ENDANGERED MAN A ND THE SOLUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF EDUCATION*

That man is endangered has been a current tru th for all centuries, as the threats confronting man had their roots in the fall of man in Paradise. Through sin, evil entered creation and will persist until the last day. But God has also called upon his chosen to com bat evil and thus also the threats. Man is threatened on all levels of existence: his physical survival — through disease, pollution, famine and terrorism; but also psychologically and spiritually — by mental disorders, ideologies, “evil spirits” . And because man is a transcendental being, the battle for his soul contains the strongest threat. Endangered man is, generally, the prey of Satan, and would be totally vulnerable w ithout G od’s great mercy. For the purpose of this paper 1 want to be more specific and define “m an” as the South African, and in some cases more particularly the Christian Afrikaner, as this is the subject taught by the teacher of the Christian faith trained by us at the PU for CHE.

ply the provision of survival recipes.On the oth er hand all aspects of the threat to m an are presently of significance, as these all implicate b o th the science and the process of education: the child in the to tality of its being is th e object o f these tw o fields, and the Christian p aren t and Christian teacher have to reply to the threats and educate the child to assume a responsible and viable position.
The reply or solution o f the Christian in this respect is th a t of the parent as prim ary educator, b u t specifically the reply of the teacher, as education ist and professional educator.
However significant the threats on the level o f physical survival might be, the greatest th reat is to be found on the level o f m an 's soul and spirit.It is in this field where E ducation can make its greatest co n trib u tio n in the iden tification o f threats to the world view we hold and in creating a viable response in our y o u th .The threats will be approached from tw o angles, viz.o f world view and of the educational, social and cultural spheres.

Materialism
The West has becom e to a large extent th e exponent o f the free, dem o cratic civilization and as such has becoi. .th e exam ple since the middle of this century also as regards education and teaching.World views have cros sed international frontiers and in this fashion m aterialism has becom e ro o ted in South A frica to o .Duvenage (IAC Study no. 34) claims th a t in the "A m erican Way o f L ife" stress is laid on a pragm atistic, m aterialistic oriented striving for efficiency, u tility , progress and equality.This approach has, since the Russian S putnik in 1957, been dissem inated also in education, where stress has since been laid on the pragm atic, on knowledge for the sake o f know ledge, and progress.
A ccording to Christopher Dawson (1962, pp. 32-33) pow ers in Western civilization now adays are shaped m ore by th e dollar sign than by the Cross.T he way in which m oral values are a t present being stretched in the in ter national political game in personal interests is felt particularly keenly by S outh A frica.Ju stice is n o t ju st any m ore m eted o u t according to moral standards b u t according to w hat is m ost lucrative -be it oil or potential m arkets.

.H u m a n ism
For the hum anist man occupies the centre.An exaggerated vision of free dom and the right of the individual engenders the fact that man is put on a pedestal.Add to this the smugness of the miracle man of the technological age (Viljoen, 1973, p. 19), his "natural sinless sta te " , his "inherent good ness", and it becomes clear that this m an, who has declared God dead along with N ietzche, does not need G od any more.Sometimes Humanism presents itself subtly clothed in Christianity in its absolutization of man (I)uvenage, IAC, No. 34).The World Council o f Churches is a good exam ple of this; "Social G ospel" has replaced real religion, because Humanism places man at the core.This is the great danger o f Humanism: it subtly disengages man from God -the " a d u lt" , em ancipated individual is so flattered th at in his idolization of the self he does not need G od any more.

