Why
Our Schools were Established
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Seventh-day Adventist
schools are to be different than all the rest of the world. Both our
homes and our training centers are to be as islands of Godliness and
obedience by faith to the laws of God, in the sea of rebellion and
apostasy that surround us. We are to provide an education for our youth
that is far in advance of that which can be obtained in the educational
institutions of the world. And this education is to be founded on the
Word of God. The inspired Statements given us by Heaven are to form the
basis for all that is taught and practiced in the classrooms and on the
campuses of each school that we operate.
Not to do so is reason enough
to close them down, for they have no other reason for existence.
Both the teachings and the
standards are to be representative of the highest levels of Christian
living, in thought, study, and action we are to show forth to all the
world that the final message for mankind is to be found with Seventh-day
Adventists. Neither conformity nor compromise are to mar our clear
presentation and personal living of truth.
Consider the following
statements. They will briefly place in focus before you both the purpose
and the result of our educational work. Our schools are to contrast
strongly in objectives, methods, and content with those of the world.
When you have completed this
study, read "Education," "Counsels to Parents and
Teachers," and "Fundamentals of Christian Education" for
a far more complete understanding of what is involved here. They are
written in simple language and their meaning is unmistakable.
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"Our school was
established, not merely to teach the sciences, but for the purpose of
giving instruction in the great principles of God's Word, and in the
practical duties of everyday life." Counsels to Parents and
Teachers, page 88.
"The great reason why so
few of the world's great men, and those having a college education, are
led to obey the commandments of God, is because they have separated
education from religion, thinking that each should occupy a field by
itself." Testimonies, Volume 5, page 503.
"The Lord would have our
primary schools, as well as those for older persons, of that character
that angels of God can walk through the room, and behold in the order
and principles of government, the order and government of heaven. This
is thought by many to be impossible:but every school should begin with
this, and should work most earnestly to preserve the spirit of Christ in
temper, in communications, in instruction; the teachers placing
themselves in the channel of light where the Lord can use them as His
agents, to reflect His own likeness of character upon the
students." Church Schools, pages 7-8.
"In our institutions of
learning there was to be exerted an influence that would counteract the
influence of the world, and give no encouragement to indulgence in
appetite, in selfish gratification of the senses, in pride, ambition,
love of dress and display, love of praise and flattery, and strife for
high rewards and honors as a recompense for good scholarship. All this
was to be discouraged in our schools." Fundamentals of
Christian Education, page 286.
"There should be
unselfish, devoted, faithful teachers; teachers who are constrained by
the love of God, and who, with hearts full of tenderness, will have a
care for the health and happiness of the students." Testimonies,
Volume 6, page 152.
"The unselfish life, the
generous, self-sacrificing spirit, the sympathy and love of those who
hold positions of trust in our institutions, should have a purifying,
ennobling influence which would be eloquent for good." Testimonies,
Volume 6, page 148.
"The world's maxims, the
world's customs and practices, are not the teaching they [the students
in our schools] need: but they are to see that the teachers in the
schools care for their souls, that they will take a decided interest in
their spiritual welfare, and religion is to be the great principle
inculcated." Christian Education, page 47.
"Wise teachers should be
chosen for our schools; those who will feel responsible to God to
impress upon minds the necessity of knowing Christ as a personal Saviour. From the highest to the lowest grade, they should show special
care for the salvation of the students, and through personal effort seek
to lead their feet into straight paths." Testimonies, Volume 6,
page 153.
"The teaching in our
schools is not to be the same as in other colleges and seminaries.
" Counsels to Parents and Teachers, page 539.
"Those who attend our
colleges are to have a different training than that of the common
schools of the day." Christian Education, page 47.
"Were this principle [of
not appealing to pride and emulation] given the attention which its
importance demands, there would be a radical change in some of the
current methods of education. Instead of appealing to pride and selfish
ambition, kindling a spirit of emulation, teachers would endeavor to
awaken the love for goodness and truth and beauty, to arouse the
desire for excellence. The student would seek the development of God's
gifts in himself, not to excel others, but to fulfill the purpose of the
Creator and to receive His likeness. Instead of being directed to more
earthly standards, or being actuated by the desire for self-exaltation,
which in itself dwarfs and belittles, the mind would be directed to the
Creator, to know Him, and to become like Him." Patriarchs
and Prophets, page 595-596.
"God has revealed to me
that we are in positive danger of bringing into our educational work the
customs and fashions that prevail in the schools of the world . . The
plan of the schools we shall establish in these closing years of the
message is to be of an entirely different order from those we have
instituted." Counsels to Parents and Teachers, page
532.
"Let us determine that we
will not be tied by so much as a thread to the educational policies of
those who do not discern the voice of God, and who will not hearken to
His commandments." Counsels to Parents and Teachers,
page 255.
