Die 'New Right'–beweging as reaksie op die sekulêr–humanistiese opvoedingsgedagte in Noord–Amerika

Abstract

During the first decades of twentieth century public schools in North America were still, with regard to their spirit and direction, very similar to the ideal of the Christian school. Gradually, however, a process of secularization began to take place. Public education reached a nadir as a result of the influence of the influence of secular humanism. Through legislation God (represented by Scripture reading, prayers and religious instruction) was banned from public education and humanist education came into conflict with parents who wanted their children to have a Christian education. During the past three decades there has therefore developed a trend in the USA of private schools springing up all over. The reason for this can be sought in the widespread dissatisfaction with public education. The New Right Movement is a Christian conservative movement working towards a Christian way of doing things in all spheres, but for purposes of this investigation I concentrated on the New Right Movement's support for Christian educative teaching. In the RSA radical constitutional · changes are taking place. From the side of government the flow of information about the existence and nature of Christian education in future is very thin. A new government of national unity will probably not be pertinently directed at and directed by Christian norms and values, but will probably be guided by humanist and revolutionary views. Everything points towards Christian educative teaching not being protected by law in future. Concomitant with that, spiritual superficiality, moral decay, falling educational standards and cultural and life view diversity among the South African population constitute a fertile soil for secular humanism in the long term to strengthen its grip on Christian educative teaching. The two catchwords of secular humanism, viz. freedom and democracy, already figure strongly in the fields of politics and education in the RSA. The literature survey made possible the following conclusions: * * The Christian religious ground motif should still play the decisive role in educative teaching. Parental involvement and the right to have a say remain necessary on an ongoing basis to maintain the link between the parental home and the school in the field of life view. A unitary education system, which ignores the religious and cultural diversity of the inhabitants of the country, cannot be justified. xi It is recommended that the secular-humanist onslaught in the RSA can be countered by sustained Christian educative teaching, the founding of private schools with a strong input by parents, and the energy and enthusiasm of devoted Christian teachers.