“We live in a time of great school crisis linked to an even bigger social crisis. Our nation ranks at the bottom of the 19 industrial nations. The truth is that we don’t really teach anything except bad habits and how to obey orders.” John Gatto
Teaching your children wisdom.
“The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.” Cicero
I have found a few profound facts that can leverage our capability and success, leading to wisdom. This leverage is based on understanding:
- the 10 Year Rule of Mastery using purposeful practice (Ericcson);
- that IQ, memory and capability can best be developed in the early ages (Polgar, Binet, Syed);
- that our performance and thinking is largely based on our paradigms (Senge, Covey, Langer); and
- that we can achieve anything with the right perspective (Dweck, Seligman).
But knowledge is often not wisdom, so how can we have wisdom if this is never taught?
“But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.” (Edmund Burke) This describes much of our world today.
If we ask why this is? “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” (Thomas Aquinus)
We must remember that we are spirit beings and that our psyche needs must all be met. Without a strong sense of values, meaning and belonging (as Christians believing in God’s Word and our purpose), wisdom cannot be accomplished. Wisdom in effect then is the understanding and discernment between good and evil, of Truth and deception. It is also fundamental to good decision-making. The Bible clearly warns us of this.
The right values are not taught in schools for the same reason as Christianity is not allowed: humanism, ‘enlightenment’, and the goals of the secular world. We have to give our children clear instructions, and then practice them to prove their validity. It is these values that build wisdom, which creates a profitable and healthy society. Without it, the social fallout is dramatic.
Public education has become a business where students are fed straw and fallacy, only to glean a fraction of real knowledge, let alone Truth or any real skills. It is designed from a single perspective, breeding blind acceptance and selfish permissiveness. This results in mindlessness and unintended cruelty. (Lange) This then gives rise to trapped paradigms and totalism; the results of a ‘control’ mindset as outlined in MEganize, aka a ‘fixed’ mindset. (Dweck) Think evolution, CRT, humanism, egalitarianism and communism. The spirit and intention of true education has been lost in the mire of politics, bureaucracy and tradition to our great deficit. So, now what?
The MEganize approach, with an emphasis on an early start, offers a structure to overcome these debilitating pitfalls and ungodly devices. Founded in neuroscience, this principle was confirmed by Tom Peters in In Search for Excellence, where “every excellent company was associated with a strong leader with a focus on excellence, starting from early stages of their development.“
Stage 1: Develop Capability with Window of Opportunity Course (3-9).
The first stage of development in a child’s mind is to create the belief and confidence in learning, while developing his brain’s capability through purposeful practice over time. This builds IQ (neural pathways) and teaches diligence and virtue. The brain has multiple areas of capability, so the focus should be to cover eight main mental skill that we encounter in life. These include:
- logic (problem solving, math)
- reasoning (wisdom, righteousness)
- translation (foreign language)
- transposition (music)
- coordination (sport)
- communication (reading, writing, speaking)
- creativity (designing and building, memory)
- values (Godliness, humility, obedience, faith, hope, diligence, kindness, decorum, temperance, frugality, honesty, and discernment)
Education starts soon after birth. Its importance and impact is a sliding scale downwards from then on. The emphasis MUST be to start early. This is a critical concept around which our education system is failing.
“Conceptual learning is mainly a process of developing an understanding of a subject and can often be done through listening and/or reading. This is primarily intellectual. In developing a skill, sometimes we must practice it without an intellectual understanding because that only comes when you can do it”. (Peter Kump)
We make this mistake all the time, thinking that a child must be old enough to do certain things, when in fact they require little intellectual maturity in order to become competent at it, (paradoxically their brains are best geared for it!) Examples include learning our native language without any schooling in 2-3 years, then many moving on to read and write, speak a foreign language, play an instrument, learning core facts, to build all the skills above, and most importantly to understand the difference between right and wrong.
We allow bad habits early on, and then try to correct them later. We live parallel lives, allowing a split between our values and ‘facts’, where the ‘facts’ are often fallacious. This leads to confusion and rebellion. Structure must come before diversity. Proper direction, values, and due consideration from the start are needed to create a Christian worldview, and to build capability.
Stage 2: Build Core Skills
It is important during this time to continue to work on about 5 chosen skills and practice these continuously (10 year rule). This teaches perseverance, and understanding complexity. Remember that we live in an age of competitiveness and complex skills. The harder they are to replicate, the more valuable. A mix of real skills, hard and soft, building both fluid and crystallized IQ, is therefore strategic.
Stage 3: Wisdom (14+)
As further knowledge depths are reached, the child will become more aware of complexity. This is the segue to include the Wisdom Series, that builds a Triangle of Wisdom, creating a clear sense of meaning, purpose, and discernment. These 2 high school courses are integral to education, and sorely needed in our youth today:
- Understanding the Bible: A focus on Biblical truth. Learn about the big picture, essentials to Faith and understanding, exciting Biblical prophecies, exposing many untruths commonly taught, and many facts seldom revealed. Know the difference between evil and sin.
- Personal Psychology: about how we can relate to the world. “Above all things, know thyself.” Personal Psychology offers the understanding of how to master major life encounters, people skills, and our inherent needs and weaknesses. This also looks at a variety of topics, including learning and personality styles, personal decision-making, models by which we can understand complexity, common pitfalls in society today, and the origins of prevalent pagan philosophies involved.
By developing a Christian worldview based on a Biblical foundation, students can build the fundamentals of wisdom essential in life.
The Wisdom Series offers the student a strategic perspective that spreads across personal and public life, linking Christian beliefs and values to fundamental truths.
In addition to these high-school Wisdom Series courses, the MEga’ approach/curriculum is available on Canvas, starting from Pre-K through middle school. Ideal for home-school, church groups, and classroom instruction.
Empower your child with an education for life! Contact me by email to access the Wisdom Series at peternjennings@yahoo.com.