Month: March 2010

Education: Serious Problems

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned the push for the federal government to take over all student loans for college students. In case you missed it, that was tacked on to the healthcare bill. It’s now apparently going to be reality. For those unaccustomed to how Congress works, let me explain that it has become routine to attach unrelated items to a bill. Healthcare and student loans? They go together . . . how? I will repeat the major concern… Read more »

Presidential Dictatorship

There was a time in the 20th century when it appeared that a president was setting up a virtual one-man/one-party rule. That time was the 1930s; the president was Franklin Roosevelt. He took office in the midst of the Great Depression and immediately began signing bill after bill to ostensibly take care of the disastrous economy. Many of the bills he signed had new agencies attached to them. They were called his Alphabet Agencies, and his New Deal marked a… Read more »

Praise, Petition, Thanksgiving

A healthcare vote is scheduled for tomorrow. I could once again list the problems with this plan or provide a series of cartoons that make the case for me. But today I choose another route. In everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, we’re told in Scripture. Prayers come in many forms, but three manifestations work together: praise, petition, and thanksgiving. I want to start with praise. Lord, You are everything we… Read more »

Stop This Proposal

There’s another proposal from the Obama administration that hasn’t gotten much play in the media, but which I consider the death knell for Christian colleges, if it becomes reality. The proposal is simply this: put the government in charge of all student loans for education. Rather than simply guaranteeing loans obtained through private banks, Obama wants the government itself to be the source for those loans. Why is this a problem? Well, the current situation is already a burden to… Read more »

Honoring the Government

Let me clarify something today. I can almost hear some readers of this blog thinking, “He criticizes the president and Congress so much that he can’t really have any respect for the government.” The opposite is true. I have the highest regard for the federal government. This comes from a reading of the Constitution, the debates over its ratification, and the character of many of those who helped bring it to pass. I believe the form of government set up… Read more »

The Kingdom of Congress

Let’s pause briefly for a recalibration of our thinking. We spend a lot of time contemplating what Congress is doing—new pieces of legislation, the strategies for passing them, etc. Stop and remember something: Congress was originally set up with very limited powers. The United States Constitution did not erect a tribunal that could legislate on any matter it deemed fit. In Article One, Section 4, we find the following wording: “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year.”… Read more »

Dewey's Disciple

I’ve been commenting on the history of education on and off now for a couple of months. Recently, I’ve pointed out that John Dewey is considered the “Father of Progressive Education.” He had many disciples who put his ideas into practice. One of those was Marietta Pierce Johnson who started a school in Fairhope, Alabama, in 1907. She called it the Organic School. Here were her basic tenets: There were no achievement groupings for students Children were never be compared… Read more »