Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Grace Mackintosh
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000224B
|
00:07 Welcome back to the "Liberty Insider."
00:09 Before the break with guest Grace Mackintosh 00:11 we were talking about education and how in Canada initially 00:16 and then well generally how often education 00:19 initiatives have an agenda. 00:21 And much of it lately seems to center 00:24 on casting religion as problematic, 00:26 certainly extremist, fundamentalist, 00:31 narrow religious viewpoints as dangerous 00:33 to the public good, right? Exactly. 00:37 And how can we counteract them 00:39 because that's not true education? It's not true. 00:43 That shouldn't be the role of the state 00:46 which should be to work to further harmony in society 00:51 to fit people to live peaceably and profitably in society 00:54 to increase a narrow viewpoint of one segmental society. 00:58 That's just irresponsible it seems to me. 01:01 And it brings two things to mind. 01:03 One that we have to do whatever 01:04 we can to protect Christian education 01:06 because the true signs of education is to connect 01:10 the student to Jesus Christ. 01:12 As a Christian we absolutely and it's a matter of history 01:17 in the western world education began from a church perspective. 01:21 It's only relatively recently 01:23 that the state has taken over education 01:26 and as we started out talking about at sometimes 01:30 that's taken to the point of the state educational system 01:34 sees to children their words 01:36 rather than the words of the parents 01:38 who have lent them to them to teach them social values. 01:41 Yes, I think it was in the 1830s that the state decided 01:45 that they wanted the peace of the education movement. 01:49 And even though there was 90% literacy in regions 01:56 they were forced to implement public schools. 02:00 It's a very interesting history education has. 02:04 Well and pointed at people-- they sort for forget 02:07 this that the state education in any country is seldom written, 02:12 in fact it's never ultraistic. 02:14 It's designed further the aims of the state 02:21 and depending on how the state has structured 02:23 the communist society. Yes. 02:25 It trains young people to live in a communist model 02:29 to exemplify it to further the power of the communist state. 02:32 If it's in a capitalist society it's fitting them 02:36 for capitalist behaviors purposely using that term 02:40 because we think of democracy. Yeah. 02:42 But I don't really think the educational system 02:46 is structured particularly to further democratic aims. 02:50 And evidence say here they're actually setting 02:54 one section of the populist against another. 02:56 So now their aim is a capitalist 02:59 social engineering type of thing. 03:01 And what I think really got modern societies involved in it. 03:06 And it was not their doing but as we moved 03:08 into a more complex industrial society 03:12 with information technologies, very specialized 03:16 production techniques in factories 03:18 it was necessary for society to have very particular education. 03:21 So the state moved in on it. 03:23 That's to defend them but once they go into that 03:26 they're often of doubts with the moral viewpoint 03:29 of the parents who were sending their children there. 03:32 By the middle of the 20th century 03:34 there was a shift in education. 03:36 We had taught reasoning from cause to effect. 03:39 We had taught that the high esteem was to develop character 03:43 and that humanity seeks truces. 03:47 And by the middle of the 20th century there was a shift 03:51 and we used operant conditioning in schools. 03:55 Explain operant conditioning not everyone might know. 03:58 Well, perhaps most of the viewers 04:00 have heard of Pavlov's Dogs. 04:04 Well they might not know it. The dogs-- 04:06 Is he just the dog fancier? 04:08 Not dog fancier. Pavlov was the psychologist Yes. 04:12 And he developed operant conditioning 04:14 which had its roots in well in went. 04:17 He would feed the dogs. 04:19 He would feed the dogs and then he would find that 04:21 after a while he would bring them 04:23 where they would be fed 04:24 and he wouldn't have to give them food-- 04:25 they would salivate. Right. 04:26 And it reacts in a condition. 04:28 They paired the feeding, with a bell ringing. 04:32 So every time the dogs were fed the bell would ring. 04:36 And so it rings the bell and they'll salivate. 04:37 So then you could-- and the dog would salivate 04:39 in anticipation of the food coming and then-- 04:41 And we're all like that and it's obvious, yeah. 04:43 So it is a way of training animals 04:45 because what it does is bypasses the frontal lobe 04:49 or mechanism for reasoning the context within we put-- 04:53 within which we put our morals and information 04:56 and it bypasses and it goes straight to limbic system 05:00 and you're given you know the bell 05:03 and then you have a response. 05:05 So stimulus responds, stimulus responds 05:08 and what happens when you teach within the context 05:12 of operant conditioning is that you do learn the math, 05:16 you do learn to read. 05:17 Its not that it is a bad tool for teaching, 05:21 it's just that you are conditioned 05:24 to respond to stimulus and also you're conditioned 05:29 to move away from punishment. 05:32 All right and so it creates a chilling effect 05:36 with respect to standing up and speaking what you believe. 05:39 You know you're going to stand up 05:40 you're going to speak what you believe. 05:42 There is going to be a negative response 05:44 and all through school you're conditioned 05:45 to move away from punishment. 05:47 And you don't really want-- 05:49 you have people disagreeing with you calling you. 05:52 And certain things will happen and get the same times. 