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XV
Socialized Education and False Doctrines
The scriptures indicate that even though socialized education were to teach nothing but provable facts, still it constitutes enforced priestcraft which is condemned by the prophets. But nothing could be so unwise as to assume that the truth will always be taught in a system which is itself evil. Its very nature precludes this possibility. Let us note several areas where we must expect to find error disseminated.
Socialized Education Is Compelled To Teach That The Miracle Of Life Is The Result Of Blind Chance Rather Than The Design Of God
In a nation such as the United States or Russia where the laws are construed to forbid the teaching of religion in the public schools, educators cannot teach the Biblical account of creation or give any other divine or supernatural explanation of the miracle of life and the marvelous order of the universe. But no educational system can ignore these matters. They unavoidably arise in such courses as history, anthropology, psychology, geology, astronomy, sociology, biology, botany, and bacteriology. Therefore, the public schools have turned to organic evolution as the only explanation of life.
The student is taught to believe that plant and animal life are the result of a fortuitous coming together of atoms in nature; that the history of the world is completely explained by the actions of men and the operation of physical law. But if blind chance created life, it logically follows that God did not; and if the course of world events is purely the result of the actions of man and nature, then Providence does not govern in the affairs of men and of nations; and if this is so then the Bible is a false history and faith in God, a silly superstition of a bygone age. Massive destruction of faith in God is an inevitable consequence of the teaching of organic evolution which is a cornerstone of socialized education.
In the following words, President Joseph Fielding Smith has expressed his views as to what is happening in the public schools:
According to our constitutional government denominational religion cannot be taught in our public schools…In the scholastic world, however, no man’s faith is respected. From one end of the land to the other it is assumed by most teachers with scholastic degrees, that those degrees place those who bear them in a superior class with academic freedom to teach what they will and to criticize and condemn, by virtue of this freedom, any doctrine or theory destructive of the faith of religious people. This idea that the teacher belongs to a superior class and his learning grants him immunity from showing respect for religious doctrines is a fallacy not sustained by justice nor constitutional law. Most of the textbooks written today boldly and impudently contradict the doctrines in the Bible and its history….
i know of no history published today [1954] dealing with ancient peoples that does not start out with a false conception in relation to the origin of man, the age of the earth, and the historical development of the human race. (Smith, Man His Origin and Destiny, pp. 4, 10)
Regarding the teaching of organic evolution, our prophet has also said:
It has been truthfully said that organic evolution is Satan’s chief weapon in this dispensation in his attempt to destroy the divine mission of Jesus Christ. It is a contemptible plot against faith in God and to destroy the effective belief in the divine atonement of our Redeemer… There is not and cannot be, any compromise between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the theories of evolution. Were evolution true, there could be no remission of sin. In fact there could be no sin. (Ibid., p. 184)
The effect of this and similar doctrines is manifesting itself, especially among the educated youth on college campuses throughout the land. The rising tide of crime, drug abuse, immorality, rebellion, and revolution are all evidence that many of this generation have little or no faith in God or belief in moral law. Acceptance of the theory of organic evolution is incompatible with such faith and belief. One is reminded of the consequences of the teachings of Korihor, the anti-Christ spoken of in the Book of Mormon. He went among the people denying the validity of the scriptures and teaching,
that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime. (Alma 30:17)
The evil influence he exerted upon the people through these teachings is told in the following verse:
And thus he did preach unto them, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men to commit whoredoms—telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof (Ibid., v.18)
Socialized Education Teaches That The State Is Responsible For The Training Of Children
Since public schools are supported by taxation, parents are compelled to finance them. Even though the law may allow them to send their children to private schools, in order to do so they must support two educational systems at once, and this the vast majority feel themselves unable to do. Since the law compels them to send their children to some school, the net effect of all of this is to force nearly all children into the public system. Therefore, those who favor socialized education take the position that the state and not the parents should have the responsibility of training children during a certain period of their lives.