"We are not to institute
schools of scholastic philosophy or for the so-called higher
education.' Our greatness consists in honoring God by simple,
practical experience in every-day life." Testimonies,
Volume 8, page 305.
"An education amid such
surroundings [out in the country as God has directed] is in accordance
with the directions which God has given for the instruction of youth;
but it is in direct contrast with the methods employed in the majority
of schools. . The minds of the young have been occupied with books of
science and philosophy, where the thorns of skepticism have been only
partially concealed; with vague, fanciful fairy stories; or with the
works of authors who, although they may write on Scripture subjects,
weave in their own fanciful interpretations. The teaching of such books
is as seed sown in the heart. It grows and bears fruit, and a plentiful
harvest of infidelity is reaped." Counsels to Parents and
Teachers, page 187.
"It is the boast of the
present age that never before did men possess so great facilities for
the acquirement of knowledge, or manifest so general an interest in
education. Yet despite this vaunted progress, there exists an
unparalleled spirit of insubordination and recklessness in the rising
generation; mental and moral degeneracy are well-nigh universal. Popular
education does not remedy the evil. The lax discipline in many
institutions of learning has nearly destroyed their usefulness, and in
some cases rendered them a curse rather than a blessing." Fundamentals
of Christian Education, page 64.
"How few schools are to be
found that are not governed by the maxims and customs of the world!
There is a deplorable lack of proper restraint and judicious
discipline." Patriarchs and Prophets, page 594.
"It is difficult to depart
from old customs and established ideas. But few realize the loss that is
sustained by many [students] in long courses of study. Much that is
crowded into the brain is of no value, yet students suppose this
education to be all-sufficient, and after years of study they leave
school with their diplomas, believing that they are men and women
properly educated and ready for service. In many cases this preparation
for service is nothing more than a farce, yet it will continue until
teachers receive the wisdom of heaven through the influence of the Holy
Spirit." Counsels to Parents and Teachers, page 392.
"How often the supposed
deductions of science are revised or cast aside; with what readiness the
assumed period of the earth's development is from time to time increased
or diminished by millions of years; and how the theories advanced by
different scientists conflict with one another, considering all
this, shall we, for the privilege of tracing our descent from germs and
mollusks and apes, consent to cast away that statement of Holy Writ, so
grand in its simplicity, God created man in His own image, in the
image of God created He him?" Education, page 130.
"The garden of Eden was
the schoolroom, nature was the lesson-book, the Creator Himself was the
instructor, and the parents of the human family were the students."
Education, page 20.
"We need to study the
working of God's purpose in the history of nations and in the revelation
of things to come, that we may estimate at their true value things seen
and things unseen; that we may learn what is the true aim of life; that,
viewing the things of time in the light of eternity, we may put them to
their truest and noblest use." Education, page 184.
"Neither are we to follow
the routine [in curriculum and practice] of worldly schools. The
instruction given in Seventh-day Adventist schools is to be such as to
lead to the practice of true humility. In speech, in dress, in diet, and
in the influence exerted, is to be seen the simplicity of true
godliness." Counsels to Parents and Teachers, page 56.
"The plan of the schools
we shall establish in these closing years of the message is to be of an
entirely different order from those we have instituted." Counsels
to Parents and Teachers, page 532.
"The work of our schools
must bear a different stamp from that borne by some of our most popular
schools [in the world] ." Fundamentals of Christian
Education, page 516.
"The youth should be
educated by precept and example that they are to be agents for God,
messengers of mercy, ready for every good word and work, that they are
to be blessings to those who are ready to perish . . The schools
established by us should have in view this object, and not be after the
order of the denominational schools established by other churches, or
after the order of worldly seminaries and colleges. They are to be of an
altogether higher order, where no phase of infidelity shall be
originated, or countenanced. The students are to be educated in
practical Christianity, and the Bible must be regarded as the highest,
the most important textbook." Fundamentals of Christian
Education, page 231.
"Many have so far shown
their lack of wisdom from above as to join with the enemies of God and
the truth in providing worldly entertainments for the students."
Testimonies, Volume 6, page 143.
"It would be impossible to
avoid these things [ten errors of worldly education], and yet send them
to the public schools, where they would daily be brought in contact with
that which would contaminate their morals." Fundamentals of
Christian Education, page 286.
"In order to give them
[our youth] instruction in regard to the claims of Jehovah, it is
necessary that we separate our children from worldly associations and
influences, and keep before them the Scriptures of truth." Fundamentals
of Christian Education, page 288.
"What shall be the
character of the education given in our schools? Shall it be according
to the wisdom of this world, or according to the wisdom which is from
above? . . Teachers are to do more for their students than to impart a
knowledge of books. Their position as guide and instructor of the youth
is most responsible, for to them is given the work of molding mind and
character." Counsels to Parents and Teachers, page 65.