?.3 Com m unism
Of the Com m unist one can at least say that one always knows where one stands with him (Krasnopevtsev 8c Pimenov, 1970/7 1, p. 92): "We orient the Komsomol activists tow ard incisive, energetic, and em o tional propaganda and tow ard the explaining of the Leninist thesis th at the notion of God has always dulled and blunted the social feelings of the indi vidual and has substituted decay for life.Religious m orality is the m orality o f the weak.It is a m orality oriented tow ard conciliation, meekness, and all forgiveness, and therefore it is a m orality which debases human dignity and dulls its most im portant aspect its creative foundation.This is our most im po rtan t, guiding principle in our w ork, and we constantly emphasize the passivity of the religious moral ideal" .
" In all our atheistic propaganda and in all our ideological work, we strive to indoctrinate every young boy and girl in the spirit of our com munist world view" (p.93).
Communism is aiways revolutionary.They recognise only two kinds of people: those who exploit their fellowm en, and those who are exploited.In its strategy of revolution Com munism accentuates each element which might prom ote the polarising of exploited and exploiter.The icvolntioiun y anarchy resulting from this is exploited by Communism tor its own p u r poses.U ltim ately Com munism then dissolves all dividing lines among people: nationality, race, ability and intelligence (I)e Villiers, I97(>, p .2 I), and the diversity o f created reality is negated to allow ultim ately onlv of an anonym ous mass obedient only to Com m unism .

2,4 Liberalism (an d In tern a tio n a lism )
Liberalism, witli its absolutization of human freedom , has a long history and various accents can be distinguished in this field of thought which then links up with other philosophies such as Humanism, Com m unism , E xistent ialism and Neo-Marxism.The Liberalist regards the total sovereignty of the individual as of crucial significance.For the application of this philosophy it is essential that all men be made equal -diversity has to be eliminated.Minority groups, such as the whites in South Africa, have to be sacrificed to attain the ideal of Liberalism.Meyer (1968, p. 19) discusses the progression of dechristianization and says th at "the third phase of the dechristianization of Western man am ounts to his being u prooted from family, nation and country; from his traditions, the norm s contained in his confession of faith -all this is dem anded to act as basis for the establishm ent o f an integrated spiritual world u n ity ..." .It starts with Humanism, goes on to Communism and ultim ately goes on to the logical conclusion of international Liberalism.Coetzee (1973) declares that Liberalism, with its stress on absolute free dom for the individual, manifests itself on many fronts.Man, come of age, docs n o t need God any m ore; the "d ig n ity" of man supposes a horizontalisin with a horizontal dim ension.The negation of national differences leads to internationalism , the ideal of a great cosm opolitan state with cosm opo litan citizens.In our age the absolutization of m an's freedom manifests it self in total permissiveness -each individual has the right o f choice to what he wants to do.Christian principles, norms and values have no place left in art, literature, and other fields; im m orality is revealed in a blunting of con science; that which is sinful is condoned as entertainm ent for "ad u lts" .
Liberalism, which at present is manifesting itself strongly as in tern atio n alism (specifically of the American brand), has exacted a heavy toll from South Africa too.It would seem as if the West, in an overcom pensatory spirit of com m itted war crimes of the past and a history of imperialism now strives to rid itself of a guilt com plex and seems to need a scapegoat.A new ideological imperialism means that South Africa has to carry the burden of the sick conscience of the West.

Existentialism , H orizontalism and Secularism
Duvenage (IAC No. 34) declares th a t the revolution o f the tw entieth century was instigated by the philosophy o f Existentialism w hich, in its atheist form , prepared the way for secularism with nihilism and totalitarian-ism as its concom itants.Existentialism , focussing as it does on m an 's earthly existence, has uprooted man and left him high and dry, feeling threatened and anxiety-ridden in this w orld.I'he order of G o d 's creation evades him.He has not been placed in a specific environm ent and situation by Godrather does he feel himself washed up on an alien shore.It is thus no wonder th at he feels a need for a "Social G ospel" which preaches socialist horizontalism.
Existentialist individualism was initiated by the philosophical writings of Jean-Paul Sartre, A lbert Camus and H erbert Marcuse.The political resistance em anating from these philosophies is exploited fully by the com m unists for their own purposes (Botha,OCA 68).Botha stresses Christopher D aw son's analysis of the crisis of Western civilization in which he disting uishes tw o tendencies: A totalitarian type of revolutionary ideology (Com munism and Neo-Marxism) and the liberalist form of dechristianization.It is to the latter specifically th at existentialism contributes.In many Afri kaans w riters' work the existentialist vision is exem plified: read Brink, Leroux and Breytenbach to get to know man in his forlornness, his selfdeterm ination and his quest for real meaning in existence (Duvenage,IAC,34).
This view o f life has infiltrated South African national life and is also underm ining South African yo uth.It is subtly aided by the gap between the Christian world view and the neutral view of life (Botha,IAC 68).Add to this the trem endous influence of m odern technology and the result is man bound by a tem poral ("dieseitige") existence.I w ould suggest also that existentialist influences can be discerned in educational theory in South Africa.Man who has declared himself em ancipated from God is horizontalized and secularized man.Kroeze (1979, p. 208) warns against this when he points o u t th a t the continuing process of world uniform ity has become very insistent today.

