3. What It’s Going To Take - VOCATIONAL ACADEMICS

3. What It’s Going To Take
VOCATIONAL ACADEMICS

We live in an age when many people confuse education for schooling. One involves learning. The other includes passing exams. The latter is a system. The former is a process. Sometimes the pressure of schooling takes a crushing toll and I am going to argue for a re-think of how we as a society go about educating so that this toll on those in this system can begin to be diminished and we help to produce people who know how to think not just what to think.  

Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
Proverbs 1:5

REMEMBER YOUR SCHOOLING?

For those of us who are well into our adult years, I have a question for you. How much of what you were taught in either elementary (Primary) school or even High School do you remember? Chances are, for many of us, not much. Even though it’s been more than 40 years since I was in Primary school, my recollections tend to be clearer about the peoplerather than the chalkboard. I remember Mrs Wallace. She was left handed. She was my grade 4, 5, and 6 teacher. She had perfect handwriting. She impressed upon me the importance of neat handwriting. Apart from that, I can’t recollect any particular thing that she taught me – except that, she really cared about her students. Not everyone at Corio Primary School was so fortunate. It was a rough neighbourhood and, as a sad reflection of this, several of my school chums didn’t make it through to the end of teenage years. I can understand why for some children their school experience is more about surviving than being educated. 

Reynolds, Frances; Hannah More (1745-1833); Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/hannah-more-17451833-189014

When Kim completed her first Master’s degree, she took as her major research project a study of the various schooling options in Tasmania. This involved looking at the history of schooling in Tasmania. I think it surprises most  people, as I was, to discover that ‘public education’ is a fairly recent development. In our State, it is around 150 years old. William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) became concerned that much of England’s woes were due to a general lack education among the masses. There was, at the time, an education system that involved private tutoring or expensive Grammar Schools which only the wealthy had access to. This tutoring prepared these privileged few for a university education at either Cambridge or Oxford. Wilberforce describes his own time at Cambridge as a time when “he had little inclination or need to apply himself to serious study. Instead he immersed himself in the social round of student life[4][17] and pursued a hedonistic lifestyle, enjoying cards, gambling and late-night drinking sessions – although he found the excesses of some of his fellow students distasteful.” After Wilberforce’s conversion to Christianity, he encouraged Hannah More (1745 – 1833) to start a ‘free school’ in a poor area of England where the population was generally illiterate. Miss More did so. In fact, the project was so successful, she founded 12 such free schools by 1800 and helped to establish Kenyon College in Ohio (USA) in 1824.

THE FOUR Rs OF EDUCATION

Initially free schools were sponsored by philanthropists. Government involvement in public education came much later. These schools were founded to focus on “The 3 Rs” – reading, writing, and arithmetic. For Hannah More and the other public education pioneers, such education enabled common people to develop the skills necessary to read the Bible and learn about the God of the Bible. This, they reasoned, was essential for character formation. In fact, as Evangelicalism began to inspire missionaries to go into all the world, wherever they went they started schools. Indeed, it has been noted that wherever Christianity has spread to it has resulted in schools being established. Perhaps the most notable example of this was William Carey who went to India. He helped to pioneer schools and a university as he established churches and led people to Christ. The link between Christianity and public education is indissoluble. The 3 Rs, it was rightly reasoned, were necessary for people to come to know their Creator and Redeemer. Even such things as the rules of grammar and spelling were seen as indispensable in knowing the God of the Bible because they were ordained by God to accurately and precisely present the truth.  

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
Proverbs 9:9

Over time, Christian educators reasoned that it wasn’t just reading and writing that was indispensable for knowing God and His Word more deeply. It also involved mathematics(arithmetic). Most people think of arithmetic as just dealing with numbers. But Christian educators showed that arithmetic was actually a branch of philosophy (the study of thinking) which pointed to the God of the Bible. After all, numbers are actually concepts and how they interact is also a concept and concepts are the stuff of philosophy. My long-time friend, Pete Hall, a physics lecturer, taught me a long time ago that maths deals with objective facts that point to an Objective Cause – which is confounding for those people who claim that there is nothing objective in the universe! The ‘finger-prints of God’ can be seen in mathematics because numbers and how they interact is grounded in objectivity (unchanging facts). Two plus two equals four and it always does. This is an objectivereality that points to the Ultimate Objective Reality.  