Nor should it be imagined that the parent can control the education of his child in the public system. When the state hires the teachers, selects the courses and textbooks, and dictates where the child shall attend, it is impossible for individual preferences to be respected regarding these vital matters. Even though it were possible for one set of parents to have their way, all others with children in that same class who disagreed with the proposed change would necessarily be denied their wishes.
At what age state control of the child’s education should commence and end is a matter of varied opinion and practice among those who favor socialized education. However, those working within the system are forever trying to extend state control at the expense of parental control. But no matter when it starts, or how long it continues, the concept violates the teachings of the gospel. The prophet Alma, who had personal experience with priestcraft under king Noah, told the group which he led away from the land of Nephi:
And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments. (Mosiah 23:14)
To obey this instruction, a parent must be able to determine who teaches his child. But this he cannot do under socialized education.
When the Lord entrusts parents with his spirit children, He holds them accountable for the training of those children. If they fail to discharge their duty properly, the sin is answered upon their heads. (D&C 68:25) If the child is cursed because of the parents’ neglect, the curse will be the parents rather than the child’s. (2 Nephi 4:6) Any system, therefore, which forcibly takes from the parents the power to control what their children are taught, and who teaches them, is contrary to the Lord’s plan. It deprives parents of their most sacred stewardship and takes the child away from those who are most deeply concerned with his welfare. No state employee whose purpose in teaching is to get gain can be expected to serve the interests of the child as well as the parents who render their service without compensation. More especially is this true when the teacher is prohibited by law from instilling faith in the child.
Socialized Education Teaches Socialism Both In Theory And Practice
Since state-financed education is one of the principal doctrines of Communism, those who accept it have adopted that much of the socialist program. But further than this, once the idea is accepted that it is the function of government to use its taxing power to solve the problem of ignorance, which it is claimed stems from poverty, the theory that poverty is the concern of the state has been accepted. If an inadequate education is the consequence of low incomes and if it is the inherent right and duty of the state to compel the “haves” to give to the “have-nots” to cure this social ill, then is it not logically the state’s right and duty to provide the poor with food, housing, medicine, transportation, and entertainment?
The fact is that these socialistic programs are all incorporated into the socialized education system in the form of school lunches and dining facilities, student housing, medical care, busing, athletics, drama, music, etc. The teachers and administrators who administer and participate in these activities will, of course, approve of them and encourage their extension. They will teach their students such activities are proper. Furthermore, the students who are being educated and supported at state expense cannot be expected to object, or to cease desiring such doles upon graduation. Elder George Q. Cannon is quoted as having said:
If you want to pauperize a community unity, begin by giving them something they never earned. If the state owes to the child schooling, it also by a parity of reasoning, owes to it food and clothing at public expense. If you want to destroy in a child’s mind that feeling of energy, self-respect, and self-reliance, which all should have, you would impress upon him that the state owes him something upon which he can depend (Salt Lake Tribune, April 12, 1877)
It is a widely recognized fact that public schools and universities are the foremost advocates of socialism because they teach it both in theory and practice. Furthermore, the most effective vehicle for convincing a nation that socialized education is beneficial is socialized education itself. The teachers and administrators whose livelihood and status depend upon a continuation and expansion of the system are in a most strategic position to promote its acceptance and growth. Not only is it their full-time employment to mold the opinions of the nation’s children during the impressionable and uncritical period of youth, but they also write the texts and exercise wide discretion in the expenditure of billions of dollars of public funds each year.
Socialized Education Teaches Materialism
Public education is promoted on the ground that it better enables those it trains to make money, gain the wisdom of the world, and secure the honors of men. Throughout his schooling the student is urged to make the best grades and acquire the advanced degree because this evidence of superiority will assure him the best positions and the highest salaries. Few will deny that knowledge is power and a most potent tool for the acquisition of wealth. But when the acquisition of wealth and secular knowledge is given preference to spiritual training and religious faith which the public schools are not permitted to teach, a set of false values is instilled in the student. The scriptures teach:
seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. 6:33)
Seek not for riches, but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich.…(D&C 6:7)
Public schools not only cannot advocate such a priority of goals but they also directly contradict it by teaching materialism. A dictionary definition of materialism reads:
The doctrine that the facts of experience are all to be explained by reference to the reality, activities, and laws of physical or material substance. In psychology, this doctrine denies the reality of the soul as a psychical being; in cosmology, it denies the need of assuming the being of God as absolute Spirit or any other spiritual ground or first principle.
