One-room school in 1935, Alabama (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum )

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School and education … two words, two concepts. Sometimes they overlap, sometimes they don’t.

I’ll never forget the day I heard Francis Schaeffer say, “Never let your children’s schooling stand in the way of their education!”

I was shocked. I had always considered the words “school” and “education” synonymous. When I thought of education I pictured a school I had attended: Overland Avenue Elementary School, Palms Junior High School, and Hamilton High School.

Schaeffer’s startling remark recalled an earlier L’Abri revelation, near the end of my first quarter century of life, when it had dawned on me that I had never had a thought in my life! I had been to school, but had not been taught to think, explore, or have an inquisitive mind.

Since that time, I have become a lifelong learner and have reflected much on the difference between schooling and education. Here are some of the distinctions I have discovered:

School	Education
A classroom with four walls	The world is my classroom (Proverbs 25:2; Job 12:7-12)
12 years of primary and secondary school with an end date at graduation	Learning that takes and lasts a lifetime and beyond … Even in eternity we will be learning!
Learning by rote: memorizing and regurgitating information	Forming an inquisitive mind, reasoning from principle, kindling creativity and imagination,  thinking independently.
Pursuing the latest fads and feeling good about oneself	The timeless pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
A quest for data, information, and technique	A quest for: Knowledge – Perceiving what the information declares Understanding – Discerning what the information means Wisdom –  Applying the truth or moral application
Responsibility of the State	Responsibility of the parents and the student
Foundations of Darwinism and Naturalism	Foundation of Judeo-Christian Theism
Preparing people for tasks and behaviors in a consumer society	Preparing people for life
Teacher focused	Student focused

John Milton, the English civil servant and brilliant poet (whose works include the epic poem Paradise Lost), penned a classic Christian Philosophy of Education: “The end of learning is to repair the ruin of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him.”

I was a young father at the time of Schaeffer’s passing comment. Marilyn and I began to discuss its application for our children’s education. So it is fitting that this post was inspired when my son, Nathan, sent me an article about this very subject!

The article, How to Be a Student, was written by Bryan Smith, Headmaster of St. Peter’s Classical School in Fort Worth, Texas. Smith’s provocative piece says students must take responsibility for their own education.

Read, think, and celebrate!

 – Darrow Miller

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