Are You Well-Educated?

We are members of the North Carolinians for Home Education and get their bi-monthly newsletter. I have really enjoyed reading the articles but one in this month's issue really caught my eye. The section is called "The Last Note" and J. Mark Fox wrote it in this newsletter. It was a very thought provoking and funny article so I thought I'd share it with y'all:

One of my new favorite stories from history occurred on June 17, 1744. The commissioners from Maryland and Virginia were negotiating a treaty with the Indians of the Six Nations in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As a part of that treaty, the Indians were invited to send a half dozen of their lads to the college of William and Mary to be educated. The commissioners promised the young men would be well provided for and instructed "in the Learning of the White People." The Indians did not respond immediately. Ben Franklin wrote, "It is one of the Indian Rules of Politeness not to answer a public proposition the same day that it is made; they think it would be treating it as a light matter, and that they show it respect by taking time to consider it, as of a matter important." So, they waited a day and then replied to the offer:

"We know that you highly esteem the kind of Learning taught in those Colleges, and that the Maintenance of our young Men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are convinc'd, therefore, that you mean to do us Good by your Proposal; and we thank you heartily. But you, who are wise, must know the different nations have different Conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our Ideas of this kind of Education happen not to be the same with yours. We have had some Experience of it; Several of our young People were formerly brought up at the Colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your Sciences; but, when they came back to us, they were bad Runners, ignorant of every means of living in the Woods, unable to bear either Cold or Hunger...neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counselors; they were totally good for nothing. We are however not the less oblig'd by your kind Offer, tho' we decline accepting it; and, to show our grateful Sense of it, if the Gentlemen of Virginia will send us a Dozen of their Sons, we will take great Care of their Education, instruct them in all we know, and make Men of them."

When I first read that quote, I had one of the fall down on the floor, laughing moments. It reminded me of the joke that says the word "vegetarian" is an old Indian word meaning "bad hunter."

Don't get me wrong. I am not opposed to a college education. I have one myself and have had the opportunity to teach college classes for eighteen of the last twenty-two years. It is perhaps because of that experience that I have seen the tragicomedy of a person with a liberal arts eduction who is clueless about life. Many who excel in math fail in character. Many who are brilliant writers cannot "imagine themselves" into a healthy relationship. Many can argue their political theories with passion while their lives fall apart. How can this be? Isn't education the golden key that opens all doors: The Bible says, "Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness." (2 Peter 1:5-6) You see the order? Faith is first. Character is second. Knowledge is third and must be tempered by self-control.

We may pursue knowledge, but we should not make the mistake of believing that merely being educated makes a man complete or better or even wise. Wisdom can ultimately only be found in knowing God. And pursuing the knowledge of God with our whole heart is something we will never regret.