{"id":1500,"date":"2009-10-13T01:29:50","date_gmt":"2009-10-13T09:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2009\/10\/13\/does-your-philosophy-of-education-include-rules\/"},"modified":"2009-10-13T01:29:50","modified_gmt":"2009-10-13T09:29:50","slug":"does-your-philosophy-of-education-include-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2009\/10\/13\/does-your-philosophy-of-education-include-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"does your philosophy of education include rules?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An astonishing discussion is happening here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a> concerning Christian schools and rules. Dave Doran comments on it here<\/a> and offers a two part article on legalism as a partial response. The article is well worth reading (follow the links at Dave\u2019s site), although I don\u2019t entirely accept his conclusions about Pharisaism at the end of the article. The bulk of the argument against the verbal hand grenade, \u2018legalism\u2019, is excellent.<\/p>\n

The author of the SI articles sums up his thesis this way:<\/p>\n

\n

While there are doubtless many fine Christian schools which do not operate in a legalistic fashion, I believe the majority of Christian schools operate with these three fallacious legalistic premises prominent in their thinking.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Man-made rules that prevent violations of God\u2019s rules have inherent spiritual value (which I will address here in Part 1). <\/li>\n
  2. Rules promote godliness, in that behavior change leads to heart change. <\/li>\n
  3. Enforcement of righteousness is valid and valuable as a first step to sanctification. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    This thesis can be summed up like this: The majority of Christian schools use rules illegitimately as a means for achieving the spiritual goal of sanctification.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Is this true? Is sanctification the rationale behind the \u2018code of conduct\u2019 in any school? Should it be?<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    While it is possible that someone can find an exception, it seems to me that strict codes of conduct are intended for a much different purpose than sanctification.<\/p>\n

    Consider the military academies, West Point, the Air Force Academy, Navy, etc. Do they have codes of conduct? I am under the impression they do. Consider military basic training. Codes of conduct? Yes. Why do these institutions employ such codes?<\/p>\n

    For the purposes of sanctification, to be sure! No, that can\u2019t be it. If it is their purpose at all, they are largely failing!<\/p>\n

    In fact, the military schools, the military itself, and educational academies on a military model instill codes of conduct (including many \u2018stupid rules\u2019) for the purpose of building character and molding military men who function well in battle.<\/p>\n

    Schools come with all kinds of different educational philosophies. Those that emphasize character development often have a fairly strict code to follow, including codes of conduct on campus and off campus. Education in such schools is seen as a privilege, not a right, and the students are expected to comply with the structure put in place in order to form their characters.<\/p>\n

    I would argue that individuals need to submit to rules that have no rational purpose in order to best form their character. (That doesn\u2019t mean that I think every rule should be irrational!) It is not very helpful to character formation if all the rules are perfectly reasonable and understandable by the one who has to comply. What benefit is there in a code of rules that all make sense and don\u2019t make the sinner chafe? Character is formed in the crucible of conflict. How much better is it to have it formed in home and school by presenting difficult demands to developing young people than to let \u201cthe cold wet dish-rag of reality slap them upside the head\u201d when they are out in the cold, cruel world.<\/p>\n

    Helen Keller is quoted<\/a> as saying:<\/p>\n

    \n

    Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    In 2001, the state of North Carolina passed an act<\/a> requiring the development of character in its schools, saying that \u201cthe development of character in our children is the cornerstone of education.\u201d<\/p>\n

    A Catholic priest offers this advice<\/a> on training character in children:<\/p>\n

    \n

    Nor is it difficult to arouse children\u2019s enthusiasm for such little acts of self-denial. Some children may whine at first, especially if they are just beginning to form good habits, but, as the principle of doing not what they like but what is right begins to sink in, they will soon take interest in doing these little"acts of heroism" as beneficial to their own character development. Self-control should therefore be represented to them as an act of growth, of strength, of freedom; it must be made evident that the apparent repression is only a step towards a higher life. They should be shown how a gradual process of practice on the smallest things builds up willpower, and how every act of self-conquest in one sphere of life makes the battle easier in all the other spheres. In the work of self-discipline and the war for the control of our emotional nature the offensive is the best defense of the higher nature.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    I certainly wouldn\u2019t endorse the priest or his church, but he does make sense in this article.<\/p>\n

    When I was a student at BJU, character development was the main focus of the rule system. I can\u2019t count how many times I heard the phrase \u201cit builds character.\u201d I recall one occasion (in grad school) where I was rushing from work in the Print Shop to a class somewhere. This was back in the day when we had to wear ties in the morning to class (that rule may have been relaxed somewhat now). I was grousing about it as I tied my uncooperative neck ornament before rushing out. One of my supervisors heard me and uttered those well used words, \u201cit builds character\u201d. I didn\u2019t really want to hear those words at that time, but my supervisor was right.<\/p>\n

    Christian schools have in general been set up for much more than mere academics or Christian spiritual development. They have also been set up as character molding institutions. It may be that some confuse the development of character with sanctification. That confusion doesn\u2019t diminish the real purpose of codes of conduct.<\/p>\n

    In my opinion, the Christian schools of today are softening up way too much. I don\u2019t know how they can put the genie back in the bottle, but I would like to see them actually increase the discipline a bit, instead of steadily eroding it.<\/p>\n

    \"don_sig2\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    An astonishing discussion is happening here, here, and here concerning Christian schools and rules. Dave Doran comments on it here and offers a two part article on legalism as a partial response. The article is well worth reading (follow the links at Dave\u2019s site), although I don\u2019t entirely accept his conclusions about Pharisaism at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[66,34,72],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2fYWj-oc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}