Restoring the Historical Roots of American Education

Restoring the Historical Roots of American Education
Two hundred years after the American Revolution, America is still governed by its first Constitution. We are now the longest-running constitutional republic in the history of the world. To give some perspective, France has had eight constitutions in the same 200 years. Italy has had 54 constitutions in 200 years. Why have we survived so long? It is because our founding fathers built our Constitution according to a set of ideals that are unparalleled in the history of the world.

Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” If our founding fathers had a successful philosophy of government, which obviously they did, then it is very fair that we look back to the classroom to see what they taught.

Harvard: Harvard is the oldest ongoing university in the United States. Harvard produced a number of our founding fathers, including John Quincy Adams, John Hancock, John Adams, and Samuel Adams.
Harvard’s original stated purpose for its students was: “To be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ….” One requirement of students was that “Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be able to give an account of his proficiency therein.”
Yale: Yale also produced many founding fathers, men like Noah Webster, William Samuel Johnson, Abraham Baldwin. One of Yale’s requirements for its students read as follows: “Seeing that God is the giver of all wisdom, every student, besides his private and secret prayer, will be present morning and evening for public prayer.”
Princeton: Princeton, founded in 1746, produced people like James Madison, Benjamin Rush and John Witherspoon. John Witherspoon became an ordained minister and was president of Princeton University (1768-1776) until New Jersey sent him to Congress. During those years at Princeton, the average graduating class was between 17 and 28 students per year. In the nine years that Witherspoon taught at Princeton, the school graduated one President, one Vice President, three Supreme Court Justices, ten Cabinet members, twelve Governors, twenty-one U.S. Senators, and thirty-nine U.S. Congressmen, plus many who held state offices. A full one-third of the founding fathers were trained at Princeton University.
What was the philosophy of an institution that produced so many national leaders? Princeton’s founding statement was, “Cursed is all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.” It has been many years since we have seen this kind of vision of godly leadership within society set before us.
The Foundational Documents: There are four documents which are considered the organic laws of the United States (i.e., the laws upon which all other laws are built): The Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and The Northwest Ordinance.
The Northwest Ordinance tells a territory specifically what it has to do in order to become a state in the United States. Article Three requires that no territory could become a state unless the schools in that territory were teaching religion and morality as well as knowledge. As a result, many state constitutions contain the following: “Forever in the schools of this state, religion and morality will be taught as well as knowledge.” You may want to check your state constitution.
Look at Fisher Ames’ philosophy of education: (He was the author of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which today is mis-interpreted to mean we must separate God and government.)
“Why, then, if these new books for children must be retained, as they will be, why should not the Bible regain the place it held as a school book? Its morals are pure. Its examples are captivating and noble. And the reverence for the sacred book that is thus early impressed lasts long and probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind.”
However, today under our interpretation of Fisher Ames’ amendment, the Bible is not allowed to be studied in schools. We have drifted far from the days when our country was founded. As can been seen in the founding documents of our most prestigious universities, education in America was founded not on the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge, but rather on the pursuit of knowledge to glorify Christ. That happened and happens primarily through the study of the Word of God.
The freshman project of each of the founding universities in America was that the student be given a copy of the Greek New Testament and from it make a handwritten translation into English! Blessed are the schools that still teach from the Bible and keep the Bible as the central source of education.