Common Core and Moral Relativism

Today was a fast Sunday for us. Even though ours was changed officially to next week, we wanted to fast before the election for the country. We also fasted about some other personal things. As we were talking after church we began to discuss some of the thoughts that we had in relation to the things we were fasting for. One of the things we are struggling with is Lilly and school.  We have struggled with her in relation to this before, but somehow she seems to trust her school teachers more than us. We try to teach her right and wrong, but somehow when her teacher's views contradict ours, it is really hard to get her to unlearn what they teach. We were talking about this today and how that is really the thing we need to empower her more with. We home schooled her last year so that we could get her a better foundation with which to come from and have more courage to stand up for the right and be better able to differentiate right from wrong.

One thing that has been on our minds and that we have been discussing a lot lately is moral relativism. It is interesting what an impact it has on our world today. In relation to that, John, specifically mentioned Common core. As we were talking about it we had a flash of understanding and realized a bit of what it is that we are fighting so hard against with public school attendance. That is common core. Common core teaches children subconsciously that there is no right or wrong. For example, when they have kids learn a new math problem they do not teach them how to successfully get an answer, or a "tried and true" method that they can rely on. They instead teach them a variety of different ways to get an answer. They "try" all sorts of different methods. The teacher doesn't care which method they use as long as they eventually get the right answer. Each child uses the method they like the best or that they feel is the best. But, we have found out that there actually is one method they do teach them as the "wrong" method, and that is the "tried and true" method, which is also the most effective and efficient method . For example, Lilly's teacher talked to us about how Lilly uses algorithms in her math (which we taught her). Then she pointed out that they don't teach it that way, but they decided to be okay for her to continue using it for a bit as long as she gets the right answer. But, they also made it clear that they are trying to move her away from that method because they say that the "old" way, does not result in understanding and that it isn't the "correct" way, etc. Essentially, any other way of doing things is okay and acceptable, except the old way.The biggest problem we have seen with this method though is that her mind can't comprehend exactly the why. She has been presented with sooo many different ways of solving 2+2 that sometimes she can't even come up with the right answer. Whereas, when we were teaching her to do things a certain way, the repetition created the understanding, and she always got the right answer and seemed to understand why it was the answer.

It kind of made us think a little bit about how our children are really being taught and submerged in an environment that teaches no "right" or "wrong". Anything is essentially acceptable as long as you know how you got the answer. We were thinking about this because Lilly was doing really well in school and then the past couple of weeks has started to struggle again. She doesn't seem to think that some of the things we have taught her are wrong are wrong. It is very hard to help a child that young to recognize the difference in the first place, and to have a teacher reinforce something different at school makes it especially difficult. It is an interesting world because at the same time, it is important to have understanding. All of our lives do not look the same, so there is something to be said of really understanding the reasoning and then finding what is best for you individually. As we follow God, real understanding strengthens our faith. Sometimes we never do come to real understanding unless we are willing to follow that "tried" and "true" path first without knowing the why and how. I think that most knowledge is that way.

When Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden, Adam made an offering to the Lord. He didn't know "why", he just knew what God had commanded him to do. That was the way he was shown. It wasn't until after he followed that he found out the reason behind it. But, first he was tested to see if he would follow. Then came the understanding. If he hadn't first obeyed, the understanding might never have come.

Truth is not "relative". There is real "truth". We truly can't always understand the things of God because his ways are much higher than our ways. Much of our path in life consists of walking by faith. But, he has shown us a "tried and true" path back to Him. If we follow it, we will surely get there. The truth is that we don't need to try out every other path or method to decide which one we like the best. The truth is that God presented a plan for us to return to Him. That plan provided us a Savior. That plan included giving us prophets and apostles to lead us back home to Him. The truth is that if we follow Him and His commandments, even when we don't totally understand the "Why" or "how", that we will be blessed. Sometimes understanding will come, sometimes it won't. But, the "truth" is that not understanding doesn't change the fact that the result will be right.