Neo-M arxism and th e N ew L e ft
I'he New Left is th e exponent of the new revolution and aims at the total disintegration of W estern C ulture; it w ould subjugate the existing dem ocra tic structure and su bstitute for it a perfect society in which the individual is absolutely free (De Villiers, 1 9 7 6 ,p p. 103-5).
Neo-Marxism to a large extent can be seen as being similar to the funda m ental religious p attern of Humanism.This also emerges in the educational theory of Neo-Marxism: education aim ed at achieving an em ancipated per sonality, critical ratio n ality , liberation from norm s and religious convictions, from achievem ent and authoritarian education, education towards resistance to the State and to sexual freedom (Van Wyk, 1973).
The New L eft, as a carrier o f Permissive Liberalism, concentrates on moral degeneration, e x p lo ita tio n 'o f sex, especially by means of pornography, and an underm ining of au thority .This new revolution is directed particularly at the young and at intellectuals as agents (Viljoen, 1973, p. 19).To achieve their goal, Neo-Marxists use music and art in particular.The ex ten t to which this conditioning has already progressed in South Africa is clear from the ex tent to which certain so-called art forms and especially rock music have been accepted by the young.v 3. The th reat from th e educational, social and cultural spheres Onslaughts from the ranks of the philosophies discussed above often find fertile ground am ong th e young as a result of broken family realities and also w hat can be regarded as broad secondary educational influences.

The fa m ily as the primary educational situation
The endangered being within the educational situation of the family is the child who is vulnerable as the result of all sorts of corrosive factors in the context o f family education; the im m ature child then inevitably one day becomes a derailed adult.A few aspects of family education regarded as threatening the child in its being will be briefly looked at.
The increasing incidence of family disintegration is leaving children in creasingly confused em otionally.O ften there is little possibility o f religious education so th a t the young person, under these circum stances, falls an easy prey to social-pathological phenom ena such as drug abuse and sub-cultural groupings.
Professional dem ands on parents are becom ing stronger so th a t parents have less and less tim e to devote to children.Social and o th er obligations lead to the disintegration o f the tight family structure.The fath er, who has to determ ine the status o f the fam ily, is often so intensively co m m itted to his profession th a t he becom es alienated from his children.This p h enom en on has th e result th a t the father-figure is becom ing increasingly vague.T o gether with the influence o f especially Liberalism and Neo-Marxism this is leading to a subtle negatory process of sexual id en tity.
The m odern family is becom ing more and m ore dem ocratic, even perm is sive, so th a t Christian principles, norm s and values are n o t deliberately incul cated in children any m ore, so th a t in this to o they becom e th e prey of secularism.
T o d ay 's child is often n o t granted the tim e to be truly a child: the parent overloads the child's curriculum with all sorts of activities, knowledge is ex panding and syllabi are becom ing accordingly crow ded, so that scholastic dem ands on children are at present exceptionally high.In this m anner child ren are forced to becom e m ature, b u t their years of dependence are increased because of long periods of study.
As far as living space is concerned, urbanization dem ands a heavy toll in term s o f a ch ild 's mental health.It is calculated that by 2000 AD plus-minus 95 percent o f all whites in the world will live in cities.The modern child has greatly lost contact with nature because he has becom e a city and flat dw el ler.At the same tim e the average w hite South African has an excess of m a terial goods, which in many cases leads to a superficial materialism and a pathological pursuit of progress and status, usually at the cost of personal contact in the fam ily; som ething which might aid the adaptation to the rapid changes.Present-day-m an, even in the co ntext of the family, has fal len prey to Alvin T o ffler's concept of future shock.

