School to Work

I have been doing some research on the history of School to Work and the concept of a managed economy.  I ran across a couple of articles that caught my attention and I thought I would share them with you.  I want to express my gratitude to each of you who have chosen to home educate your children.  You are stepping into an arena where the battle is hard, but the rewards are eternal.  Read on… 

Labor Units.  From the sound of it, you would think that it deals with manufacturing or industry.  Perhaps measurements of work exerted or maybe even a measurement of production from a piece of equipment.  Actually, it is closely associated with both of those but, unfortunately, hits much closer to home for all of us.  Would you be surprised if I told you that “labor units” are actually your children.  Many of the educational reformers and managed economy advocates view our children as exactly that.  Labor units to develop as the “State” sees fit and then to incorporate into a global economy. 

I first ran across this term in doing some research on School to Work.  A portion of the book “America 2000/Goals 2000”a research manual compiled by James R. Patrick which has a chapter entitled “Corporate Families for Corporate America.”  Two quotes in that chapter immediately jumped out at me.  The first quote dealt with Goal #1 in the Goals 2000 agenda “All children will start school in America ready to learn.”  The chapter states the following; This is the child care contribution to the new world order: pre-conditioned labor units that are ready and willing to be programmed and malleable, manipulated and manipulative, ambitionless, emotionless, and detached…ready for global imprinting.  The second quote focuses on an issue which I believe hits directly to the heart of the issue.  “The children or potential labor units become the ward of the public/private partnerships.”  The primary issue here that we all need to grasp is “Who owns the children?!” 

I am currently reviewing an insightful book titled “Problems of Communism.”  It is a special report dealing with the topic of law and legality as it was in the USSR.  There is a chapter in this publication that deals with the family and how the laws in Russia are designed and interpreted.  In this chapter it makes reference to two critical barriers within the family unit that have to be overcome to attain a “utopian society.”  The first one is the complete independence of the wife as an economic entity within society.  Anything less than  complete economic autonomy for the wife is failure.  The second issue is an attempt to remove the primary barrier for that independence – children.  Childbirth is seen as being a service that the mother provides for the good of society.  However, the state then steps in and takes responsibility for all aspects of child rearing.  Again, we see that children are just tools of the state, to be used as the state sees fit for the needs of the general society. 

We return to the age-old question – Who owns the children?  As Christians, we have to acknowledge that God owns our children, they are designed by Him and given to us for their nuture and development.  Even we, as parents, do not have the final say in the raising of our children.  We are accountable to Him who gave them to us.  We cannot make up our own rules about right and wrong, what is the best way to train them, how they should be disciplined, what they should be taught, etc….  all of these issues are addressed in the Bible, our source for all guidance and wisdom.  

I think it behooves each of us to understand the power struggle occurring in our country today.  The state is attempting to take the place of the family.  This is a battle that has been going on for centuries – only the names have been changed.  The family is the primary nucleus that God has ordained for the training and development of children.   Your decision to home educate is a strong deterrent to the state’s need to conform your children to the needs of the local economy and society as a whole.  The battle is fierce at times, but know that you are fighting not only for the souls of your children, but for the family as a whole to survive.  Home education is more than academics – it is about family, about discipleship and about the sovereignty of God.  Who owns your children? 

“Lo, Children are a heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His reward.”  Psalms 127:3