Postman finished and current readings

Well, to sum the Technopoly up, Postman ends by saying that education is the one place that could set controls on technology and re-establish healthy habits in our cutlure. I agree, but it is too bad the church wasn't on his list.

Moving on, I have been reading/finished a couple of other books.
For Christians in Education, you MUST read - The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age without Good or Evil. James Davison Hunter offers an amazing critique of the movements that have swayed educational paradigms, and offers a chapter of critique on the protestant churches while applauding certain faithful Catholic and Jewish Communities. The way Hunter sees moral education most fully incarnated and taught is through the consistent communities that live out their morality in service to each other and to their broader communities. It is a powerful testament to faith communities, and a radical call to protestant churches to rethink their childrens' education. I have passed copies of the articles out to quite a few people I respect, and have received primarily positive responses.

My critique on Hunter is that he didn't go far enough. This may have been limited by his publisher, but this is where I would have gone next. In an Excursus after Chapter 8, he mentions 5 different mentalities that guide moral orientation (Expressivist, Utilitarian, Civic Humanist, Conventionalist, and Theist) in America. He then shows significant data regarding these orientations. There is an obvious trend for the Expressivist and Utilitarian to have no true north of moral orientation. It leads to a moment by moment, choice by choice basis. These students were most likely to lie, cheat, steal, and undergo sexual promiscuity if the opportunity presented itself. Flat in the middle was the Civic humanist, and the Conventionalist and Theist were the most likely to NOT lie, cheat, steal, or be sexually promiscuous. Hunter uses these data to emphasize the need for teaching of an objective, innate understanding of right and wrong (per C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity).

I think, for Christians, this falls a bit short. The primary reason we are moral is because we are called to love God and obey his commands. The question of why God made the rules he did is another thing. God's reasons seem to be all 5 of the categories mentioned by Hunter. They are to make the people feel good, they are useful (especially in Deuteronomy for tilling land, et. al.) they are good for the community at large, they are to honor our parents, and they exist because God made them. This seems to be a more complete, albeit short and simplistic perspective on morality. Hunter's challenge to America, and to any person that reads this book is: How do we teach our kids right and wrong? Do we say that doing good makes others and the self feel good and vice versa for bad? Or do we teach our kids that laws were created to glorify a Holy God? I hope I teach my kids the latter with a holistic perspective following. But needless to say, American Christians and churches need to rethink their understanding and teaching of morality.