He had a great classical education. He studied the great poets, philosophers, and scholars. often a great education marks the beginning of a great leader and statesman. Vladmimir I. Lenin did become a leader but he did not become a great statesman. What went wrong?
To read the rest of this article, go to http://www.gwc.edu/pdf/statesman_09_09.pdf
I agree with almost all of this article, with one exception. "One specific religion is not necessary but basic beliefs that cover all religions are necessary and must be encouraged." If you have read my blog for awhile, you know that I believe in the one & only God, as defined by His Word, the Bible. Other than this politically correct statement in her article, Jennifer Jensen makes a powerful argument for giving our children a solid faith so they can become true statesmen of virtue, courage, wisdom, diplomacy and so forth.
The article provides terrific information about Lenin's "worldview" and how his faith (or lack of faith) affected his life.
To read more about providing your child a leadership education, read A Thomas Jefferson Education, by Oliver Van DeMille. Read more about this book HERE.
Kerry
Monday, September 19, 2005
Teaching Our Kids to Live by Biblical Principles
The last two years we have spent much time in our family discussing how we as Americans are products of modernity. Part of what I mean by modernity is the idea that we can look at things around us independent of their context or situation. We want to put everything in neat little categories (irregardless of the context)and the Bible just doesn't always fit into our little categories.
One thing we have stressed to our kids is the importance to live by principles we find in the Bible. Jesus is so good at pointing this out as he teaches the men around him - both disciples and Pharisees. We are striving to teach and train our children to use wisdom in all situations. Training is often overlooked as we raise our kids to wisdom. Be sure to have situations around your kids to train them to wise, Biblical living.
This week we have discussed as a family the
Kerry
How Do You Inspire Your Kids?
Good Question!!! Inspiring my kids to desire an education and want to study is one of my personal goals. I often think about those speakers who inspire me after I listen to them. Yes, Andrew is one of those speaker. When I finish listening to him about a subject, his excitement pours over and I am fired up, ready to go. That's what I want to do with my own kids.
One thing I must always keep in mind is that every day is not one of excitement. There are plenty of days that I go through my routine that God has given me. And, I do it with a thankful and gracious attitude. One thing I think we must remember as we strive to inspire our kids is to also teach them to do the routine things happily. There are times to do the day-in and day-out activities with a great attitude. Training our kids now will produce pleasant adults in the future.
On the other hand, I think there is always room to add inspiration, excitement and enthusiasm to our kids' days. How to do that? I do think our kids can see when we are truly excited about something, be it education, hobbies or a family activity. I am looking for things that interest my kids and trying to tie their learning to those interest. For instance, my daugher and so love sports. My daughter found a book about Derek Jeter when we went on our back-to-school lunch. I told her to put it in the basket. The first day of school Derek Jeter's biography was waiting in my son's stack of new school books and supplies. My daughter also found some books about soccer so we bought those for her to read. She is suppose to read through them and talk to me about what makes a good athlete and a good team player. Eventually, she may write a paper about this topic. Since we are still working out our schedule, she has not had a lot of time to read those books. Hopefully, it will smooth out next week.
Find out what makes your child tick! Use it to inspire them to study. Many kids are interested in sports and it is a great avenue to teach character, study skills, writing skills and so on. If they enjoy what they are reading, they will probably enjoy talking about it, too.
Does this mean your children might not read all the books you have planned? (talking to myself especially) YES! I let my son choose a book and then I choose a book. Then, I can direct some of his readings but he still has some choice. In fact my son asked me this week if he could make more choices about his studies. I am looking at ways to "let go" a bit.
I am not inspired, just perspired! (quote from Jill Pike) That may be how you feel since inspiring others take much time & energy. If you have other ideas, please share.
Kerry
One thing I must always keep in mind is that every day is not one of excitement. There are plenty of days that I go through my routine that God has given me. And, I do it with a thankful and gracious attitude. One thing I think we must remember as we strive to inspire our kids is to also teach them to do the routine things happily. There are times to do the day-in and day-out activities with a great attitude. Training our kids now will produce pleasant adults in the future.
On the other hand, I think there is always room to add inspiration, excitement and enthusiasm to our kids' days. How to do that? I do think our kids can see when we are truly excited about something, be it education, hobbies or a family activity. I am looking for things that interest my kids and trying to tie their learning to those interest. For instance, my daugher and so love sports. My daughter found a book about Derek Jeter when we went on our back-to-school lunch. I told her to put it in the basket. The first day of school Derek Jeter's biography was waiting in my son's stack of new school books and supplies. My daughter also found some books about soccer so we bought those for her to read. She is suppose to read through them and talk to me about what makes a good athlete and a good team player. Eventually, she may write a paper about this topic. Since we are still working out our schedule, she has not had a lot of time to read those books. Hopefully, it will smooth out next week.
Find out what makes your child tick! Use it to inspire them to study. Many kids are interested in sports and it is a great avenue to teach character, study skills, writing skills and so on. If they enjoy what they are reading, they will probably enjoy talking about it, too.
Does this mean your children might not read all the books you have planned? (talking to myself especially) YES! I let my son choose a book and then I choose a book. Then, I can direct some of his readings but he still has some choice. In fact my son asked me this week if he could make more choices about his studies. I am looking at ways to "let go" a bit.
I am not inspired, just perspired! (quote from Jill Pike) That may be how you feel since inspiring others take much time & energy. If you have other ideas, please share.
Kerry
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