And the people said “Amen”
Jan 27th, 2009 by Randy Toman
“November 1817 the Boston School Committee announced the results of a survey it had commissioned to determine the extent of school attendance by children between the ages of 4 and 14. The survey showed that 96% of Boston children were attending school. According to the survey, which came to be known as the ‘Bullfinch Report’ almost two-thirds of these students attended privately supported schools”
“The Harsh Truth about Public Schools” 2004 Bruce N. Shortt (Page 293)
We have as late as 1900, still having two-thirds attending private schools according to Henry Steele Commager, a well know historian.
From 1620 and well past the founding of this country a high percentage of the American citizens could read, why is this? Why was it that important to be able to read and understand what one reads? The country was wild, savage and you survived by your wit and knowledge of the land. One mis-read of your circumstances and you and your family could be dead. You certainly didn’t get any of that from book learning. What was it that caused the founding fathers to want to learn to read and to be one of the most intelligent groups of men that ever sat at any convention to form a government, what was it?
It was the wanting to understand God’s word, this quest for understanding of God’s word started in 1382 with John Wycliffs translation of the Holy Bible into English. Then we had John Hus in the early 1400’s, Martin Luther (1500’s) with his 95 theses, John Calvin’s “Institutes of Christian Religion”. All these men were part of what was to be known as the “Reformation”. God moved in a mighty way to open his word up to the common man, man could read the Holy Bible in his own tongue, if so, man would have to know how to read. Luther translated the Bible into German, Wycliff into English, Calvin wrote in French, John Knox took it to Scotland, John Hus in Czechoslovakia, all over Europe the Bible was translated into the people’s native tongue, and people learned to read.
So back to my point by 1620 men both in Europe and the founding fathers had to be able to read if they were to understand what God taught them through His word and the Holy Bible. It was this longing for God’s word that made our founding fathers want to read and seek after knowledge and understanding. It was God’s word that told them they were a child of God not of government or the Pope. It was the word of God that told them they had rights that came from, and were given to them by God.
If you think it not true, that reading was a gift from God then I suggest you take a close look at today’s godless schools. No god, no prayer equals, no want to read the Lord’s word, no understanding, this can only lead to what we have today. Are we not a country of ignorant people, running on nothing but emotions, feelings of greed and self-importance? How about some elected president that just might think he is the country’s savior and all the people said, “Amen”. Why is this?