was when John Dewey foisted his disastrous Progressive Education system on American schools. There can be no true knowledge apart from the Author of all knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). Public schools and secular education in home schools pretend neutrality, but Jesus said, "he who is not with me is against me."

Dennis Woods is the Headmaster of Kings Way Classical Academy. King's Way Classical Academy recently unveiled its new junior high and "high school diploma" programs for only $500 annual tuition fee. For more information about Classical Christian Education visit http://KingsWayClassicalAcademy.com or call (888)-714-5741.

The Great Christian College Compromise: New survey shows America’s Christian colleges abandoning their biblical foundations

PETERSBURG, Ky., May 2, 2011 – Ken Ham , Warner University president Dr. Greg Hall, and renowned researcher Britt Beemer take a penetrating look at how Christian colleges have compromised their beliefs in an eye-opening book releasing May 2 from Master Books, “Already Compromised: Christian Colleges Took a Test on the State of Their Faith and The Final Exam is In.”
Surveys have consistently shown that many Christian colleges are compromising on biblical principles by their answers to basic questions about the authority of the Bible. Ham, president of Answers in Genesis and the acclaimed Creation Museum , issues a clarion call to parents everywhere who are contemplating sending their teenager to a Christian college:
“Knowing that compromise (to one degree or another) awaits our kids, we had to contend with where to send them and try to prepare them for battle and encourage them to keep their guard up,” states the book.
Beemer’s America’s Research Group (ARG) surveyed schools associated with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), a group of more than 90 colleges that require all of their professors to sign a personal statement of faith. Other respondents were from schools that were “religiously affiliated” through an association with a religious denomination. Over 300 leaders at Christian colleges participated in the survey.
“We are not questioning anyone’s faith or Christian commitment at these colleges. We are examining what is being taught on important issues like biblical inerrancy, especially when it comes to Genesis,” Ham says. “Many of these schools claim to teach the ‘inerrant Word of God,’ yet gloss over the first book of the Bible as mere allegory.”
In conducting the survey, the authors used open-ended and close-ended questions so answers could be compared. They also looked at various statements of faith from churches, Christian colleges, etc., through an internet search, and found that most statements of faith had a very general statement (if any) on creation.
“Such general statements can sadly lead to the door of compromise being opened and eventually lead a college, church, etc., down the liberal path,” the book says.
While the survey did bring out some surprising results, “24 percent of the 312 people surveyed answered every question correctly … and these are the ‘good guys!’ These are the institutions that require testimonies of faith from their professors or have strong religious affiliations,” the book says.
Many Christian parents mistakenly assume that if they send their children to a self-described Christian college, they are protecting their children’s faith from non-biblical ideas such as evolution, and providing their children with a more morally nurturing environment, the book states.
Hall explains that parents are sending their students into the schools assuming that they are going to be faith-nurturing and truth-affirming institutions. He says that in reality many of the schools discredit faith, discredit the Bible, and break kids down rather than build them up. Many young people who have attended such Christian colleges leave the Christian faith as a result. Just as the previous book by Ham and Beemer (“Already Gone”) explored, young people are leaving the church in droves (many over biblical authority issues), and Christian colleges are contributing to this exodus.
“There are good Christian schools out there and we feel they are better than secular alternatives by far. But these issues of compromise have to be addressed,” the book concludes.
In the end, Ham and Hall call for students and parents to get involved and become aware of what is being taught on campus and to ask probing questions of school officials and professors about biblical inerrancy. The newly launched companion website for “Already Compromised”—www.CreationColleges.org—can help as well.
You can order Already Compromised on the AiG online store.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

Background on Modern Britsh Royalty - Eugenic and Nazi Worldview

It is well documented that Prince Philip’s sister, Sophia, was married to Christopher of Hesse-Cassel, an SS colonel who named his eldest son Karl Adolf in Hitler’s honour. Indeed, all four of Philip’s sisters married high-ranking Nazis. The prospect of the former Nazis and Nazi sympathisers attending his 1947 wedding to the future Queen of England meant he was allowed to invite only two guests.
Two years ago, more revelations of Philip’s Nazi links emerged in a book that featured never before published photographs of Philip aged 16 at the 1937 funeral of his elder sister Cecile, flanked by relatives in SS and Brownshirt uniforms.
Another picture shows his youngest sister, Sophia, sitting opposite Hitler at the wedding of Hermann and Emmy Goering. Philip was forced to concede that his family found Hitler’s attempts to restore Germany’s power and prestige ‘attractive’ and admitted they had ‘inhibitions about the Jews’.
Philip also helped start the World Wildlife Fund in 1961 with former Nazi SS Officer Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who is closely affiliated with the founders of the Bilderberg international power group, and Sir Julian Huxley, Aldous Huxley’s brother, who was also the President of the British Eugenics Society.

