Why Does God Command Us to Seek Learning?

Education strengthens individuals and families, and strong families strengthens communities and nations. Education is important to God. He commands that we gain as much knowledge as possible in this life because knowledge is the only asset that we can take with us into the next life. However, education can be obtained in many different ways and places.

As valuable as education is, we must be careful about the education that we make available to the next generation as well as for ourselves. This includes being choosy about the individuals that we allow to teach members of our families. The elite universities are currently showing us that they have professors who should not be teaching American students. Victor Davis Hanson published an article in The Daily Signal about education in America and its current status. 

Elite higher education – long questioned as globally preeminent – is facing a perfect storm.

Fewer applicants, higher costs, impoverished students, collapsing standards, and increasingly politicized and mediocre faculty reflect a collapse of the university system. The country is waking up to the reality that a bachelor’s degree no longer equates with graduates being broadly educated and analytical. Just as often, they are stereotyped as pampered, largely ignorant, and gratuitously opinioned.

No wonder polls show a drastic loss of public respect for higher education and, specifically, a growing lack of confidence in the professoriate.

Each year, there are far fewer students entering college. Despite a U.S. population 40 million larger than 20 years ago, fertility rates have fallen in two decades from some 500,000 births per year.

Meanwhile, from 1980 to 2020, room, board, and tuition increased by 170%.

According to Hanson, this high cost for higher education is caused by more than just inflation. Expanded administrative staffs at the universities and lightened faculty teaching loads add to the cost. The costs also rise because the number of students is shrinking despite universities offering more luxuries, such as “loco parentis counseling, Club Med-style dorms and accommodations, and extracurricular activities.”

As with almost everything else in our lives, education comes at various levels of expense. Community colleges and state universities offer education at lower tuition rates than due the elite universities. There are also trade schools where students can learn an important trade for less money and time.

There is also life-long learning that can take place on the individual level. Our children must go to some kind of after-high school education. Their education should be in fields or trades where they can learn enough to provide good living. Then they should continue to study and learn in areas that will improve their lives. People will good educations strengthen families, communities, and nations.