Dr. Everett Piper [born 1959], a radio host and former university president, recently wrote a commentary titled What happens in Israel will not stay in Israel, with as subtitle Higher education in the U.S. has lost its moral boundaries. In the article a connection is made between Hamas militants in Gaza and the vacuous, sordid shape of American education.1
Barring a few, all of the nation’s first 123 colleges and universities in America were established as distinctly Christian by nature, origin, and purpose.
Dr. Piper writes, “This sad display of moral nihilism [in American education] should surprise no one. It’s been coming for decades and is a sobering reminder of how far our educational system has fallen.
“It may be a surprise to the elites in the media, but American higher education, from its inception in the 1600s until the end of the 19th century, operated within the context of a Christian ethos. The guiding philosophy was to propagate knowledge and to prepare upright leadership within a Christian society.
“The academy’s mission at that time was to promote moral development and civic responsibility. Theoretically and ideally, higher education was considered critical in maintaining our country’s moral order.
“Seven of the eight Ivy League institutions were founded in like manner. Dartmouth’s purpose was to ‘Christianize’ the American Indian tribes, and its motto, even to this day, is Vox clamantis in deserto: ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness’. The University of Pennsylvania’s motto was Leges Sine Moribus Vanae: ‘Laws without morals are useless’.”
The Founders’ lofty goals included Christian community, Biblical teaching, and moral education … a derivative from Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
The sapiential building of the inner man, personal integrity, and morality in culture as the norm, coupled with an intense pursuit of Scriptural wisdom was prioritized as paramount in early American educational concepts, with at its core the premise that virtue is quintessential to freedom.
Spiritual wisdom, however, must be acquired as it is neither hereditary nor intrinsic. “Prize her,” urged Solomon to his sons in Proverbs 4:8, “and she will exalt you. Indeed, if you embrace her, she will honor you.” Proverbs 8:15 informs us that exalting spiritual wisdom, with its virtues of knowledge, shrewdness, discretion, counsel, and resourcefulness, equips “kings to reign and rulers to decree justice.” As per Bruce K. Waltke, it equips those who have submitted themselves to wisdom’s teachings to “high station,” “societal status,” and “public square authority.”
Unfortunately, for modern America this is no longer the case as our entire educational enterprise, in the words of Dr. Piper, “has lost any moral boundaries that confirm common sense, natural law, and intellectual sanity.”
Biological boys competing against girls at state track championships and swimming events is just the latest woke whim-wham of Inside-the-Beltway education bureaucrats. They publicly give pompous precedence to the sinister staples of cultural Marxism, including embittering America’s youth with Critical Race Theory, hailing homosexual and gender dysphoria, fomenting race division, and instilling into children hate of America and for each other.
Last week it was announced that high school ACT scores have fallen for the sixth straight year, notwithstanding the National Education Association’s $800 billion bureaucracy.2
Wouldn’t Christianization of the NEA be a better use of taxpayer money?
