A few years ago, my family and I took a vacation up to
Yellowstone. One day, we took a drive to
Yellowstone Lake, which involved taking a winding mountain road that had no
guardrails. I was busy keeping the car
between the lines but my wife and son told me later that there was a sheer drop
off into what is called the grand canyon of Yellowstone.
I did not need the guardrails to tell me to keep the car on
the road but often we do need guardrails in our lives to keep us from going over
the edge where we can be hurt or even killed.
However, in 1962 the Supreme Court effectively removed the guardrails of
morality from our education system. The
results have been a society full of single mothers, millions of abortion due to
unwanted pregnancies, rampant drug use, violence in our schools, and a general
decaying of our society.
By removing prayer and the Bible from public schools, we
left a void in the lives of public school students. As with any void left in our lives, these
students are filling this void with illicit sex, drugs, and violent
behavior. Many of these students are now
adults who vote.
This is why in this last election we witnessed the
legalization of Marijuana in many states.
We also watched the Democrat Party adopt planks in their party platform
supporting abortion and even infanticide.
Absent of guardrails, our education system condones students
illicit sex by providing sex education along with condoms. Educators believe students are going to have
sex anyway so they provide a condom to promote so called “safe sex”. Now, with the legalization of marijuana,
instead of students being busted for smoking cigarettes in the boy’s room, they
will be busted for passing a joint.
Is it any wonder that with these distractions, students are
graduating without the basic skills of reading, writing, and basic math. These young people could not understand the conservative
message about the failure of Obama’s policies but believed Obama when he told
them Romney would make abortion illegal and take away their contraceptives.
Absent of guardrails, our education system is failing
students. Instead of equipping students
to succeed in the market place, it is condoning deviant behavior. This deviant behavior is contributing to the
decay of our culture. Unless things
change, we will continue to see our culture decay making it difficult, if not
impossible for the conservative message to be understood. Here are a few suggestions for restoring the
guardrails in the lives of our youth
1)
Parents
and grandparents have a responsibility to instill morals and values in their
children. Proverbs 22:6 Teach your children to choose
the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it. (NLT).
I encourage parents and grandparents to take the initiative here as a
way to cancel out the values taught in schools.
2)
Become involved with church youth groups and
encourage those already attending to invite their friends. Older adults can also consider volunteering
to coach a Little League or soccer team.
3)
Volunteer to become a mentor with Big Brothers
or Big Sisters. There are also Christian
mentoring programs that target troubled youth.
4)
Learn the culture. I can remember as a youth thinking my parents
were uncool. Today’s youth are no
different, believing older adults to not understand their culture and as such
do not relate to them. Learning their
culture will help develop trust.
5)
Learn the technology. Today’s youth communicate using texting, Twitter,
and Facebook. Become familiar with these
technologies begin using them to reach out to the younger generation.
6)
Pray.
Remember, our battle is not a conventional battle fought with conventional
weapons. Prayer prepares us for the
spiritual battle we are facing.
These steps will not reinstall the guardrails in public
education but they will train our youths about the importance of staying on the
road even though the guardrails have been removed.
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