To tackle inequality, racial division and anti-police sentiments, former NFL player Jack Brewer is launching the Serving Institute, a faith-based program he says will return the much-needed “fear of God” and “fear of authority” to America’s classrooms.
Brewer, who’s been fighting global poverty through his foundation since 2006, also worked with the Police Athletic League in response to NFL players’ national anthem protests. After noticing that relations between the Black community and police “didn’t necessarily get better,” he began teaching pro athletes and prison inmates. Brewer realized that “access to education” is a key factor in “keeping us divided.”
Jack Brewer Addresses ‘Crazy Educational Gap’
In an interview with The Daily Wire, Jack Brewer explains that the Serving Institute is partnering with Liberty University on a faith-based curriculum for use in private schools. Programs for value-building, etiquette, grammar, sports, assessments, and interventions also are included.
Brewer is excited to “actually start doing something about this crazy educational gap [in America] that’s leaving these inner-city kids’ reading and math proficiency levels lower than third-world countries,” he says. During the summer months, students will do extra work to boost their scores.
Because another goal of the institute is to create “servant leaders,” students will be required to conduct community service—“even if they themselves are less fortunate.” Brewer says, “We’re going to…teach them that through service, they can also empower themselves while they’re empowering their communities.”
Students Need Accountability, Says Jack Brewer
Faith is vital to the Servant Institute, Brewer says, because “we’ve got to get God back in our schools. I’m a believer in that. And most importantly, we’ve got to get discipline back in our schools because when you’re raised in discipline, then you demand discipline from other people as well.”
Of the U.S. educational system, Brewer says, “We’ve gotten so free. When they pulled the paddles out of the schools in the mid-’80s, that’s where this all started. I say it all the time, some kids need the paddle. They need that, that fear of authority being able to tell them what’s right or wrong. That’s why you see people disrespecting cops like they do now.”
Disrespect won’t “go down in my school,” says Brewer. “I can’t paddle [students], but I’m going to do everything except for that. If you do anything that’s disrespectful…I will physically exert you as your punishment so you understand that you have to be held accountable. We need the fear of God back in our schools, and we need our parents to start being parents again and not friends.”
Brewer, a supporter of former President Trump, spoke at the Republican National Convention last August. Recalling his father standing up against a KKK rally in Texas, he said, “I know what racism looks like. I’ve seen it firsthand in America. It has no resemblance to President Trump.”
The former athlete added that he’s “fed up” with portrayals of the 45th president, saying the media “refuse to acknowledge what he’s actually done in the Black community. It’s confusing the minds of our innocent children.”