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TEXT:
SUBJECT: Education
Several months ago, Kim asked me to give a talk at this end-of-the-year meeting. But it wasn't until this morning that I remembered.
If it sounds like I'm not well-prepared, there's a good reason for it. I'm not well-prepared. The reason for that? I forgot all about the talk.
My fault, though deplorable in itself, does provide a good segue to the topic I want to briefly discuss. That is: The place of memory in the homeschool.
THE CHANGE
About eighty years ago, a remarkable change occurred in education. It affected the finest academies in Europe, the country schools of America, and most places in-between.
At one time, memory was the foundation of all learning. Let me give you a few examples.
In 1914, German cadets marched to battle reciting Homer's Iliad in Greek! That is 600 pages of non-rhyming verse in a foreign language! Were they all brilliant scholars? No, they were 18 year old boys, drilled in memory work from the First Grade.
John Murray, the late professor at Westminster Seminary, thought every child by the age of twelve, should have the Shorter Catechism memorized. And that's 107 questions long!
The Dutch ministers assumed all the children in their churches would commit the Canons of Dort to memory. In my edition, that is 22 pages of small print!
Muhammad insisted that his students learn the Koran by heart. And that's nearly as long as the Bible!
If these feats of memory seem unimaginable, let me cite the example of a woman I know. Born about 1920, she attended a one-room schoolhouse and never got past the eighth grade. Yet 65 years after leaving school, she could still recite many facts and figures of American history. Why? Because her teachers thought some things were worth remembering.
That's how it was. Education started with memory. But that is no longer true. This month, millions of young people will graduate from high school and college without having committed anything to memory. No Bible, of course; no poems; no lines from Shakespeare; no multiplication tables!
THE CAUSE
How did this change come about? Why did my mother memorize the Gettysburg address in the third grade and I still don't know it?
There was a change of curriculum. Behind it was a change in philosophy. It has many facets, of course, but, here's the "big idea".
Under the old system, "Truth" was thought of as external, objective, and obtainable.
The truth is not inside the child, but outside of him. The truth was not a matter of opinion, but a real and fixed thing. The truth could be had, but not easily. It had to be worked for. Vigorously worked for.
Where do these ideas come from? They come from the Bible.
1.Children are not born wise, but foolish. Cf. Proverbs 22:15; 28:26.
2.Truth is a real thing, lodged in Christ. Colossians 2:3.
3.He reveals truth to us by revelation, general in nature and special in His Word.
4.The truth isn't handed to us but obtained by hard work, Proverbs 2:1-5.
This scorn for memory is not about method; it's about doctrine.
It denies the Christian doctrine of Original Sin.
It affirms the Romantic idea of man's natural goodness.
In short, it duplicates the first temptation: "You shall be as gods, knowing (or determining for yourselves) good and evil".
GOD'S WORD
The final authority on all matters is God. What does He say about memory? Two things:
1.He is against forgetting. In condemning Israel, Psalm 78 says, "They forgot His works"; Psalm 106 explains what that means, "They forgot God their Savior Who had done great things in Egypt".
2.He is for remembering. At the Last Supper, our Lord said, "Do this in remembrance of Me".
I can't say much more here. But I encourage you to go home and look up the words "forget" and "remember" in a concordance and see how often the former is condemned and the latter is praised.
SOME HELPS
To help you, let me offer some closing suggestions.
1.Memorize Bible verses. Over a student's career, one verse a week gives him 600 verses memorized by the time he finishes High School. That is a wonderful legacy to leave your children.
2.Obtain a Catechism and learn it. I use the Baptist version of the Westminster Shorter Catechism and find it very helpful.
3.Commit poems to memory. It will give your child and ear for the beautiful and may save him from the brutal and vicious effects of Rap music, and so on Any standard anthology will do. If you want distinctly Christian poets, start with Isaac Watts.
Don't start with anything hard or long. Dante's Divine Comedy is marvelous--but it's hundreds of pages long! Milton's Paradise Lost or Samson Agonistes are also worth their weight in gold, but are way to long to start with.
Start with something easy. Nursery Rhymes will do.
Pray about it. God will give you wisdom if you ask in faith. I pray He'll bless your home. And mine. For Christ's sake. Amen.
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