Restoring the Historical Roots of American Education
Two hundred years after the American Revolution, America is still governed by its first Constitution. We are now the longest-running constitutional republic in the history of the world. To give some perspective, France has had eight constitutions in the same 200 years. Italy has had 54 constitutions in 200 years. Why have we survived so long? It is because our founding fathers built our Constitution according to a set of ideals that are unparalleled in the history of the world.
Abraham Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." If our founding fathers had a successful philosophy of government, which obviously they did, then it is very fair that we look back to the classroom to see what they taught.
Harvard is the oldest ongoing university in the United States. Harvard produced a number of our founding fathers, including John Quincy Adams, John Hancock, John Adams, and Samuel Adams.
Harvard's original stated purpose for its students was: "To be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ...." One requirement of students was that "Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be able to give an account of his proficiency therein."
Yale also produced many founding fathers, men like Noah Webster, William Samuel Johnson, Abraham Baldwin. One of Yale's requirements for its students read as follows: "Seeing that God is the giver of all wisdom, every student, besides his private and secret prayer, will be present morning and evening for public prayer."
Princeton, founded in 1746, produced people like James Madison, Benjamin Rush and John Witherspoon. John Witherspoon became an ordained minister and was president of Princeton University (1768-1776) until New Jersey sent him to Congress. During those years at Princeton, the average graduating class was between 17 and 28 students per year. In the nine years that Witherspoon taught at Princeton, the school graduated one President, one Vice President, three Supreme Court Justices, ten Cabinet members, twelve Governors, twenty-one U.S. Senators, and thirty-nine U.S. Congressmen, plus many who held state offices. A full one-third of the founding fathers were trained at Princeton University.
What was the philosophy of an institution that produced so many national leaders? Princeton's founding statement was, "Cursed is all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ."
May Christian Leadership University turn out students who are ordained ministers, become presidents of universities and serve in Congress! It has been many years since we have seen this kind of vision of godly leadership within society set before us.
There are four documents which are considered the organic laws of the United States (i.e., the laws upon which all other laws are built): The Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and The Northwest Ordinance.
The Northwest Ordinance tells a territory specifically what it has to do in order to become a state in the United States. Article Three requires that no territory could become a state unless the schools in that territory were teaching religion and morality as well as knowledge. As a result, many state constitutions contain the following: "Forever in the schools of this state, religion and morality will be taught as well as knowledge." You may want to check your state constitution.
Look at Fisher Ames' philosophy of education: (He was the author of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which today is mis-interpreted to mean we must separate God and government.)
"Why, then, if these new books for children must be retained, as they will be, why should not the Bible regain the place it held as a school book? Its morals are pure. Its examples are captivating and noble. And the reverence for the sacred book that is thus early impressed lasts long and probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind."
However, today under our interpretation of Fisher Ames' amendment, the Bible is not allowed to be studied in schools. The Bible will not drift to the back of the classroom at Christian Leadership University. Bible Survey is required of all our students for the first three years. The Bible will be the central Book of our university.
The freshman project of each of the founding universities in America was that the student be given a copy of the Greek New Testament and from it make a handwritten translation into English!
The standard age for entering our nation's founding universities was 13 years old! At Christian Leadership University, we have decided to restore this policy from America's heritage and allow students probationary university entrance at age 15.
Outstanding homeschool curriculum is available for parents considering teaching their children at home. A list of homeschooling resources is available at www.cwgministries.org/freebooks.
Look What Happened When God Was Removed from American Education
In 1962, prayer was removed from American education and the following charts show what has happened to our nation as a result. (One chart is shown full size below, and there are three more that you may view individually by clicking on them at the right.)
These charts show that if God is not central to the educational process, the students self-destruct and never become leaders in their communities, nations or world, never fulfilling their destinies. Christian Leadership University ensures that biblical principles, prayer and the voice of God are central to each and every course.
The only hope of America is for Christ-centered leaders to be trained and to rise to positions of influence throughout society. Many of the signers of our Constitution were ordained ministers. Once again, ministers must take the lead in our culture. All our students will have the opportunity to be ordained and to function in their ministry/vocation as ordained ministers.
Restoring Whole-brain Learning
God has created our brains with both left and right hemispheres. Left-hemisphere brain functions include reasoning, reading, written language, number skills and spoken language. Right-hemisphere brain functions include imagination, intuition, art awareness, three-dimensional forms and music awareness.
In America today, our worship of the left hemisphere is so complete that when we graduate from high school, the left hemispheres of our brains actually weigh slightly more than the right hemispheres!
Christian Leadership University seeks to go beyond simply training the left hemisphere. We seek to offer training that involves both left- and right-hemisphere brain functions. Plus, we seek to train our students to present both hemispheres of their brains to God to fill and flow through and guide. For example, "Without a parable, Jesus taught them not" (Matt. 13:34). Parables are picture stories. They utilize the right side of the brain. The most powerful teaching comes from following the educational methodology of the world's most powerful Teacher, Jesus Christ, and learning to combine both right and left hemispheres with the anointing and flow of the Holy Spirit. That is what CLU is committed to training you to do.
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