Every year the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) hands out the Comenius Medal to the educator who contributes to high-quality teaching, a medal named after John Amos Comenius, the founder of modern education.
Comenius believed in the importance of teaching morality to all children.
“Apart from God, the source of light and of life, there is nothing but darkness, terror, agony, and everlasting death that knows no end; so that it were better that they had never been born, who stray from God and cast themselves into the pit of eternal destruction.”
THE BIBLE AND EDUCATION
Against this background, the Bible became central to the public schools founded by Comenius in Europe, England, and eventually the United States. The Holy Scriptures. said Comenius, should be placed higher than all other reading, and all knowledge taught in schools should be explained in terms that relate them with the Holy Scriptures. The role of the teacher was to bring students in line with the word of God, putting their hope and trust in them.
Comenius argued that children should learn to assert their reverence to God practically “through internal contemplation as well as external ceremonies.” Teachers should bring students regularly into God’s presence through silent moments of meditation and corporate prayers. They should be taught, said Comenius, to keep their love and fear of God alive and follow His instructions for their lives.
The newly formed Harvard University asked Comenius to be its first President, but he politely declined to establish more public schools in Europe. That’s right. The founder of modern education believed the Bible’s moral revelations were essential to the character, progress, and stability of Western Civilization itself.
AMERICAN EDUCATION IS IN CRISIS
400 years after John Comenius built on the concept of universal education, American reading proficiencies have declined drastically. Nearly two out of every ten high school students have admitted to using illegal drugs, and the school dropout rate is soaring. American high school and college graduates have fallen behind other industrialized nations in science, math, and technology skills.
What’s going on with American education? It seems that leaders – administrators, school board members, teachers, and education unions – have forgotten what the Founder of Modern Universal Education taught us:
“The school is the manufactory of humanity.”John Comenius
Morality is missing from our schools, and humanity is suffering.
Teaching children to reverence the Creator, to obey His Laws (e.g., “the laws of Nature and Nature’s God”), and to treat all people of one blood (humanity) is good for the world, said the Father of Universal Education.
Today, local elections for school boards are being held.
What we decide in terms of our leaders will determine the future of our nation.
Don’t let the atheistic, socialistic, secular-left leaders control our children.
Western Civilization depends on it.