The entire article is from Ref. http://www.infowars.com/modern-british-royalty-eugenicists-nazis-and-neo-feudalists/

Christian Reconstruction Overview

This is the best description of the tenets of Christian Reconstruction, as espoused by Dr. R. J. Rushdoony, is found in his "Christian Manifesto".

1. Sovereignty is an attribute of God alone, not of man nor the state. God alone is Lord or Sovereign over all things; over state, school, family, vocations, society and all things else.
2. The Bible is given as the common law of men and nations and was for most of U. S. History the common law, as Justice Story declared.
3. Salvation is not by politics, education, the church, or any agency or person other than Jesus Christ our Lord.
4. The myth of Machiavelli, that, by state control at the top, bad men can make a good society is at the root of our cultural crisis and growing collapse. A good omelet cannot be made with bad eggs. Truly redeemed men are necessary for a good society.²
5. Civil rulers who rule without the Lord and His law word are, as Augustine said, no different than a mafia, only more powerful.
6. The state is not the government, but one form of government among many, others being the self-government of the Christian man, the family, the school, the church, vocations and society. The state is civil government, a ministry of justice.
7. For the state to equate itself with government is tyranny and evil.
8. The Christian man is the only true free man in all the world, and he is called to exercise dominion over all the earth.
9. Humanism is the way of death and is the essence of original sin, or man trying to be his own god.
10. All men, things, and institutions must serve God, or be judged by Him. 

"It is urgently important that we think now of Christian reconstruction, but our thinking cannot be idle talk: it must be both Biblical and also practically applied in our daily life. There are many people ready to eliminate statism, but they have nothing but wishing to replace it. How then will independent schools, private welfare, and individual initiative deal with the vast complex of our social problems? Already most of our Christian conservative causes, and Christian schools, are continually short of funds. What is the answer?
"In any advanced social order, social financing is a major public necessity. The social order cannot exist without a vast network of social institutions which require financing and support. If a Christian concept of social financing is lacking, then the state moves in quickly to supply the lack and gain the social control which results. Social financing means social power."³

---

^1. R. J. Rushdoony, Chalcedon Report No. 225, “A Christian Manifesto,” April 1984 (c.f., Roots of Reconstruction, p. 1114f).
^2. This is not to suggest that Rushdoony endorsed simply replacing “bad men” with “godly men” at the top of a state-run society. Rushdoony’s concept of theocracy was not a centralized form of power in the hands of clerical leaders. He wrote, “Few things are more commonly misunderstood than the nature and meaning of theocracy. It is commonly assumed to be a dictatorial rule by self-appointed men who claim to rule for God. In reality, theocracy in Biblical law is the closest thing to a radical libertarianism that can be had” (Roots of Reconstruction, p. 63).
^3. R. J. Rushdoony, Roots of Reconstruction (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1991), 605.
From: http://chalcedon.edu/topics/christian-reconstruction/

The Regulative Principle of Family

The Regulative Principle of Family
by Lisa Moyer, Home School Graduate from Geneva Illinois
April 12, 2011

The regulative principle is most often applied to formal worship. It is used to determine the format of church services, allowing only those things that God has authorized for worship, including prayer, reading of the Word, preaching, singing, and the sacraments. The regulative principle is in essence a call for “sola Scriptura,” or Scripture alone. It defends the Bible as complete and authoritative. In the same way water is everything needed to quench thirst, so God's Word is all that is needed for godly life and righteousness. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17, NKJV). The regulative principle applies to the family in a significant way. It is important to understand what the regulative principle is, how it applies to family, and the impacts of this application.

The Bible, and what can be deduced from its principles, is to regulate our lives. It even gives instruction for how to carry out seemingly neutral activities. The law which God provides in the Bible is comprehensive, lacking no clarity or thoroughness. No bright idea from mankind can in any way enhance or add to His completely sufficient statutes. Dr. Joe Morecraft writes, “Biblical law is so perfect and comprehensive...that any alteration, supplementation, or amendment of would be an arrogant assault by sinful man on the majestic sovereignty of the triune God” (Morecraft, 79).

The “alteration” Morecraft refers to can be adding regulations to the Bible or excluding parts of Scripture from application. Although worship is often regulated by more specific regulations in the Bible, all of life is to be lived according to His principles. The heart and foundation of the regulative principle, that Scripture must not be added to or taken from, applies to everything. Because this is its core, it is a principle that effects all areas of life and institutions, including the family.

