(Originally written for The Baldwin Bulletin: Pastor's Column August 16, 2023)
Answer not a fool
according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according
to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes…Like a dog that returns to his
vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. Do you see a man who is wise in his own
eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. (Proverbs
26:4-5, 11-12)
“Back to school, back to
school, to prove to dad that I’m not a fool...” Any time I hear the words
reminding us of what happens around this time of year for many children, I
can’t help but also hear those words from the ’90s Adam Sandler film, “Billy
Madison.” Whether you’ve seen it or not, I’m not giving my personal support or
recommendation to the movie, but those sing-song words as Billy waits for the
school bus are locked in my memory.
Already this month,
teachers have been preparing their classrooms and teaching curriculum as well
as going through development. Some students have been participating in extracurricular
practices and scrimmages. Parents have been collecting school supplies. Over
the coming weeks, we’ll begin to see buses daily driving down our roads, parents
and young people filling the parking lots and drop-off/pick-up lanes, and boys
and girls taking their seats behind desks or at tables. “School” will be in
session, and it is time to enter into another season of learning.
When I was in college, a
principle that was instilled was the need for all of us to be life-long
learners. Our education and formation do not stop at 8th grade or
high school graduation, or ages 18 or 21, or whenever we’ve completed our last
exam and exited the classroom. We can always learn by study or research,
experience and experimentation. As we grow, we can teach, mentor, and disciple
in and outside of formal classrooms. But to pick up from where I left off in my
last article on Proverbs 22:6, our children need to be taught and they must be
willing to learn.
The purpose of education
is to educate, to instruct. If you Google the word, you’ll find that its origin
carries the concept of being led. The first definition is to “give
intellectual, moral, and social instruction to (someone, especially a child).”
The primary role of a teacher, professor, or instructor is not friendship or
babysitting, it is to lead their students to what they offer. That’s not to say
that I personally agree with everything that is taught in every public or
private or home school classroom, but educational institutions should come
alongside parents with people who have an interest, a certain amount of
expertise in an area, a passion, and an ability to instruct.
Why the verses about
fools and folly (which if you go to Proverbs 26, you’ll see the verses in
between those I shared continue to expand on that)? Why include the quote from “Billy
Madison”? Because our children need education, need school—they need to be
educated lest they remain “fools.” My 6-year-old son, my 8-year-old daughter,
your 13-year-old son, your 18-year-old daughter need to be taught because they
aren’t born knowing much. They’re growing up learning differently and different
things than we did—in school AND in broader culture and society. They’re being
instructed. But knowing a lot—probably more than many of us—about electronic
devices and social media and fads or trends and how to attract or maximize
followers should not replace the things that all benefit from learning—the
normal, monotonous basics in school and how to function as responsible citizens
in society.
Our kids need to learn
and be willing to learn. We, as parents and loved ones, need to foster
attitudes, behaviors, and manners at home that prepare them to learn in and
outside of both the home and classroom. Knowing a lot is not necessarily
wisdom, and in fact, can be fertile ground for foolishness. Learning, which
includes having information, discerning truth, and knowing when to listen, to
speak, and to act, is all part of true wisdom.
There is much foolishness
in our world today. Going back to “Billy Madison,” later in the film when
Sandler’s character is being tested on what he’s learned, he gave a lengthy but
nonsensical reflection on the Industrial Revolution to great applause. The moderator/examiner
responds, “Mr. Madison, what you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic
things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response
were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought.
Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it...” We see and
hear that on multiple fronts around us. To pick up on the titles of a couple
books, our society is being juvenilized. We’re not acting like grown, learned,
thinking adults, but like juveniles. That’s not to say we shouldn’t encourage
our young people to be leaders and to actively participate or that adults can’t
learn anything from them, but let us properly discern what is wisdom and what
is folly. Again, we who are adults should know better in most areas than our
children. So, strive to instruct and prepare and encourage our youth to wisdom.
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