05:54 Society is all went through phase of situational ethics. 06:00 There was the rise of philosophical views 06:03 that were expressed what else it about in 60s, 06:06 God is dead. So operative faith. 06:11 The scopes child. 06:13 It supposed to just belief it was sort at the window 06:15 and it was not the supernatural. 06:17 Yeah, this God I mean you're religious person 06:19 because you believe the holy saints. 06:21 But mystical belief that the changed lives that was not to. 06:25 So become more rationale 06:26 and become more expediency ruled 06:29 and then education is working on the system. 06:31 And the net effect is we morally adrift I think in this society. 06:36 We are--I think there is an agreement 06:38 with that in a concern for that. 06:40 And there is a misguided attempts 06:43 to correct that through legislation 06:46 as supposed to reaching people through ideas and persuasion. 06:52 And so back to religious liberty in the middle of it all, 06:55 people of faith are risked to be maligned 07:01 perhaps even persecuted. 07:02 Excluded from in the education system 07:05 and as you said in another program 07:08 even in homeschooling situations there may be forbidden 07:10 to teach those spiritual values to their children. 07:13 That's very true. 07:14 And in Canada right now we have legislation 07:17 that's been passed from province to province. 07:19 So you have the pilot province who introduces the legislation. 07:23 If it goes well and if there is any bugs 07:25 they work it out and you'll see a pop[] in another province. 07:29 And one of the legislation that passes anti-bullying. 07:34 So we talked about this earlier in the anti-bullying legislation 07:38 you have to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual lives 07:44 or transgendered lifestyle by a clubs. 07:49 You know you have to have clubs you have to show 07:50 that you're a protecting them 07:52 and love for dating and that's sort of thing. 07:54 And I will tell you that at this time 07:57 if as an organization you had a church school 08:02 and you spoke up and said, 08:05 you know we agree there shouldn't bullying 08:07 but in this legislation we're going to have 08:09 to promote something 08:11 that's against the teachings of the church. 08:12 And it wouldn't matter how you said it 08:14 and it wouldn't matter how gently you presented it 08:17 you would immediately be labeled as promoting bullying. 08:21 And there is no way to deal with it on the front-end. 08:24 Because of the chilling effect 08:26 that's been developed and creating. 08:28 Now that's very true. We're running of the time. 08:30 But I just want to [] passing comment for those 08:33 particularly Seventh-day Adventist who are watching 08:36 but other people of faith, different organizations 08:38 that probably have educational institutions 08:41 that the design to inculcate their particular 08:44 take on a faith commitment. 08:46 They may be under increasing illusion 08:49 about that because schools even church run 08:53 that are under regular accreditation programs 08:59 are probably forced through different mechanism 09:02 not at least of which dated 09:03 to adopt this exact same method of education. 09:06 These exact same lines of instruction 09:10 and with the same consequence 09:11 that even within the church school 09:13 a moral court fundamentalist or orthodox religious viewpoint 09:18 can be marginalized as socially dangerous. Absolutely. 09:22 And don't want to illuminate on that too much 09:25 but I know some cases within the Adventist church 09:27 that's happening right now. 09:29 Absolutely and in Canada we have organizations 09:34 that have called out Christian schools 09:37 and tell them that they are in violation 09:41 of the principle of academic freedom. 09:43 Because their teachers are not allowed 09:45 to teach evolution or the homosexuality 09:50 as viable or productive 09:53 and it's a real issue, it's a real threat. 09:57 You might lose funding. 09:58 And should they be academic freedom 10:00 to deny the very church believes 10:03 that established a safe haven 10:05 to teach young people of those families? 10:08 That's right. That's the question. 10:10 When you undermine the curriculum 10:13 and so the state is controlling the material 10:15 with respect to curriculum 10:17 when the state controls and the teachers and professors 10:21 and what they can teach you basically 10:23 lose your identity as a Christian institution. 10:30 One of the most famous speeches of history 10:33 is that made by Socrates in ancient Greece 10:38 after he was condemned to death by drinking hemlock. 10:42 So it was self administered-- condemned to death 10:45 for subverting the young of the nation state. 10:50 The charge was that he was subverting them 10:54 by educating them in wrong principles. 10:57 The state and the indeed people of moral persuasion 11:01 who have gathered around religious identities 11:04 have long known that educating young people 11:08 is the way to change society and it is not be trifled with. 11:11 How unfortunate it is that when we talk about 11:14 religious liberty and religious identity 11:17 that even in progressive modern states like United States, 11:20 Canada and of course, Australia and England and others 11:24 very often the [] thinks that it knows best 11:27 and it is actually inculcating a cynicism 11:31 and a doubt and even an antagonism to religion. 11:35 This is not its place, this is not its place 11:39 and I could wish that such a system 11:41 not people in essence take hemlock 11:45 and become responsible and put to death 11:48 this opposition to true moral behavior. 11:51 For Liberty Insider this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2014-12-17