If you believed all the snake oil salesmen that promoted the greatness of public education in America you’d think that before the advent of public schools Americans were the most ignorant and uneducated people anywhere. That’s the mindset the proponents of public education intend us to believe because it gives them “moral” justification from promoting a plethora of false impressions about the real nature of public education.
Back when he was still alive author and speaker Sam Blumenfeld wrote several books about the true nature and reason for public education. Needless to say what Sam found in his research over the years was not what you were taught about the need (or lack thereof) for public schools. I got to hear Sam speak twice while he was alive and you could tell from his remarks that he had done the homework.
Sam’s main premise, and I agree with him, was that the public school movement was more theological than it was educational. In an article on 1/3/1979 Sam said: “Yet, the historical evidence indicates that prior to the introduction of compulsory public education, Americans were probably the most literate people in the world. Nor did the preponderance of private schools preclude the poor from getting an education. In some towns there were more charity and free schools, supported by private philanthropy and school funds, than there were poor pupils to go around;…”
Biblical literacy was a major concern and not one that was bad by any means. Sam noted that “For education, it meant complete freedom and diversity. There were no accrediting agencies, no regulatory boards, no teacher certification requirements. Parents had the freedom to choose whatever kind of school or education they wanted for their children. There were private schools of every sort and size–church schools, academies that prepared students for the colleges, seminaries, dames’ schools for primary education, charity schools for the poor, private tutors–and common schools.”
But one event that took place theologically was a watershed event that set this country on a course we, to our detriment, have never turned back from. That was the takeover of Harvard by the Unitarians way back in 1805 and the expulsion of the Calvinists. Sam observed: “That takeover made Harvard not only the citadel of religious and moral liberalism but also the citadel of anti-Calvinism. It took me months to understand the significance of all of this because it required a detailed study of Calvinism and the rise of the Unitarian heresy in the heart of the Puritan commonwealth. But when I did, the intellectual history of America began to make much more sense, for no event has had a greater long-range influence on American intellectual, cultural, and political life than this one.”
Sam was right. This has affected all of us and its to our detriment that we have not been taught, even in our churches, of the negative effect of this event. The Unitarians were the big promoters of public education, along with the socialists, because they perceived that these schools could be used as vehicles for promoting the Unitarian/socialist worldview. And that’s exactly what they’ve used them for. The public school system in our day is the willing vehicle for promoting stealth Unitarianism and galloping socialism. Decades ago now, Sam wrote a book called Is Public Education Necessary? It wasn’t, and isn’t. Just before he passed away he and Alex Newman wrote the book Crimes of the Educators. Check out both of these books. They should still be available on Amazon and they will give you a good idea of what public education in this country is really all about. And it ain’t education–it’s indoctrination into the tenets of the New World Order.
Sam observed that around 1818 “…a man in Scotland had proudly broadcast to the civilized world that he had discovered the basic principle of moral improvement. His name was Robert Owen, and we know him today as the father of socialism who became a social messiah when he ‘discovered’ what he considered to be the basic truth about human character: that a man’s character is made for him by society through upbringing, education, and environment–not by himself as the religionists taught…”
No more of man’s original sin for Owen. He was going to perfect human nature with education. This socialist nonsense is a basic premise of public education today. In fact, one of the greatest Unitarian promoters of public education told us in the 1830s that public education would wipe out crime in this country in a century. I might well ask those parents who have had major difficulties with what goes on in public schools today, “How’s that working out for you?” Are the public schools busy eliminating crime and depravity in our day–or are they instead promoting it?
All you have to do is look at the trans-closets in many public schools today and you have the answer to that question!
I could go on and on, but this would be so long no one would read it. Many won’t anyway because it speaks ill of one of their favorite icons. So rather than doing a little homework beyond what I’ve said here they will just tune it out–to the loss of their children!
The real role of public education has always been theological rather than educational–and no, I am not indicting everyone that has worked in a public school. For those dedicated teachers in public schools, I only wish that private schools somewhere could afford to hire you and really let you educate kids as you’d like to, but right now that doesn’t seem to be the way things are. So my advice is this–for concerned parents–get your kids out of public schools and either teach them at home or find good Christian schools for them that at least try to present a biblical worldview, rather than leave them in a public school system founded by Unitarians and promoted by socialists.
June 13, 2024
~ The Author ~
Al Benson Jr. is the editor and publisher of “The Copperhead Chronicle“, a quarterly newsletter that presents history from a pro-Southern and Christian perspective. He has written for several publications over the years. His articles have appeared in “The National Educator,” “The Free Magnolia,” and the “Southern Patriot.” I addition he was the editor of, and wrote for, “The Christian Educator” for several years. In addition to The Copperhead Chronicles, Al also maintains Revised History.
He is currently a member of the Confederate Society of America and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and has, in the past, been a member of the John Birch Society. He is the co-author, along with Walter D. Kennedy, of the book “Lincoln’s Marxists” and he has written for several Internet sites as well as authoring a series of booklets, with tests, dealing with the War of Northern Aggression, for home school students.
Mr. Benson is a highly respected scholar and writer and has graciously allowed the family of Kettle Moraine Publications to publish his works. We are proud to have his involvement with each of our projects.