The future depends on education. That’s true for every individual and its true for our country. The latest education test scores show we’re in trouble.

Stephen Moore, well-known economist, writes in The Epoch Times, “Just how much longer will American parents, their kids, business leaders, and the political class tolerate the dreadful performance of our public schools? It’s arguably the greatest threat to our nation’s economic health and our national security.”

The latest Nation’s Report Card test scores are dismal and heartbreaking. The crash that started with inexcusable COVID-19-era school closures has continued over a cliff in almost every state. The top 25 percent of eighth graders have seen math scores rebound a little bit from 2022, but they’re still below 2019. The other 75 percent of kids’ scores have remained the same or dropped. The reading scores were even worse. Johnny can’t read.

What’s especially troubling is that scores for the lowest-performing students from disadvantaged families have fallen the most. Anyone concerned about income inequality should be protesting from the rafters.

But Washington responded with a giant yawn. The teachers unions predictably called for more money. Per-pupil funding is up by more than 50 percent—after adjusting for inflation—in most states since 1980, yet test scores are flat or falling. Former President Joe Biden added $175 billion in federal education spending, and look what we got for the money. Nothing. The money is making teachers unions richer, but not improving the education of our youth.

Moore says, “President Donald Trump should call for a national education emergency. Forty years ago, the federal report card on education warned that our schools were facing a “crisis of mediocrity.” Four decades later, mediocrity would be an improvement.”

Trump has already taken important steps. He held an education summit last week that Moore and many of the nation’s governors attended. He has issued an executive order on school choice that would allow parents whose kids attend failing schools to have federal funds to attend higher-performing private and Catholic schools.

There are signs of real progress in some states. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee just signed into law the most ambitious school choice program in the nation. Texas—with its 5 million schoolchildren—is likely to follow suit in the months ahead. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is also committed to choice, and his state was one of the few that actually recorded improved test scores. Louisiana has done a wholesale makeover of its learning with a program called “evidence-based curriculum.” Do what works. What a concept.

It used to be that the education crisis in America was mostly restricted to the inner cities with low-income residents, crime, drugs, and mostly uneducated female-headed households. But now even many middle-class suburban areas are falling behind as well. The infection of failure is spreading, and more money is only buying worse results.

Meanwhile, other nations such as China and India are focusing their schools on science, technology, engineering, and math, and graduating many more math and science majors into the workforce than we are.

Moore says, “It’s being called our 21st-century Sputnik moment, and we’d better win the education race if we’re going to stay the global superpower.”

The problem boils down to teachers unions. Do we care more about the unions or the students we are trying to educate? The solution is school choice, which is the only way to stop the impact of teachers unions on destroying the education of our children.

In Part I of this series, we learned that love is very potent medicine. Scientific studies have shown that those who feel loved have better immune systems, faster wound healing, and lower rates of angina pectoris, or chest pain.

In Part II, however, we will learn that the absence of love can be quite detrimental to your health. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 17:22 “A joyful heart is good medicine.” But the rest of that verse adds, “But a broken spirit dries up the bones.”  Makai Allbert, writing in The Epoch Times, tells us love can heal, yet its absence can be emotionally painful—even physically devastating.

In 2005, a group of research doctors from Johns Hopkins University wrote a study on a heart condition known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome—a nickname medical professionals don’t object to.Stress-induced cardiomyopathy occurs after people—primarily women older than age 65—experience sudden acute emotional stress. This could be caused by the death of a loved one, the breakup of a relationship, or another distressing event.

Research reveals that these “broken hearts” often exhibit an enlarged and ballooning left ventricle. While this condition can lead to adverse outcomes, including higher mortality, it is typically reversible with appropriate care, as the affected heart muscle remains viable and capable of recovery.

Truong Nguyen, an obstetrician and gynecologist, said he believes love should be at the core of medical practice. “Do no harm” is not enough, he said, suggesting that medical staff should truly care for patients with the love and attention they would show to friends or family. He told The Epoch Times that you don’t have to look far to see the absence of care in medicine, as medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States.

Showing love for patients promotes their safety and cultivates a positive mindset that can help them heal. Furthermore, many modern treatments have limitations, and that’s where spirituality or belief in God may be helpful, he said. As he pointed out, this “intervention” has no negative side effects.

Love as an emotion and intervention does not have to come from a single individual. Many people feel a higher or more transcendent love, usually associated with religious experiences. A study by Jeff Levin at Baylor University examined the concept of religious love, defined as the feeling of loving or being loved by God. The findings indicated a significant association between perceived divine love and self-reported health ratings.

How do we harness the power of love?

Here is where I depart from the author of this article and the physicians he quotes. While they advocate “Six Ways to Harness the Power of Love” by drawing on positive thoughts, self-love, keeping a journal, and other self-help remedies, I would take a more spiritual approach.

The author of all love is God. The Bible tells us in I John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”  If you truly want to love and be loved, you must know God. And to know God, you must know His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30. To know Jesus is to know God. And to know God, is to know love. That’s the best medicine of all!

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine.” This wisdom actually comes from the Bible. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A joyful heart is good medicine.”  But did you know that love may be even better? In this Valentine’s Day season, this may be the most important message of all!

Makai Allbert, writing in The Epoch Times, tells us science continues to develop an increasingly nuanced and comprehensive understanding of love and its effects on the body.

In a seminal experiment published in JAMA Psychiatry, researchers found that couples with warm and affectionate interactions healed 40 percent faster from minor blister wounds than those who argued or demonstrated hostility.

The study suggests that positive emotional states generated by loving relationships activate the parasympathetic nervous system, often called the “rest and digest” system, which can reduce inflammation and accelerate cellular repair. By contrast, hostile relationships inhibited healing by 60 percent, likely because of elevated stress hormones such as cortisol.

Dr. Cynthia Thaik, a Harvard-trained cardiologist and medical director of Holistic Healing Heart Center, told The Epoch Times that love heals at a biochemical level by releasing oxytocin, a neuropeptide often called the “feel-good” or “love” hormone. According to Thaik, this hormone reduces stress and improves immune function.

Love naturally lessens feelings of pain. A Stanford University study exposed a group of participants to moderate levels of thermal pain while showing them photos of their romantic partners. This group reported significantly lower pain than those who were either shown a photo of an acquaintance or were given a task as a distraction—such as “think of as many sports as possible that do not use a ball.”

The heart is universally recognized as a symbol of love, and fittingly, love significantly affects the heart itself. A study that asked 10,000 men the question “Does your wife show you her love?” found that those who answered “yes” had a 50 percent lower rate of angina pectoris, or chest pains. This reduction was present even in men with high-risk factors such as high cholesterol and diabetes.

“Love heals the heart and inspires peace, harmony, and calmness,” said Thaik, who approaches heart health holistically. “In order to maintain a balanced and healthy physical heart, we must take care to feed the emotional heart.”

Indeed, love directly affects how your heart works. A study by Brooks Gump, endowed professor of public health at the Falk College at Syracuse University, showed that when people were around their spouses or partners, their blood pressure decreased. Interestingly, even if the relationship was not a particularly happy one, blood pressure still dropped.

Today, we have learned of the many positive effects of love on our health. Next post we will learn what happens in the absence of love.