Tag: civic education
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The Separation of School and State
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We’ve all heard the term, “The separation of church and state.” This principle is a fundamental tenet of American democracy. Its function is to prevent any one religion from dominating American political life. Understood differently, it also prevents the realm of culture from dominating that of legal rights. However, this boundary should go both ways.…
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The 250th Fourth of July
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The Fourth of July celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This year marks the 250th anniversary of that event which founded a new nation in rebellion against tyranny. This was to be a nation with limited government powers, such that We, The People, would be free to become ourselves with as minimal interference…
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Human Stewardship
Human stewardship means the human being is a/the steward of nature. This is most often found in theological ideas who believe God has entrusted and endowed us with the capacity to steward nature effectively. Growing numbers of adults and students resist this idea. In fact, some look at humans as a virus that, perhaps, the…
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What is a Secular Education?
In the U.S., states will only fund secular education. This is seen as necessary to uphold the separation of church and state. It’s actually a violation of it, and I will address that in another post. However, that’s not the point of this post which is to ask, “What do we mean by a secular…
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The Danger of Materialistic-Reductionism in Education (and What to Do About It)
It goes without saying that the physical is part of reality. We wouldn’t get very far denying that. However, is the physical all there is? Many people these days would answer “yes” or “probably” to this materialistic reductionism. It is the trend of modern cultural life, particularly in the West, and it has destructive, deadening…
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Explaining AI to Students Part 1 – How Does AI Function?
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In this post, we will focus on explaining AI to students by explaining it to you, the parents. This will be part one of a two-part series. AI (Artificial Intelligence) is not as new as many people think. Aircraft autopilots, automobile GPS’s, website algorithms to calculate airfares, Google searches, scientific research processes, and more have…
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How to Talk to Our Children about AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking the world by storm. Many predict it will change human life as much as the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. Today’s youth are using it like wildfire. Just think of the temptations. They’re not only using it to do their homework, but they are asking it life advice and even in…
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Secular vs. Spiritual Education
In this post, we discuss secular vs. spiritual education and what matters most in this conversation. First of all, Enkindle Academy offers a secular curriculum. That means different things to different people. What we mean by “secular” here is a non-religious, non-sectarian, curriculum inclusive of diverse worldviews. In other words, it does not pressure students…
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Mission Statement
In charting new directions for Enkindle Academy, we have begun asking ourselves a few questions. Whenever starting something new, we’ve learned to start with the end and work backwards. Thereby, the ends weave themselves into the means. We can’t imagine a more sure method to ensure success. Who do we serve? This is the first…
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The Vital Role of Arts in Education
American society has long been questioning the role of arts in education. Are they necessary? As district budgets have tightened, arts have been the first to go in many cases. In fact, according to the Arts Education Data Project (AEDP), in the 2018–19 school year roughly 2.1 million U.S. public-school students lacked access to any…