"There is no need to suppose that human beings differ very much one from another: but it is true that the ones who come out on top are the ones who have been trained in the hardest school." (Thucydides - The Peloponnesian War)
I found this quote in a book about education reform. In order to reform education, we must make sure the foundation is strong, solid, and impervious to elements that would make it weak. True education is not free nor is it cheap. It is expensive and worth our best effort both as a teacher and a student. One must sacrifice expedience for experience.
An education cannot be given, it must be earned. Learning can be frightening because it involves failure; we learn best by making mistakes. If we equate learning only to an honor roll or a test score we have lost the meaning of such things as tenacity, responsibility, accountability, discipline, and human connectedness.
Some of the strongest metals come from the hotest furnaces. So it is with education; it is forged in the furnace of human interaction and personal discipline. As wisdom literature says, "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).
It would be idealistic to presume that we can protect our children from the ugly side of humanity. Yet we must instill in them such things as virtue, civility, strength of character, and a deep personal faith. With these qualities students can confidentally face the challenges of a world that is in need of strong and stable leadership.
"Consider it all joy, my bretheren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of you faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-4)
Have faith, God is only perfecting what He started in us!
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