Education and Values

This is from a recent lecture by Rodger Ream on the values of America and their relationship with education:

Talking about American ideals he says,

"What are some of those fundamental ideas? The dignity of the individual, personal responsibility and self-reliance, and, perhaps the most fundamental of all: that we are endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

These are the “cohesive ideas” upon which a free society is built. On these bedrock principles rest such concepts as a free press, free speech, and religious liberty. They are the source of legal concepts such as due process and innocent until proven guilty. And they form the bedrock of our free enterprise system.

How do we reclaim these ideas that hold our society together? That role falls to each of us in our families, our churches, and in our communities. But an equally large burden rests with our schools, both K-12 and our colleges and universities."

Referencing a recent study by Professor Samuel J. Abrams:

"These collegiate administrators — those who work in areas such as student affairs, diversity and inclusion, and residential life — far outnumber faculty and are gaining significant power on campus in terms of setting the overall tone of the school and in terms of how material is taught. The scary part is this group has amassed more power and influence than professors, the ones who are actually trained to teach. Further, college administrators are overwhelmingly politically progressive — to the tune of 13:1.

The data also show how far administrators are willing to go when spreading their ideology. A whopping 71 percent of student administrators are far more concerned with teaching current events, multiculturalism, and highlighting social justice questions instead of math, science, and technical knowledge."

This argument where the basics of the culture should be taught brought severe criticism from people who insisted that policies and social aspirations are more important. That is to say they are willing to rewrite the foundations to change the results rather than changing the results within the foundation.

That is a dangerous step.