"A comprehensive education
is needed an education that will demand from parents and teachers
such thought and effort as mere instruction in the sciences does not
require. Something more is called for than the culture of the intellect.
Education is not complete unless the body, the mind, and the heart are
equally educated. The character must receive proper discipline for its
fullest and highest development. All the faculties of mind and body are
to be developed and rightly trained." Your Home and Health,
page 72.
"The education needed is
that which will qualify students for practical service, by teaching them
to bring every faculty under the control of the Spirit of God. The study
book of the highest value is that which contains the instruction of
Christ, the Teacher of teachers." Counsels to Parents and
Students, page 389.
"Often students spend many
years in study that is conducted on wrong lines and to useless ends. The
mind is trained to think in a wrong channel, taught to grasp those
things that are not only utterly worthless, but an injury to the
physical and mental health. The student obtains a slender store of
information upon many subjects that are of little value to him, a
limited knowledge along many lines that he will never use, when he might
obtain knowledge that would be of the highest service in practical life,
and which would be a store house of wisdom from which to draw in time of
need." Counsels to Parents and Students, page 391.
"A more comprehensive
education is needed, an education which will demand from teachers
and principal such thought and effort as mere instruction in the
sciences does not require: The character must receive proper discipline
for its fullest and noblest development. The students should receive at
college such training as will enable them to maintain a respectable,
honest, virtuous standing in society, against the demoralizing
influences which are corrupting the youth." Counsels to
Parents and Teachers, page 87-88.
"We desire that our
children should study to the best advantage. In order to do this,
employment should be given them which will call into exercise the
muscles. Daily, systematic labor should constitute a part of the
education of the youth." Testimonies, Volume 6, page
180.
"True education includes
the whole being. It teaches the right use of one's self. It enables us
to make the best use of brain, bone, and muscle, of body, mind, and
heart. The faculties of the mind, as the higher powers, are to rule the
kingdom of the body. The natural appetites and passions are to be
brought under the control of the conscience and the spiritual
affections." Your Home and Health, page 72.
"Morality and religion
should receive special attention in our educational institutions. "
Testimonies, Volume 3, page 24.
"The natural and the
spiritual are to be combined in the studies of our schools."
Fundamentals of Christian Education, page 375.
"The general method of
educating the youth does not meet the standard of true education.
Infidel sentiments are interwoven in the matter placed in schoolbooks,
and the oracles of God are placed in a questionable . . light . . [and]
doubts entertained become to those who entertain them, assured facts,
and scientific research is made misleading on account of the way its
discoveries are interpreted and perverted." Medical
Ministry, page 90
"To learn science through
human interpretation alone is a false education; but to learn of God and
Christ is to learn the science of heaven. The confusion in education has
come because the wisdom and knowledge of God have not been
exalted." Counsels to Parents and Teachers, page 447.
"Men take it upon
themselves to rein up the Word of God before a finite tribunal, and
sentence is pronounced upon the inspiration of God according to finite
measurement, and the truth of God is made to appear as a thing uncertain
before the records of science. " Medical Ministry,
page 90.
"What a fraud is that
education obtained in literary or scientific lines, if it must be
stripped from the learner before he is counted worthy to enter upon that
life which measures with the life of God, himself saved as by fire. God
has given us a probation in which to prepare for the school above. For
this our youth are here to be educated, disciplined, and trained. In the
lower school of earth they are to form characters that God can approve.
They are to receive a training, not in the customs and amusements of
worldly society, but in Christ's lines, a training that will fit them to
be colaborers with heavenly intelligence's." Counsels to
Parents and Teachers, pages 392-393.
"Learned men have given
lectures in which have been mingled truth and error; but they have
unbalanced the minds of those who leaned toward error instead of toward
truth. The nicely woven sophistries of the so-called wise men have a
charm for a certain class of students; but the impression that these
lectures leave upon the mind is that the God of nature is restricted by
His own laws." Medical Ministry, page 91.
"Too often the minds of
students are occupied with men's theories and speculations, falsely
called science and philosophy. They need to be brought into close
contact with nature. Let them learn that creation and Christianity have
one God. Let them be taught to see the harmony of the natural with the
spiritual." Christ's Object Lessons, page 25.
"Through false teaching,
the minds of men had long been turned away from God. In the prevailing
systems of education, human philosophy had taken the place of divine
revelation." Education, page 74-
"The Lord opened before me
the necessity of establishing a school at Battle Creek that should not
pattern after any school in existence. We were to have teachers who
would keep their souls in the love and fear of God. Teachers were to
educate in spiritual things, to prepare a people to stand in the trying
crisis before us" Fundamentals of Christian Education,
page 221.
