Education and the Founding Fathers - A Review

I picked up this old VHS at the library yesterday.  The title intrigued me.  Made in 1991, which was the year my oldest daughter was born, I was expecting a rather cheesy video.  Instead, I was impressed by the content. 

Made by David Barton, this video is full of excerpts from literature written by the founding fathers.  Those excerpts are full the thoughts, opinions, and actual words of the beliefs of many of the founding fathers' beliefs about Christianity and Education.  The education that the founding fathers is also examined.

One of the undeniable truths presented in the video is the fact that the Bible was the foundation of early education in America.  In fact, most of the few other textbooks schools used at the time were based on the Bible. 

The founding fathers and many early Americans were given an education that today would blow the young people out of the water.  I've seen examples of this before when I've come across a sample of a test given a hundred years ago.  A lot of the questions I didn't even understand... let alone the answers.  The children of that day were challenged, and it was expected that they would excel.  Many of the children weren't expected to use that education to attend college.  Most families couldn't afford college.  These were children from simple homes, children of farmers, and they received a top quality education. 

The reasoning behind children receiving a top quality education was simple.  Literacy was important.  It wasn't important for the same reasons as today.  It was important because the Founding Fathers knew that, for our country to be great and avoid the problems they had left behind in England and other places, everyone should be able to read the Bible for themselves.

I am saddened that our educational system has gone so far downhill.  It's easy to see why, since the Bible is no longer allowed to be the foundation for our education.  Instead, our foundation in public schools is humanism.  The quality has gone down, or has been "dumbed down". 

I am glad that I can do things differently with my daughter.  We read the Bible every single day.  What is amazing is that, despite the spiritual reasons we read the Bible, the other effects are apparent.  Laura is learning her Bible like none of my other children had the chance to.  Her vocabulary is greater.  Her attention span is longer.  Her grasp of the truths and how they apply to her own life is growing.  She doesn't have to wait for a pastor to tell her what a verse means.  She is learning how to do this, slowly, for herself.

This video was quite informative.  I am making Tasha watch it right now.  The history lesson alone is impactful and amazing.