We are coming to the end of our academic year (whew!). At times like this, I get reflective. I have spent a lot of time with our seniors reflecting on where they have been and where they are going (and where our school is going). I have been greatly blessed by this time. They are a wonderful bunch of young men and women—thoughtful, prudent (for their age and maybe just in general), kind, caring, and jolly (yes, jolly). I am thankful for their work and for their families.
As I have interacted with them, I see the strengths of Veritas Academy. I also, using them, can see the flaws in educational thinking in our culture. These students were educated in a moral and philosophical environment. This environment was not perfect (at times it was flawed), but they were raised in an environment where many aspects of right and wrong were so deeply engrained that they took them in the air that we all breathed. We (by this I mean more me and my school more than them) did not always live up to our standards, but that did not lead to the abandonment of standards or to despair. Typically, it lead to repentance and new effort. I am very proud of them.
When I measure the education that our culture is giving over and against the education that these students have received, I do despair. We seem to think that education can be transmitted in an environment that is neutral and has no moral teaching or philosophy attached to it. We seem to think that we can provide the facts (something like gray mush) and that children will mix in whatever worldview, philosophy, and morality they like. Sort of like putting ketchup or mustard on non-descript french fries or putting one (or six) of a myriad of toppings on vanilla ice cream. Could anything be more cruel? We, as a culture, have lost faith in the true, the good, and the beautiful. We, now, think that we can educate children without speaking of the things that make life worth living. It is amazing as I reflect on it that the suicide rate amongst teens in our culture is not higher. (Sadly, I fear this is the case because many young people have simply given in to cynicism, to pleasure (in the short term), and to sloth. They have no answer for “why”. We have provided them none and educated them as if there is no answer nor need to answer this question. In truth, we have failed culturally to give them even the rudiments of an education. Recently, I finished reading Anna Karenina with our Juniors and Seniors. In one part of the book, Levin (a nobleman farmer agnostic and the suitor of the orthodox Kitty) must go to the church to become formally Christian by confessing his sins and taking communion. He confesses his doubts about the existence of God to the priest who tells him to pray, and to look at the heavens to see God’s glory. Levin claims that he cannot pray and that the heavens seem mute to him. The priest asks him what he will tell his children when they ask who made the world and all the glories in it. Levin has no answer for this. By the end of the book (some 500 pages later), Levin stares into the night sky knowing some degree of grace and having some part of faith. He now was ready to answer the questions of his children. O, that we as a culture would take this task more seriously, face up to our doubts, and shoulder the responsibilities that are ours!