"The educational
advantages offered by our schools are to be different from those offered
by the schools of the world. We are rapidly nearing the final crisis in
this world's history, and it is important that we understand that the
educational advantages offered by our schools are to be different from
those offered by the schools of the world." Counsels to
Parents and Teachers, page 56.
"Our school is to take a
higher position in an educational point of view than any other
institution of learning, by opening before the young nobler views, aims
and objects in life, and educating them to have a correct knowledge of
human duty and eternal interests. The great object in the establishment
of our college was to give correct views, showing the harmony of science
and Bible religion." Life Sketches, page 220.
"The Lord never designed
that our college should imitate other institutions of learning. The
religious element should be the controlling power." Testimonies,
Volume 5, page 14.
"Our college stands today
in a position that God does not approve. If its responsible men seek to
reach the world's standard, if they copy the plans and methods of other
colleges, the frown of God will be upon our school." Testimonies,
Volume 5, page 27.
"Intellectual power,
natural abilities, supposed excellent judgment, will not prepare the
youth to become missionaries for God. No one who is seeking an education
for the work and service of God will be made more complete in Jesus
Christ by receiving the supposed finishing touch at [a college in her
day that had a worldly curriculum] in either literary or medical lines.
Many have been unfitted to do missionary work by attending such
schools." Counsels to Parents and Teachers, page 374.
"Any man who seeks to
present theories which lead us from the light that is come to us on the
ministration in the heavenly Sanctuary should not be accepted as a
teacher." Life and Teachings, page 49.
"None should be allowed to
pursue a course of study that may in any way weaken their faith in the
truth and in the Lord's power, or diminish their respect for a life of
holiness." Fundamentals of Christian Education, page
347.
"No education can be
called higher education' unless it bears the similitude of heaven,
unless it leads young men and young women to be Christlike, and fits
them to stand at the head of their families in the place of God."
Fundamentals of Christian Education, page 467.
"What need is there for
students to bind off their education by attending at Ann Arbor [an
outside university for a doctoral degree] to receive the finishing
touch'? It has proved to be the finishing touch to very many as far as
spirituality and belief in the truth are concerned." Fundamentals
of Christian Education, page 451.
"Christ's life on earth
teaches that to obtain the higher education does not mean to gain
popularity, to secure worldly advantage, to have all the temporal wants
abundantly supplied, and to be honored by the titled and wealthy of
earth. His life rebukes all self-seeking." Counsels
to Parents and Teachers, page 34.
"I am so glad that we can
have institutions where our youth can be separated from the corrupting
influences so prevalent in schools of the present day." Fundamentals
of Christian Education, page 89.
"Many who are seeking
efficiency for the exalted work of God by perfecting their education in
the schools of men will find that they have failed of learning the more
important lessons." Counsels to Parents and Teachers,
page 410.
"Our educational
facilities must be purified from all dross. Our institutions must be
conducted on Christian principles, if they would triumph over opposing
obstacles. If they are conducted on worldly-policy plans, there will be
a want of solidity in the work, a want of far-seeing spiritual
discernment. " Testimonies, Volume 6, pages 145-146.
"Those who seek the
education that the world esteems so highly, are gradually led further
and further from the principles of truth until they become educated
worldlings." Fundamentals of Christian Education, page
535-536.
"There is an education
which is essentially worldly. Its aim is success in the world, the
gratification of selfish ambition. . Much of the education at the
present time is of this character. The world may regard it as highly
desirable; but it increases the peril of the student." Counsels
to Parents and Teachers, page 64.
"There is danger that our
college will be turned away from its original design.."Students are
sent from a great distance to attend the college at Battle Creek for the
very purpose of receiving instruction from the lectures on Bible
subjects. But for one or two years past there has been an effort to mold
our school after other colleges. When this is done, we can give no
encouragement to parents to send their children to Battle Creek College.
" Testimonies, Volume 5, page 21.
"Learned men have given
lectures in which have been mingled truth and error; but they have
unbalanced the minds of those who leaned toward error instead of toward
truth. The nicely woven sophistries of the so-called wise men have a
charm for a certain class of students. " Medical Ministry,
page 91.
"The customs and practices
of Battle Creek school go forth to all the churches, and the pulse heart
beats of that school are felt throughout the body of believers."
Fundamentals of Christian Education, page 224.
"To restore in man the
image of His Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was
created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the
divine purpose in his creation might be realized, this was to be the
work of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of
life." Education, page 16
This is another in the
"True Education Series" of studies, monographs and
compilations. Over 150 similar studies along various lines are also
available. God bless you as you study God's plan for your life and seek
to place yourself more in harmony with it. There is only a little time
left. Use it carefully.
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