Education in American History

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American history was once a vital part of American schools.  However, it has been increasingly shifted to a more minor role. It has been argued that we are neglecting the historical in seeking to stress math and science.  In the 1940s and 1950s, American history was very important. Our founding fathers were honored, and we proudly saluted our flag and pledged allegiance. Patriotism was a goal!  Now American history is only touched upon, since the public schools combine history with the social sciences, creating a relative ignorance about our national heritage.

American history is recorded all over Europe, with graves of our fallen service people who died for the cause of freedom, and above each grave is a tombstone of the cross, the symbol of the religion instrumental in establishing the United States of America, the symbol being the cross of Christ.  This is not to say that each soldier identified with the Christian religion, but it does affirm that this is a hope that is given in Christianity, which is the call to peace, and was and is the fundamental faith of this land.

At the American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne, France — 2,289 of our military dead are buried.  At the American Cemetery at Ardennes , Belgium — 5,329.  At the American Cemetery at Brittany — 468.  At Cambridge , England — 3,812.  At Epinal, France in the American Cemetery — 5,525 of our Military dead.  At the Flanders Field in Belgium — 368.  In Florence, Italy — 4,402.  At Henri-Chapelle, Belgium — 7,992.  In  Lorraine, France — 10,489.  In Luxembourg — 5,076.  At Meuse-Argonne —14,246. In the Netherlands — 8,301.  In  Normandy, France —9,387.   At Oise-Aisne, France — 6,012.  In Rhone, France — 861.  In  Sicily , Italy — 7,861.  At Somme, France — 1,844. In St. Mihiel, France — 4,153, and in Suresnes, France —1,541 of our military dead are buried.  This American history lesson points out that these 104,366 are among many, many other Americans buried elsewhere who died for the cause of freedom.

Jesus Christ proclaimed freedom, as he said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”  It has been said, “The highways of history are strewn with the wreckage of nations that forgot God.”   Faith in God, and in particular the Christian faith, was basic to the founding of our land.  The freedom of religion or from religion is the product of a tolerance established with Christian convictions — “To do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”  Our nation has responded to crises all over the world and has fought  against negative forces, natural or human-made, everywhere.

Educational thinkers study cognition, instruction, learning, motivation, individual differences, and the measurement of human abilities, to name just a few areas that relate to education and schooling.  Of all these, perhaps the study of learning is the most closely associated with education.  Different theories of learning have had different impacts on education and have supported different practices.  Much of the direction of learning depends upon the basic presuppositions one brings to the learning situation.  The Biblical worldview was once basic in Western education, but now is being re-channeled to what many would call a more universal view—seeking to affirm all cultures.  But it is possible to learn the left-brain facts without realizing the right brain capacity to truly evaluate these facts and create solutions.  Education is more than just learning the facts!

The central importance the Bible places on history distinguishes it from other religions and philosophies of life.  It is the stage where God related to people and revealed his nature and purposes.  History in the Biblical understanding presents God as the Creator and sovereign over all, even as he lets human actions determine the course of individual and national histories.  God is presented as sovereign, yet ordaining human freedom, two sides to the same coin.  The fatal flaw is not psychological, sociological, economic, ethnical, but “sin,” which is basically summarized as our tendency to seek to discount God’s lordship in our lives.  God’s judgment against sin and his redemptive grace is revealed through his historical revelation of himself in Jesus Christ, who alone of all humanity was in complete accord with God, as his Father, and who died for our sins, and to yet come again to complete his story — the history of God’s redemption.  It is a message beyond just the facts!

Douglas Hyde, formerly the editor of the London Daily Worker, shifted his devotion from Communism to Christianity.  He states in his book, Dedication and Leadership, that it is important to reach the young. He wrote:  “Youth is a period of idealism,” and that  “Individual members of the Communist party are brought to believe that together they and others like them can change the world….When you have succeeded in making men believe that change is necessary and possible, and that they are the ones who can achieve it; when you have convinced them that they and the small minority of whom they are a part can transform the world in their lifetime, you have achieved something very considerable indeed… Marx concluded his Communist Manifesto, with the words, ‘You have a world to win.’”  We need to see this and cultivate the right change.  What kind of change are we seeking to develop in the education of our youth in America?

American history once proudly applauded our national heritage, but now there is a shift, a change, as it seems we have a world to which we are to become accommodated. Stressing the historical faith of our founding fathers is not so central anymore, and our rights are seen no longer as given by our Creator, but rather determined by the courts of law.  Is this really American history?

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by Joe Renfro, Ed.D., Radio Evangelist, Retired Teacher and Pastor, Box 751, Lavonia, Georgia 30553, 706-356-4173, joerenfro@windstream.net

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