The “regulative principle of family” is especially significant as the family is the foundational unit of society. Thomas Manton noted the significance of the family:

“Religion was first hatched in families, and there the devil seeketh to crush it; the families of the Patriarchs were all the Churches God had in the world for the time; and therefore, (I suppose,) when Cain went out from Adam's family, he is said to go out from the face of the Lord, Gen. 4:16. Now, the devil knoweth that this is a blow at the root, and a ready way to prevent the succession of Churches: if he can subvert families, other societies and communities will not long flourish and subsist with any power and vigor; for there is the stock from whence they are supplied both for the present and future” (Manton).

The ways this application takes effect are numerous, but one of the most foundational is that of training children. Scripture contains all the instructions needed for raising a family and educating children. Of course, this is not to say that no textbooks are needed for learning math or that work experience is not helpful for building character. For example, rather than the idea that the Bible teaches the historical events that occurred in 1861, it is the concept that God has revealed how we are to view, interpret, and respond to history. God has showed that the education of children is a responsibility delegated to parents. In the same way that God's worship has never been delegated to human authority, so the training of sons and daughters has never been delegated to any institution outside the family.

The book of Proverbs illustrates the instruction and wisdom that passes from a father directly to his children. “Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding” (Proverbs 4:1). In Deuteronomy 4:10, the Lord says: “Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.” He says again, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:6). To apply the heart of the regulative principle to the training of children is to not add to or take away from the clear responsibility given to parents for their children's training.

The impacts of applying the regulative principle to families and the discipleship of sons and daughters are significant. The way a child is educated influences their entire life, especially the religious perspective their education takes on. Robert Booth commented, “It is not a matter of whether our children will be taught religion in school; it is only a matter of which religion they will be taught.” Rather than taking away from the Word of God by transferring the distinctly religious education of children to the state, God's revelation shows that mothers and fathers are given the role of their children's education.

Parents are to ensure that their children receive a Biblical worldview, knowledge of God, and the truth of the Scriptures. While outside mentors, teachers, or resources may be helpful in assisting the development of understanding in children, the responsibility continues to rest on the mother and father. To expect an age-segregated children's Sunday school class, for instance, to teach one's son all he needs to know about the Bible and how it is to be lived out, would be shifting the role of parent to a Sunday school teacher. Since God has never presented a teacher with the obligation He gives to parents, it would be altering His Word to make that transfer ourselves. Parents are to be involved in teaching their children truths of Scripture.

Another implication is that education would involve discipleship. Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines “disciple” as, “To teach; to train, or bring up.” As God has given parents the role of teaching their children the Lord's commands, education involves more than a memorization of facts. It is an unceasing passing on of the Christian faith (Deuteronomy 4). This affects the religious perspective that children are educated with. Scott Brown writes, “[John] Calvin recognized the supreme importance of the father's role in the discipleship of children... In contrast to our own age where parents are content to systematically outsource their children's education, Calvin knew that it was the primary responsibility of the home” (Brown, 179). More than a knowledge of subject matter, the Lord requires that parents teach their children to “keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you” (Deuteronomy 4:40). Discipleship, or training in God’s Word, is a necessary part of education.

Although the regulative principle is typically applied to worship only, the regulative principle in essence is to not take away from or add to God's Word. It is a principle that calls us to look to God’s Word alone for how we are to live our lives. The impact it has when applied to the family is important as it addresses the responsibility for education. Greg Price wrote, ”Is God’s Word adequate and complete in giving to man all that man needs to know as to how he must please God? Absolutely...” The Bible shows us everything we need to live a life pleasing to Him, which includes the responsibility of education.

Works Cited

Booth, Robert. "Schools are Religious." Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. 31 Mar 2011.

Brown, Scott. Family Reformation: The Legacy of Sola Scriptura in Calvin's Geneva. Wake Forest, VA: Merchant Adventures, 2009.

Manton, Thomas. "Mr. Thomas Manton's Epistle to the Reader." Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. 31 Mar 2011.

Morecraft, Joe. How God Wants Us to Worship Him: A Defense of the Bible as the Only Standard for Modern Worship. San Antonio, TX: The Vision Forum, 2004.

Price, Greg. "The Regulative Principle of Worship." Foundation for Reformation. 7 Apr 2011.

Linked In or Reputation Based Networks Could Replace Accreditation and Degrees

The debate video below has some helpful points on self learning at the college level. It is interesting that accreditation and degrees could also be replaced with LinkedIn Profiles and other relationship based networks. The idea of peer based open transparent accreditation is simply proving what you know with a portfolio and references. The accreditation portion of the video begins at 39:40. The lady speaking is Anya Kamenetz who wrote the book titled, "DYI U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education." Neither of the speakers are Christians, the second speaker is defending the tradiational university model.

How Should the University Evolve?, part 1 of 2 from BLSCI on Vimeo.