This is essentially what the public schools are restricted to teaching and it is the official doctrine of the Communists termed by them “dialectical materialism,” or materialism developed by logical argumentation.
Is Socialized Education “that Cunning Plan Of The Evil One?”
Nephi has bluntly stated that those who hearken unto the precepts of men shall be cursed unless those precepts are given by the power of the Holy Ghost;
Cursed is he that.. . shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. (2 Nephi 28:31)
To parents who accept this scripture as true, the fact which it states is of awful moment when it is recognized that public schools are limited by law to teaching the “precepts of men” and the “wisdom of the world.” If a child will be cursed rather that blessed by learning the precepts of men from teachers who do not have the power of the Holy Ghost, this places severe limits on the availability of acceptable teachers.
But even though it were possible for parents to place their children in schools staffed only by those who have the Gift of the Holy Ghost, another difficulty arises by reason of the fact that no one is permitted to teach unless he has been to college and been trained for the profession.
According to the following scripture, by the very act of qualifying himself as a teacher by the standards of the world, a person disqualifies himself by the standards of the Lord:
O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. (2 Nephi 9:28)
This statement by Jacob could be interpreted to mean that socialized education is “that cunning plan of the evil one.” If it be true that the devil’s church is prostituted government, and if we have correctly interpreted the statements of Jacob and Nephi concerning the vainness, the frailty, the foolishness, and the precepts of men, this is what Satan’s cunning plan consists of:
Using the force of government, he compels all parents to send their children to his church for training. There he permits nothing to be taught except the precepts of men and the wisdom of the world. His doctrines of organic evolution, atheism, materialism, and socialism are thus forced upon all children. No one is permitted to teach in his church until they have first been to college and there been indoctrinated with his philosophies. By reason of this learning and their own vainness, frailty, and foolishness, they tend to become proud of their degrees and status, and consequently refuse to hearken unto the counsel of God, or to be guided by the Holy Ghost. (2 Nephi 9:28) Since the precepts of men, when taught without the power of the Holy Ghost, can only curse those who hearken unto them, (2 Nephi 28:3 1) only evil can result from such teachings. Finally, parents are compelled by the devil’s church to finance with their tax money the corruption of their own children.
If evolution, atheism, materialism, socialism, and similar philosophies of men which are being taught by the public schools today are not the doctrines of Satan, one will find it difficult to find a set of teachings better calculated to serve his purposes; and if socialized education is not his “cunning plan” to spread these false teachings, one will also find it difficult to design a plan which does the job more effectively and completely. And finally, if this is his plan, he “deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9) with it because there are few indeed who regard it as such. In fact, socialized education has become so universally accepted that the suggestion that it promotes the plan of the evil one may shock some. Teachers, especially those who have spent so many years and so much of their means obtaining the credentials for employment will find it difficult to view the institution which feeds them as the Great and Abominable Church.
However, a teacher who accepts the gospel as true and is willing to be guided thereby will not lightly cast aside the many scriptures and statements of the prophets which point to this possibility. He will be deeply concerned with Nephi’s definition of priestcraft and also with his assertion that:
the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish. (2 Nephi 26:31)
It is also probable that parents whose beliefs have been deeply influenced by years of public school training will be inclined to reject the views herein expressed. However, if they realize that the privilege of parenthood is the most sacred stewardship of all and that the experience is designed to develop that divine skill without which one cannot expect to have eternal increase, they will hesitate before approving of a system which forcibly deprives them of their rights and responsibilities. They will want to precisely distinguish between the Lord’s and Satan’s plans for rearing children in order that they may be candidates for the role of parents during the eternities. And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments. (Mosiah 23:14)
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