The Secularization of the American Mind

It gave me pause the other day as I was thinking about the fact that the President of the United States is only 5 days older than I am. Intellectually, I already knew this. But something significant came to my mind as I thought of this again the other day: President Obama and I are both part of the first generation of Americans to have been raised in an environment where the government-run education system prohibited God in its classrooms and schools. President Obama is the first American President to have begun his formal education after the historic 1962 Supreme Court Ruling that effectively banned prayer in government-run schools.

I have heard the quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln that, "...the philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." I cannot say with any degree of certainty whether or not it was President Lincoln who actually said that, but whomever said it said something that certainly appears to be true.

Our nation has little-by-little, since 1962 taken God more and more out of the picture when it comes to education. I began my formal education in 1966 as a kindergartner at Goodwin School in Cicero, Illinois. By the time I began 1st grade, our family had moved and I spent grades 1-8 attending Highlands School in LaGrange Highlands, Illinois. I went through grades 9-12 at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Illinois. During all those years, from 1966-1979, I never experienced a teacher leading us in prayer. That didn't bother me, nor does it now, because I don't necessarily believe in state-sponsored prayers, since they tend to be rather generic (or pantheistic). At the same time, I can still remember that God could still be mentioned during those years. I can remember learning the Christmas Carol Away in a Manger in my 1st grade classroom. Throughout my years from elementary through high school, we were allowed to sing both secular and sacred music in our choirs, and we did. In high school, as part of our English classes, one of our units was studying the Bible as literature--not for theological purposes (we also studied Greek mythology the same school year). When we had time off of school at the end of December and into early January, it was known as Christmas Vacation, just as our time off in March or April not only corresponded with Easter, but was called "Easter Vacation."

But, there were some things pretty early on which I didn't understand then, but looking back on now I can see were signs that the educational philosophy was changing to one of secular humanization, and teaching the students through this lens. We weren't taught "History" from first through sixth grades; instead we were taught "Social Studies." Every few years, the school day would be lengthened, and/or the number of days school was required to be in session per year would be increased. This meant that incrementally, more and more of the students' time was going to be under the direct authority of the schools.

Now, I had some wonderful teachers. Some of them may have been Christian, but I don't know, because I don't recall any of them ever "sharing their faith" with me. But looking back on it now, it seems to me that at least two of my favorite teachers from my pre-teenage years demonstrated views that correspond to teaching students that the government-run schools and/or the secular worldview are what should be influencing students.

One of these teachers had served in the Peace Corps prior to joining the faculty at our school. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that; it is a noble thing to have done. It was great hearing about some of this teacher's experiences where he served in Micronesia (see, I still remember that, well over 30 years later!). I also remember a song he taught the class which he'd written; it was a song promoting love and peace--all from a secular point of view.

The other teacher one time said to our class that she hoped we thought of her as being more important than our parents. As I said, I really liked both of those teachers. But looking back, I can see that the educational philosophies and/or worldviews they taught and promoted were from a secular humanistic standpoint.

That is the educational environment in which I grew up, and it was the philosophy of the classroom during that generation. We now have a President of the United States who was educated during the same time period, as a member of the first generation who was educated in this country after the 1962 Supreme Court ruling that banned prayer from government run schools. And since that ruling, government-run educational philosophies have evolved (or perhaps devolved) into more and more secular humanism. Schools can't even refer to their times off as "Christmas Vacation" or "Easter Vacation" anymore; instead these times are referred to as "Winter Break" and "Spring Break," respectively. Currently, governments are pushing more and more to have control of the children and other students earlier, later, and longer.

For example, there has been more and more of a push in the past several years to require children to begin school at younger ages--pre-Kindergarten. It's often called "early childhood education." That's the "earlier."

The "later" goes to the other end of the spectrum, where it is ingrained more and more into students that now high school is not enough; people should make sure to get college degrees as a matter of course (at least if they want to get good paying jobs). And who is in charge of establishing the accreditation requirements of colleges and universities? The secular humanistic education establishment.

As for the "longer," all I have to do is point to the push in recent years for "year-'round-school" and other similar programs. Earlier this year in his "State of the State" address, the Governor of Ohio proposed increasing the length of the school year by 20 days. This would in effect limit that much more family time and add to the amount of time most students are under the direct supervision of the government-run schools.

Maybe these types of things shouldn't surprise me, because, after all, these types of philosophies were what was taught to the generation of Americans who grew up during the same time as did the current President of the United States, and the current philosophies of government seem to be much in line with the philosophies that were being advocated in the classrooms 30-40 years ago. What will our government philosophies be 30-40 years from now? Perhaps we can get an idea if we will just look at the philosophies that are being advanced in today's government-run school classrooms.