Secondary educational influences
Here we include influences which do not belong exclusively to the family situation, even though they may be linked with it.A few brief references should suffice.
M odern man has becom e largely self-sufficient as a result of his tech n o lo gical achievements.He does not need God any more.At the same tim e he has becom e degraded, a depersonalized ro b o t, part of a mass, w ithout indi viduality (Van der W esthuizen, 1974, p. 5).M an's closed individual milieu has been effectively invaded as a result of effective com m unication -m odern traffic, the press, radio and television.Isolation and the m aintenance o f our own principles have becom e very .difficult as normlessness, superficiality and fatalism have becom e the hall marks o f m odern internationalism .Van der W esthuizen (1974, pp. 5-7) also m entions the increasing religions uncertainties of confused, anchorless youth young people who cammi perceive any aim or purpose in life.N eutrality, uncom m itm em and psy ch o logical isolation are hallmarks of modern man.For the purpose of this paper we regard the responding Christian as in the first place th e paren t as prim ary educator and secondly as formal educa tionist -the teacher and his assistants in the wider co n tex t o f education.

The task o f the parent
The Christian (faithful) parent gives his child the love, security, fear of G od and Christian principles he needs to becom e a dignified hum an being.This he can only do if he puts dow n sturdy and w orthw hile foundations: a healthy family life, where father and m other are available; education based on the principles of the Word o f G od, and no hum anist or laissez-faire a t titude; use of the privileges of civilization, b u t no slavish dependence on these; and, above all, a healthy world view, based on the unfalsified truths o f the Word o f G od (Kruger, 1975, p. 115).
The parent has to educate the child tow ards preparedness, especially spiritual preparedness and viability.T he family, as the source o f society, is ultim ately responsible to educate the child in the fear of G od, because only the truly faithful is able to take up a position against th e dissenting views discussed above.De Villiers (1976, pp . 172-197) stresses the educational task of the parent as regards the ch ild 's em otional security based on parental love; education aimed at acceptence of authority by parental example also; and religious education, as the m ost im portant aspect o f the ch ild 's education as it encompasses all other facets.

The task o f the school
According to Dawson (1962, p. 32) education is always in the service of the underlying philosophy of the relevant state or governm ent.Jo h n D e w ey's outspoken dem ocratic educational theory has culm inated, in co n tem porary America, in a total absolutization of the liberty of th e individual, which is fundam entally a form of Liberalist Humanism.The same p h en o m enon is perceptible in Marxism.The ranks of th e faithful, therefore, should p rotect Christian civilization by means of Christian education at p ri m ary, secondary and tertiary levels.Christian education has to re-initiate the possibility for th e p rom otion of religious truths again: art, architecture, m usic, po etry , dram a, philosophy and history (B otha, IAC 68).Education is after all the most pow erful means to render us prepared and viable in the struggle against the cultural revolution and to deepen our awareness of our own Christian cultural heritage (De Klerk,I AC 69).
In South A frica, Act No. 39 of 1967 enables the Christian teacher to educate children according to the tenets of the Christian faith.J u s t as the parent may not abdicate his responsibility tow ards the education of his children, so the teacher may n ot ignore his vocation, which is to inculcate in the child a Christian world view which will render him spiritually prepared and viable for the future.
Seen from national and Christian focal points, education tow ards p re paredness and viability for the South African (and m ore particularly the Afrikaner) child implies: Firstly, education tow ards loyalty to principles, to national id en tity , acknow ledgem ent of authority and discipline and an unshakeable belief in the H oly, trinitarian G od, " from W hom, by Whom and to W hom " all things m ust ultim ately be.
Secondly: knowledge of th e th rea t, uncom prom ising moral standards and acceptance th at the light will be visible only in the light of G o d 's Word.

4.
What is the solution o f the Christian educationist and educator to these threats?