When we begin homeschooling, it’s easy to fall into the mindset of ticking all the boxes. We search for the perfect curriculum, hoping that if we cover all the subjects, complete all the lessons, and meet every standard, our children will receive “an education.” However, education is far more than checking off boxes and completing exams. The true purpose of education is determined by our perspective of the world and our place within it. How we view children, humanity, and the ultimate meaning of life shapes the way we teach, the subjects we prioritize, and the habits we cultivate in our daily lives.
The Behavioralist Model of Education
Up until the late 19th century, the Biblically based Classical Model of education was the principal form of education in the Western world. It was not until Behaviorism rose to prominence in the 20th century through psychologists like B. F. Skinner and Edward Thorndike, that views on learning dramatically shifted. Rather than education being understood as the cultivation of thought, character, or virtue, many began to adopt the viewpoint that a change in observable behavior was the goal of education. Children, in this paradigm, are seen as blank slates whose actions can be shaped by carefully applied rewards, punishments, and repetition. Thorndike explained that “the only outcome of education worth considering is measurable behavior,” while Skinner argued that “education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.”
From this perspective, the child is a project to be molded, not a person to be nurtured. Lessons are designed for efficiency, consistency, and societal utility rather than for cultivating wonder, moral discernment, or a love for learning. We can observe this in our modern public-school classrooms and, in some cases, modern homeschooling, where compliance is prioritized over curiosity and conformity over individuality. Students are encouraged to regurgitate information rather than engage with information. Furthermore, students are evaluated solely by numeric metrics, leaving little room for assessing character, moral reasoning, or the integration of knowledge into life.
In essence, the behaviorist model reduces education to training behaviors, while
minimizing the intrinsic worth and unique purpose of the child.
The Biblical and Classical Model of Education
The Biblical/Classical worldview sees education as a sacred task rooted in each child’s God-given identity and value:
- Children are made in the image of God, with eternal worth and purpose.
- Education is about forming character, wisdom, and virtue for life and eternity.
- Methods focus on discipleship, nurturing truth, goodness, and beauty.
One proponent of such an education was Charlotte Mason, a 19th-century English educator. Mason argued that children are born persons, not empty vessels to be filled or machines to be trained. This principle of children being “born persons” frames everything: our task as parents and educators is to respect their dignity, guide their development, and expose them to what is true, good, and beautiful, rather than simply training them to produce measurable outcomes.
Education should not be the mere act of cramming knowledge into a child’s head, but the development of a reasoning person. Dorothy Sayers, English writer and essayist of the 20th-century, explained this in The Lost Tool of Learning: “Is not the great defect of our education today… that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils ‘subjects,’ we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think?” And again, “For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.”
Sayers insists that education must cultivate independent thinking, judgment, and moral discernment, aligning perfectly with the Biblical call to nurture character and virtue.
The Importance of How We Approach Education
While choosing curriculum and planning lessons can feel overwhelming, educating your children has eternal significance. What’s more, your approach to education matters. It’s not just what we teach that matters, but how we teach it. The methods, atmosphere, and underlying philosophy shape the child as much as the content itself.
- A behaviorist approach may produce competent, test-ready individuals, but it often neglects character, curiosity, and the formation of judgment.
- A Classical and Biblical approach, rooted in the belief that children are born persons, cultivates both mind and heart. It values the development of virtues, habits, and wisdom alongside knowledge.
- Every story read, every question pondered, and every living idea introduced becomes part of the child’s moral and spiritual formation.
How we approach education communicates our beliefs about human dignity, purpose, and the ultimate goals of life. In other words, education is never neutral because it either shapes workers or forms souls.
By pausing to reflect on our approach, we ensure that every lesson, every interaction, and every environment we create honors the child as a person of intrinsic and eternal worth.
Your children are born persons, treasured by God, and entrusted to your care. The true purpose of education is cultivating the whole child in the pursuit of that which is true, good, and beautiful.
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