Amid endless debates about what schools shouldn’t be teaching, a generation of kids are leaving school unable to read, write, calculate, and critically think. We’ve lost sight of what schools should be offering in the classroom. With budgets stretched thin, we simply don’t have time or resources for revisionist histories, gender ideologies and critical race theories. Instead, it’s time for a refresher course on what schools should be teaching our children.
Schools need to build on a solid foundation: Christian-inspired principles of charity, love for all, and respect for self and others. The greatest lesson schools can impart to our students is that they are more capable than they realize. The goal is for students to be provided with the means to excel beyond their instructors and leave school with the means to prosper throughout life.
As a president of a university that “educates educators,” I propose the following rudimentary standards for all schools:
Reading: Phonics-based: Master decoding the written word by sounding out letters. This is the core of literacy, which in turn is the core of learning.
Math: Accuracy by the individual in addition, subtraction, times tables, long division, percentages, and fractions. Without these basics in place, students will forever be crippled from moving on to advanced mathematics necessary for science, engineering, business, and personal finance.
Writing: In clear, concise standard English, to empower the precise expression of ideas, regardless of subject.
Civics: Understanding our Constitutional form of government, our guaranteed civil liberties, and our responsibilities as voters to evaluate whether government policies will support, or erode, our God-given rights and freedoms.
Science: Emphasizing the Scientific Method, with its reliance on repeatable results, as the basis for valid science.
Breadth: Exposing students to the great history of human accomplishment, the great books of history, occupations, and artistic endeavors.
Discipline: Espousing the importance of completing tasks accurately and in a timely manner.
Coping: Encouraging students to accept the world as it is, and not a place which will bend to their will. That there is an objective reality, and it is their challenge to engage with it productively.
Managing: Recognize and maximize the talents within ourselves, while applying extra effort in areas we don’t excel.
Learning how to learn: To continue to independently learn how to improve ourselves throughout life.
None of these are radical proposals. Time-tested methods exist for all of them. Let’s clear out the countless consultants and their endless proposals to re-invent the wheels of learning. We should be providing our students with the means to think for themselves, not telling them how to reimagine history, claim victimhood, or explore multiple genders.
As president of a university enrolling high school graduates — public, charter, private, religious private, and homeschooled — across this great country, I cannot imagine any need nor benefit in erecting a “wall between my adult students and their parents.” Certainly, there should never be a need to block parents from engaging in what’s taught in class or stocked on library shelves before their minor children.
Let’s bear in mind that educators are employees; they hold no special powers or enlightenment. Private school teachers and administrators report to those who donate and pay tuition. Public school board members, administrators, and teachers are employees of our representative government. They are answerable to the agencies they work for, which in turn are answerable to us, the people.
As we are children of a loving God who enjoys dominion over us, it is parents, and not professional educators, who hold dominion over our children. It is our sacred role, our duty, and our mission, to instill in our children positive values, morals, and a sense of responsibility to themselves, their community, and to the greater society.
It is time this country’s educational system returned to a moral and ethical pedagogy — let’s return the power of quality education to the parents in America.
Eric Hogue is the president of Colorado Christian University, the leading interdenominational Christian university in the Rocky Mountain region. Hogue is known for his roles as a former political candidate; practicing theologian and pastor; and long-tenured radio, television and media professional. He is the author of The Winning Side of the Ask: The Heart and Skills of the Donor-Centric Professional Fundraiser, a book dedicated to helping nonprofits design a thriving philanthropic culture.
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