“INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EXCELLENCE: ADVOCATE FOR
EDUCATIONAL CHOICE, PURSUIT OF TRUTH AND WISDOM”
In The Republic, Plato writes, “The two most important questions each citizen must ask of society are ‘Who is teaching the children? And, what are they teaching them?’” These two questions are as important today as Socrates believed them to be in Athens in 400 BC.
A free commercial constitutional republic like the United States cannot endure in the absence of an educated and moral citizenry. Without these essential virtues, America will degrade into a socialist despotism or worse, fascist tyranny. Freedom cannot persist in the absence of practical wisdom and eternal truth that pass the arduous test of fierce competition and public debate.
Public, aka “government” K-12 education, has been disordered for over 50 years because teachers’ unions and education bureaucrats have hijacked the education narrative and agenda into something destructive and unrecognizable. The self-serving protection racket public education establishment and the breakdown of the patriarchal family has hindered children from achieving grade level competency in reading, writing, and math which together are the foundation of intellectual and moral excellence.
Furthermore, much of higher education has become as disordered as government-run K-12; hiding behind a torn veil of so called “academic freedom” with the engineering and advocacy of destructive social theories. It generally has long abandoned any foundational instruction in the liberal arts, including philosophy, theology, and great works of literature a.k.a, “classical liberalism”. Instead, most higher education has become grounds for training in the technical professions without any serious education of what it means to be a good human being. As a result, most students have a vague or erroneous notion of knowledge or what it means to think objectively. Often, a
person’s feelings are taken to be the arbiter of knowledge.
Social studies and the humanities departments intentionally revise or demonize established American history and have become factories for victim studies and induced rebellion over racial or sexual lines. Few students are ever taught to rationally determine for themselves the answers to fundamental questions such as, “What does it mean to live a good life?”, “What is the best form of government for society?”, “What is wisdom?”, “What is knowledge?’, “What is truth?“, and “Why are wisdom, knowledge, and truth essential to a flourishing life?” When recently asked what their goals in life are, the two most popular answers given by a sample of undergraduates were “to be rich” and “to be famous!” Most of these students will be neither. They view wealth and fame as an end. Most have not received the foundational wisdom to flourish and to know God’s intention for them.
Competition, which is foundationally the pursuit of excellence, creates excellence in all things like craftsmanship, fine arts, athletics, business, and contemplative thought. Without fierce and disruptive competition, there can be no excellence in education. Therefore, the government-run and heavily government-influenced education systems, which have become monopolistic protection rackets, must again have intensely fierce private-sector competition from alternative means (such as charter schools and private theological schools), so all students, parents, and teachers have choices in education.
SVB Charities actively makes grants to private K-12 schools and private Christian colleges, untainted by government or union influence, committed to intellectual and moral excellence in instruction to develop the souls and minds of students into great thinkers, righteous persons, patriotic citizens, and great leaders.