Equipping

According to Google, USA education ranks ranks 14th on the world stage.  We rank only 24th in literacy.  However, we do rank 2nd out of the top 14 in ignorance.  We're only #2 now but were working hard to gain the #1 spot.

While we are only #2 in ignorance, according to CBS News, we are 1st in spending per student.  So, what we lack in educational productivity, we make us for in educational waste.  Hats off to our Department of Education and the Teacher's Union for being able to increase the cost of dumbing down our children.

That is the problem, by the way.  It is certainly not that we don't spend enough money but rather that we don't expect enough out of our students or teachers.  America used to be #1 back when we spent far less money but invested far more energy into teaching.  We had high standards or you were kept back in school until you reached them.

Today, the standards are much lower and a child is pushed through the system whether or not actual learning ever took place.  According to the Huffington Post, 19% of high school graduates can't read. They can recognize letters and words but can't functionally read.

The problem?  We've stopped trying to equip our students to the tasks of life and began lowering the standards to what they are equipped to do.  When tests scores are not high enough, rather than increase the intensity of education, we lower the standard of the test - test scores go up but education goes down.  Looks good on paper but isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

How about trying a biblical approach?  "All Scripture is God- breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God a may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:16-17).  Did you notice the "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training" part?  As is often preached, "God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called."

When you read the narratives of the great kings, judges, prophets and apostles, you find that they weren't chosen from the top of the heap but like cream rising to the top, they rose in stature as they faced challenges and were equipped by God to handle them.

That's why James say to "court it all joy when you face trials because the testing of your faith results in maturity" (see Js 1:2-4).  If our life experiences are only what we can already handle, then there will be no growth in our character or abilities.  If we are not challenged, we can never rise to meet it.  We need high standards to reach and challenges to overcome so that we can be overcomers.

Rather than having life dumbed down to the level we are equipped to handle, we need to raise the bar of equipping in order to embrace life as it is.  We need to stop giving awards for showing up and start challenging kids to win them.  We need to stop paying people for coming to work and start rewarding them for a job well done.  Instead of just giving a hand out, how about we give the poor a hand up with a challenge to step up.

The deal is that life is hard and it's harder if one is stupid, lazy or ill-equipped.  Let us accept God's call to a higher standard of living and call on Him to equip us for life rather than asking Him to make life easier.  Jus' Say'n.