TINY TYRANTS
Recently I heard about an elementary school student who threw a tantrum in class, tossing furniture and books. He punched the teacher then locked her in the classroom as he escaped into the hall, screaming and tearing things off the walls as he went. Teachers eventually surrounded the boy to limit his rampage but were not permitted to touch him. His tantrum lasted for over an hour.
I see all the heads of my public-school teacher friends who spend more time than they’d like trying to maintain a peaceful and calm learning environment nodding knowingly in assent.
When I was a kid, this behavior would not have been tolerated in any school at any level. Those in authority wouldn’t allow it. It is happening now, at least in part, because authority is undemocratic. It happens now because this is what “democracy” looks like in action.
Democracy is no longer merely a form of government. It is an outlook on life founded on “equality” achieved by elimination of distinctions (if everyone is the same, no one is better or more important) and hierarchies (if no one is more important, no one can be over anyone else).
A democratic approach to life eliminates distinctions like gender and age. People are just people. Men and women are the same, and men can be women and women can be men merely by saying so. Men can marry men, or women, and women can do the same. Everyone is equal and therefore interchangeable. Likewise, no one is better or greater or more important merely because of age or experience. Each person is just a person. We are all equal and interchangeable.
The democratic approach also eliminates hierarchies. One person being over another – an authority – is not democratic, and one who sees relationships as in any way hierarchical is a fascist. Only fascists (like Hitler) relish authority. In truly democratic marriages, families, and schools, no one is an authority. Everyone is the same. Everyone is equal. Everything is interchangeable.
People who approach life this way want children to have adult rights. Kind of. Kids shouldn’t be able to get a tattoo without parental permission and aren’t smart enough to consent to sex, but they should be able to obtain birth control (including abortion), express their transgender feelings, and even get “gender-affirming ‘medical’ treatment” without parents being notified. Suggest that a parent ought to be able to oppose a child on these matters and you may be suspected of being a fascist – or at the very least an abusive parent who needs a stiff visit from Child & Youth Services.
God says differently. The need for authority in our lives is embedded firmly in God’s law: Honor your father and your mother. God puts parents over children, for both protection and provision as well as instruction and direction. Kids enter the world with a basic operating system but without mental software. Children must learn from those who came before them, who have greater knowledge and experience. Proverbs 22.6 and all that.
Life for children is a matter of undemocratic inequality but that inequality is necessary for their survival and the creation of a sane and peaceful world in which they may flourish. Train a child in absolute democracy and you give him both the power and the right to destroy classrooms and assault teachers. You create tiny tyrants.
And who will tell them “No”?
I see all the heads of my public-school teacher friends who spend more time than they’d like trying to maintain a peaceful and calm learning environment nodding knowingly in assent.
When I was a kid, this behavior would not have been tolerated in any school at any level. Those in authority wouldn’t allow it. It is happening now, at least in part, because authority is undemocratic. It happens now because this is what “democracy” looks like in action.
Democracy is no longer merely a form of government. It is an outlook on life founded on “equality” achieved by elimination of distinctions (if everyone is the same, no one is better or more important) and hierarchies (if no one is more important, no one can be over anyone else).
A democratic approach to life eliminates distinctions like gender and age. People are just people. Men and women are the same, and men can be women and women can be men merely by saying so. Men can marry men, or women, and women can do the same. Everyone is equal and therefore interchangeable. Likewise, no one is better or greater or more important merely because of age or experience. Each person is just a person. We are all equal and interchangeable.
The democratic approach also eliminates hierarchies. One person being over another – an authority – is not democratic, and one who sees relationships as in any way hierarchical is a fascist. Only fascists (like Hitler) relish authority. In truly democratic marriages, families, and schools, no one is an authority. Everyone is the same. Everyone is equal. Everything is interchangeable.
People who approach life this way want children to have adult rights. Kind of. Kids shouldn’t be able to get a tattoo without parental permission and aren’t smart enough to consent to sex, but they should be able to obtain birth control (including abortion), express their transgender feelings, and even get “gender-affirming ‘medical’ treatment” without parents being notified. Suggest that a parent ought to be able to oppose a child on these matters and you may be suspected of being a fascist – or at the very least an abusive parent who needs a stiff visit from Child & Youth Services.
God says differently. The need for authority in our lives is embedded firmly in God’s law: Honor your father and your mother. God puts parents over children, for both protection and provision as well as instruction and direction. Kids enter the world with a basic operating system but without mental software. Children must learn from those who came before them, who have greater knowledge and experience. Proverbs 22.6 and all that.
Life for children is a matter of undemocratic inequality but that inequality is necessary for their survival and the creation of a sane and peaceful world in which they may flourish. Train a child in absolute democracy and you give him both the power and the right to destroy classrooms and assault teachers. You create tiny tyrants.
And who will tell them “No”?