Why Sweat the Details?

By: Ellsworth E. McIntyre

There is a delusion of “feel good brotherhood” gripping the Christian educator and parent. The brain infected by this delusion reasons, "If I am too nit picking about the details, the child will hate me and I will lose his love."

For example, if a teacher wants his class quiet and attentive, punishment for talking may work if he is consistent, but in practice the teacher finds he must constantly interrupt himself to correct talkers. A better plan is to say, I don't want anyone slumping over. Everyone must sit up straight. O.K. sit up, sit up. Do you hear me? Sit up." Next, if the teacher wants a tighter rein on the class, he may say, "I want everyone with pad and pencil or hands together. O.K. let's go. You! Did you hear me?That's right."

For a still tighter rein, "O.K., I want everyone's eyes on me and nowhere else. Not on your neighbor, out the window, but only one me. Is that clear? You, where are your eyes supposed to be?"

Now, as the teacher embarks on the lesson, he can interrupt the class (at a time of his choice, not the students) to say, "You! Are you sitting up straight?" (Hint: The entire class will straighten up if you single out one student for correction. No one will respond to a frustrated "Class, sit up straight.") Use a student's name. Don't ever speak to the entire class for discipline. The teacher must never demonstrate frustration by shouting or scolding.

In the above illustration, the class is several steps away from talking. First, they must slump over, stop taking notes, take their eyes off the teacher before talking begins. By using details, the teacher avoids a class out of control.

The teacher under the "loss of love delusion" will tremble or scream perhaps at this method thinking, "But the children will think I am a meanie." The very opposite is true! The weakling teacher is remembered with a contempt that is well deserved and the stern taskmaster is enshrined forever as a saint in the memory of his students. Why? R. J.Rushdoony quotes a

Jesuit proverb in his must-read study and apply Institutes of Biblical Law, Vol. I.

The proverb goes, "He that teaches the child the law is his father." The converted child will honor the parent provided the parent/teacher work is successful. It is the failure that is hated by both the child and byGod.

Scripture: the wrath of God abided on the sinner every day.

 The apostle Paul compares the training and discipline of the Christian to that of the soldier or the athlete. What do these have in common? Both the soldier and the athletic skills by constant practice that brings every thought and muscle relax to total mechanical memory. Under the heat and fury of battle, the soldier, although frightened into near panic, must execute his calling with absolute precision or the result is death. Between death and victory are the details. The little foxes spoil the vine.

 I believe one of the reasons humanistic teachers hate competition, because competitive games teach the value of discipline, driving the student to"beat his body and keep it under."

Keeping score 

A disciplined spirit is evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Liberals have watered down grades for this reason. When I was a boy all grades were numeral and grading standards were fixed. During my lifetime, we drifted to letter grades than to S or U (Satisfactory or unsatisfactory) to complete or incomplete. Currently, there are national movements to stop all athletic competition.

The following is found in Inside American Education by ThomasSowell. When a reporter asked the "smartest student in the class", 'Would it bother you to know that the things you learned were wrong?' The answer was: 'Not really. Because what we really learned from Miss Silver was that we were worth listening to, that we could express ourselves and that an adult would listen, even if we were wrong. That's why Miss Silver will always be our favorite teacher. She made us feel like we mattered, like we were important.'"

In other words, details like winning or losing are annoying distractions from the teacher's main goal under anti-Christian humanism.Self-esteem, being non-judgmental, self confidence, social adjustment.This is the holy grail of today's school.

God's law word, on the other hand, warns that every thought, word, and deed will be examined and some will be winners and others losers.