Adventist Education--What It's All About (Part 2)

The Seventh-day Adventist college was established with the same aims and ob­jectives as the Biblical schools of the proph­ets. Even as the schools of the prophets were to "serve as a barrier against the wide­spreading corruption, to provide for the mental and spiritual welfare of the youth, . . . [to train] men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors" (Education, p. 46), so also should the Christian college of today.

Doctrines are important, but of greater value is a living experience of these prin­ciples. Without these virtues the educated individual becomes a mental mendicant in that he has little to give and always bor­rows, begs, or steals from others, a practice accepted by a selfish society.

Much of what has been said about teach­ing scriptural truth may also be said about other disciplines. A teacher, regardless of discipline, must not be content with im­parting only technical knowledge intended to train clever accountants, skillful arti­sans, successful tradesmen, accomplished musicians, competent scientists, noted his­torians, famous physicians, and other pro­fessional personalities. Beyond this is God, who gives meaning to knowledge.

Proper but Not Complete

A student's quest in college involves the universe and his relationship to it. He studies the sciences to learn something of the physical nature of his world. Psychol­ogy, sociology, history, and ethics give him some insight into the personal elements of his environment—how people behave and why. Foreign languages also, besides being tool subjects, are excursions into thought patterns of peoples. And English shares the same values. Other disciplines are pursued with certain earthy objectives that are proper but not complete. Regardless of the discipline, the student will not receive the right perspective when viewed apart from God.

Dr. R. B. Kuiper, former president of Calvin College, well illustrated this point when he said, "One may look at a window­pane in one of two ways. Either he may stare at the pane itself and make it alone the object of observation, or he may look through the pane up at the heavens. So there are two ways of studying nature and history. One may lose himself in the bare facts, or one may look up through the facts at God, who is revealed in all the works of His hands and in the guidance of the des­tinies of men and nations."

In giving thought to curricular disci­plines relative to the developmental needs of the Christian student, the following questions must be considered:

a. Is all our instruction such as would encourage the acceptance of Christian values and lead to Christian commitment

b. Is it necessary to teach the ideas com­ing from the mind of the confused and un­regenerate individual who has little or no personal relationship with the God of the universe, who is the source of all truth?

c. Need truth be associated with the false and undesirable to be fully appre­ciated and understood?

Virus of Obsessive Sexuality

d. Since the virulence of the hidden viruses is greatly accented by the exceed­ingly tenuous boundary line between the obscene and the decent realities, or the demoralizing and the morally ennobling values in our culture and life, what care should be exercised in the selection of source materials? Viruses of obsessive sexuality, violence, and crime are hidden in the "supposedly decent literature and fine arts, in our free press, movies, radio, and tele­vision, in our alluring advertising, pros­perous economy, and power policies, and even in our modern science, 'rational' phi­losophy, and Treudianized' religion." What is the responsibility of a Christian college in providing an antidote or disin­fection to the demoralization, stultification, and falsification of the real and eternal values?

e. Is it possible that we may enjoy clos­ing the classroom door to resurrect Aris­totle and Hegel, Darwin and Dewey, Kant and Shakespeare, only to leave Christ hanging on the cross, unrecognized and unwanted?

f. Since little attention has yet been given to the moral aimlessness of much of higher education, should we not give greater emphasis to certain values that may be considered absolute without jeop­ardizing painstaking inquiry?

The social utility value of education is of paramount importance. But it is equally important that education be instrumental in liberating the individual human mind. Instead of being motivated by fears, the in­dividual will then be influenced by honest convictions. True education permits the fullest development of individual intelligence and ambition. It is both discipline and delight, resulting in the flow of meaningful and lasting benefits from men and women who have tasted the pleasure of learning.

Mediocrity Taboo

Intellectual competence is not alien to or incompatible with a sincere Christian faith. On the contrary, when a Christian college is wholly committed to God and His truth, it must, to the best of its ability, remove mediocrity from the curricula, the staff, and the program in general. To de­velop a creative mind, the curricular disci­plines must be so ordered as to fulfill the challenge inherent in the following quota­tion: "Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator—individuality, power to think and to do. . . . It is the work of true education to develop this power, to train the youth to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other men's thoughts. Instead of confining their study to that which men have said or written, let students be directed to the sources of truth, to the vast fields opened for research in nature and revelation."—Ibid.

Never make the mistake of leading a student to believe that his search for truth does not involve the entire field of knowl­edge available to man. The mind is given only in trust, and we must encourage the student to use it fully as he delves into the wonders of God's greatness. It is up to the Christian college to provide the curricula allowing for the development of the mind.

The Christian college must not be guilty of permitting mediocrity. Let us again read the words of Ellen G. White as she in­structs the youth: "Higher than the high­est human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children. Godliness—godlikeness­is the goal to be reached."—Ibid., p. 18.

As the student advances as far as possible in every branch of true knowledge, he must be taught the virtues of simplicity and self-restraint as essential to the highest develop­ment of mind and character. Pomp and self-indulgence must give way to God's re­quirements.

Mental Calisthenics

In the words of Gerald Horton Bath, "There is only one thing worse than the smugness and prejudices of the ignorant, and that is the smugness and prejudices of the educated. Education that does not en­gender a sense of humility in the student, that does not make him appallingly aware of how much there is to know that he does not know, is not true education. It is simply mental calisthenics.

"From education students should ac­quire enough knowledge so that they need not look up at others with envy, enough wisdom so that they will not look down on others with disdain."

It is in order to express gratitude to our heavenly Father, who has through revela­tion of truth and the endowment of fore­sight encouraged the development of an educational system designed to teach this personal religious experience of knowing God. Yet even in this system students may be noted who refuse to accept the great principles of righteousness only to later experience the bitter failure of having sown the devil's seed.

There are years when students are ex­posed to apathy and cynicism. Often one may detect a lack of purpose in the lives of students who are passively comfortable in this affluent society. Nevertheless, the church must continue to press forward in designing a program of Adventist educa­tion that will encourage the student to drink deeply at the fountain of life, thus preparing him to meet the test of adequacy for life's demands. The student's commit­ments and value judgments developed on the Christian college campus are of great concern to Christian teachers. Again and again it must be emphasized that academic competence need not be sacrificed in favor of a thoroughgoing Christian faith. On the contrary, the two are harmonious req­uisites to good Christian development. Our colleges must remain alert to their respon­sibility of providing competent Christian faculties always able to recognize relevance and significance in genuine education.

The Test of Prosperity

"It is the degree of moral power pervad­ing the college, that is a test of its prosperity. It is the virtue, intelligence, and piety of the people . . . , not their numbers, that should be a source of joy and thankful­ness."—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, p. 94.

"He justly requires obedience to His laws, and to all wise regulations which will restrain and guard the youth from Satan's devices, and lead them in paths of peace. The wild reckless character of many of the youth in this age is heartsickening. If the youth could see that in complying with the laws and regulations of our institutions, they are only doing that which will im­prove their standing in society, elevate the character, ennoble the mind, and increase their happiness, they would not rebel against just rules and wholesome require­ments, nor engage in creating suspicion and prejudice against these institutions." —Ibid., p. 99.

In conclusion it may be stated that it is false to believe that in a world of revolu­tion we must be revolutionary in educa­tion. When so much is dissolving around us, we need to cling firmly to such higher standards as we can preserve. We may criticize and reform, but without such standards, we have nothing against which to judge the merit of our response to new situations. The absence of relevance and significance in education today, resulting in the decay and erosion of Christian morals and values, forces us to exclaim: "More need we the divine than the physi­cian."