What Was The Importance Of American Education

Why Lutheran Education?
To say education was important to Martin Luther would be an understatement. Most of the historical focus on his life and works remains with his work in polemics, translation, and biblical commentary. Not only was Luther a life-long learner of the Scriptures, he was also a skilled educator, though one may not always find his name immortalized in the hallowed halls of education like one could find his contemporary, Philip Melanchthon. This attitude, however, betrays an aspect of the Lutheran Reformation which adherents to Luther’s dogma continue to analyze and strive to do better. Efforts to explore, explain, and expound Luther’s thought about education abound. Perhaps the best summary of these efforts is V.F.N. Painter’s
“Luther on Education,” where he summarizes the reformer’s impact:
We realize that the great Reformer accomplished scarce less for education than for religion.
Through his influence, which was fundamental, wide-reaching, and beneficent, there began for the one as for the other a new era of advancement. Let us note a few particulars:
1. In his writings..., he laid the foundation of an educational system which begins with the popular school and ends with the university.
2. He exhibited the necessity of schools both for the Church and the State and emphasized the dignity and worth of the teacher’s vocation.
3. He set up as the noble ideal of education a Christian man, fitted through instruction and discipline to discharge the duties of every relation of life.
4. He impressed on parents, ministers, and civil officers their obligation to educate the young.
5. He brought about a reorganization of schools, introducing graded instruction, an improved course of study, and rational methods.
6. In his appreciation of nature and child-life, he laid the foundation for education science.
7. He made great improvements in method; he sought to adapt instruction to the capacity of children, to make learning pleasant, to awaken mind through skillful questioning, to study things as well as words, and to temper discipline with
love.
8. …he advocated compulsory education on the part of the State.

It is Painter’s fourth point which is especially pertinent to this paper. Luther recognized the primary responsibility in education lies with parents, but they must be aided by the government and the church in this endeavor, as well. He acknowledges the growing need for school in the church. This is largely in part because of his take on the deeper necessity of education. Luther often “portrayed education as a contest between God and the devil” and that Satan “realizing he can no longer control education…attempts to drive people from it.” This spiritually realistic view of why all children need to be educated fueled his writings and efforts to bring education in all types to the forefront of his reforms. For him, the core of all learning must be Scripture and the goal of education must always keep Christ as its true focus. All of his suggestions and education-focused writings hone in on this facet of educating young Christians. At a time when many parents were failing in their duty to teach children and bring them up in the truths of God’s Word, it is easy to understand why Luther was such a great proponent of education.
“He believed that education was the only avenue to maturity. He gave the world a faith that set human beings free and thinking, a philosophy of education that opened new vistas, and a vernacular Bible.” With a special focus on secondary education in this essay, the subject of maturity is one which captures our attention. Maturity is an oft-discussed topic when dealing with young adults. But Luther’s emphasis was not merely on social maturity. Rather, his focus was on spiritual maturity. But, how does one ensure that young Christians continue to grow and mature in the gift of faith with which the Holy Spirit has blessed
them?
In our current social climate, it is the contention of many that “a grade school education in religion will not adequately serve the spiritual needs of high school and college youth.” Luther’s thoughts about education extended beyond the classroom; he understood the real-life implications education had in the lives of people. He saw education “as a liberating enterprise…he advocated teaching that leads children to discover and appreciate the world.” While discovery and appreciation of the world were surely ideas which Luther advocated in his work, the greater “liberty” which he sought was freedom from sin, death, and the devil through lifelong faith in Christ. Should not the enterprise of teaching young men and women at the high school level keep this perception of Luther’s in mind? This objective is one which is pivotal to the idea of education which Luther plotted out during his lifetime.

Conclusion
A goal of secondary Lutheran education must always be to enrich the spiritual lives of students so that they might rise above the temptations of this world and the devil. A failure to strive for this objective will undermine what Scripture says and what Luther held in such high regard about the subject. The church has Christian freedom in the way it carries out the Savior’s command to teach. While the way in which the church carries out this ministry is a matter of adiaphora, the purpose and objectives in teaching are not. WELS has decided that secondary education is a God-pleasing way to accomplish those goals. The federation program of congregational and pastoral support for ALHS’s, while not addressed explicitly in Scripture or by Luther, is a way in which WELS hopes to continue the ministry of educating all people in the knowledge of the truth.