Charlotte Mason: Don't Separate Education Into Christian and Secular

Charlotte Mason, a nineteenth century British educator, was very concerned about the education of children in Great Britain during the nineteenth century. She was born in January 1842 and died in January 1923. There are different volumes that she wrote in the Charlotte Mason series. She understood the importance of a broad-based liberal education. She believed children should be taught from living books that were interesting; not dry factual textbooks. She believed children should be exposed to the outdoors at an early age and learn about nature and living things. There are some homeschooling parents today that incorporate the Charlotte Mason method in their curriculum.

Charlotte Mason in her Volume 2 series was talking about spiritual and secular truth. It was under the Great Recognition Required of Parents. It said, "Both secular and spiritual truth are divine and all subjects whether religious or practical, are God-inspired. We need not separate education into secular and Christian". Mason understood the importance of students being taught the Bible and its truths and for young students to apply it to their lives. She didn't view the Bible as some fictional book irrevelant to the educational needs of children.

Today America's schools have been secularized. The process started in the mid-1800's with Horace Mann and his bid to build common schools in America. There were educators that were appearing on the American scene that didn't believe the Bible was the inerrant word of God and therefore there should be a separation of Christian and secular education. John Dewey was one classic example. He was opposed to Christianity being taught in the classroom. The 1962 and 1963 Supreme Court decisions have basically taken God out of America's classrooms. Look what shape our schools are in today. You can't teach education properly if you remove the Bible and its precepts from the classrooms. The Bible is the basis of morals. You can't teach morals if the Bible is discredited. The basis for morals comes from God's word. Education should begin with the teaching of the Word of God.

A school cannot properly educate a child if the Bible is removed. Life doesn't make sense without the Bible. The philosophy today is secular humanism, which is, "If it feels good do it. Man is the measure of all things." Morals and the truths from the Bible that have been taught and believed for centuries have now come into question. Today moral relativism holds sway which says what's right is dependent upon the circumstances facing your life. It can vary from person to person. Some situations might warrant murder. If an unborn child is an inconvience, then abortion may be justifiable in that particular situation. The Bible gives meaning to truth and morals. The Bible gives unity to the particulars. If the Bible is taught and has its rightful place in the schools, then everything else will fall into line.

It's tragic we've concocted this idea of Christian and secular education. When I speak of Christian education, I don't merely mean just teaching a Bible course and the rest of the courses be taught from a humanist perspective. The underlying philosophy behind everything is Christian. The Bible is the basis for everything that's taught there. All subjects should be taught from a Christian worldview. Children shouldn't be taught that humans are a result of evolution. The students should be taught that God is the author of history. History shouldn't be taught as mankind happening as a result of evolution and that mankind is struggling to adapt to his environment. History is taught today from an evolutionary perspective. Children should be taught history has a purpose to it. Everything in a Christian school should be Christ-centered. The motto in the Christian school where I attend church is "Conforming Students to the Image of Christ." It's all about him. Education should begin with the Bible. Then the schools should teach all the basic academic subjects. Then the schools should offer elective courses that will develop a student and enable them to make decisions in regards to a vocation upon graduation.

There should never be any such thing as Christian and secular education. Secular education is an education which sees no purpose beyond this life. It has removed God from his place in life and as a result we're raising a generation of confused students who don't possess much ambition nor do they know their purpose in life. There are some students in public schools that are ambitious as well as have a purpose in life. It's not because of the public school system. It's because of their parents at home as well as individual teachers in the public school system that believe in educating children properly. However, students will not be well-rounded and educated like they should be unless the Bible is the beginning of their education. It would be wise for these modern-day educators, politicians, judges in the court system, and bureaucrats to take heed to that.