This is an illustration of why we should refer to the 4 Rs not just the 3. The fourth R is reasoning. It also is a branch of philosophy (thinking). It involves understanding the laws of logic (which are also objective) and also point to the Ultimate Objective Reality (God). Yet sadly, Philosophy is rarely taught in our schools. Philosophy is the study of how to think about issues by reasoning to a conclusion. Reasoning involves giving reasons – not just opinions. Its study also helps people to distinguish truth from error, reasonable from unreasonable, plausible from implausible, likely from unlikely. These are the learning skills required for determining whether human beings matter; what is a human person; what is moral; what is ethical; what are our obligations. It shapes how we answer the big questions of life. Is there a God? What happens when I die? Could someone time-travel? How then should we now live? 

(Select) youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
Daniel 1:4

THE SHIFT FROM EDUCATION TO SCHOOLING

As governments became increasingly involved in education they established their own free schools which became known as State or Public Schools. Newly established Departments of Education introduced teacher registration. Teachers’ Colleges were later absorbed into established universities. States set minimum standards of education for students and established what was once called scope and sequence for all schools to administer. Then, the Federal government saw the need to establish a national curriculum with new minimum standards for all schools to have their students satisfy. They then introduced national testing for literacy and numeracy (in Australia this is called NAPLAN). The unintentional result of this was that schools and teachers became assessed by the public for how well their children did on these tests (rather than how well their children were learning) which resulted in an increased effort on the part of teachers to ensure their students could do well on these tests. And whenever the focus shifts to learning how to improve test results, the danger is nearly always going to be that learning suffers as test-skills improve. When this happens, a child has then been schooled but not necessarily educated. I won’t go on to mention the amount of compliance paperwork or classroom ‘crowd control’ which also distracts teachers from teaching! So what’s a better solution to this education Vs schooling dilemma? 

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Matthew 7:28-29

EDUCATION AS A VOCATION

A vocation is ‘a life calling.’ It requires professionalism in the truest sense of the word. It becomes a person’s identity. I am a pastor by vocation. There are those who called by God to be teachers. They will live out their vocation in various contexts – public schools, private schools, training providers, business consultants, universities, colleges, pre-schools, kindergartens, and even churches. But there is one place which trumps each of these for its effectiveness. Home.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, 
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, 
and when you walk by the way, 
and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Deuteronomy 6:7

Every parent has at least one vocation: as a teacher. As such, they don’t depend upon their children’s school teachers to teach their children, rather, they work with their children’s teachers to help them to teach their children. This doesn’t mean that every parent has to have memorised the Periodic Table (but snaps to you if you have), or how to calculus, or what a dangling participle is. But every parent has the capacity to teach their children what they know as their children are ready to understand it. Then beyond that, parents can ensure that their children respect their school teachers and follow-up on their children’s homework. To supplement this, parents should get to know those who are trying to help them to educate their children – their children’s teachers. This at least involves attending parent-teacher interviews, and responding to communications from their children’s teachers. What I am about to propose is an essential and necessary part of what it’s going to take for how our society can experience and enjoy the divine blessings of happiness, security, wellness, fulfilment, enlightenment, and prosperity.

• I want to encourage those who are called by God to be teachers of young people. Teaching can be a frustrating job (as I’ve touched on), but we need teachers who can push through the frustration because they see their profession as a vocation, not just a job.      

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
First Peter 4:10

• I also want to encourage parents to see their role as the one overseeing their children’s education with school teachers assisting them – and to see that their primary education is the 4 Rs so that their children can read the Word of God for themselves and develop a deep and abiding love for the God of the Bible. 
• I want to encourage teachers who are called into educational leadership to develop their leadership skills and take the necessary steps to aspire toward becoming principals. Schools, just like churches, are only be as good as those who lead them.
• But I especially want to challenge young people to commit to become teachable and life-long learners. As good as parents and teachers are, the learning process is most contingent upon the learner. There is some merit in the old Oriental saying, “When the student is ready the teacher will appear.”

He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way.
Psalm 25:9

IT’S TRUE. IT’S GOOD. IT’S BEAUTIFUL.

Christianity is true, good, and beautiful. We can know that it’s true; experience that it’s good; and observe that it’s beautiful. We can do this because we have all been designed to seek truth and accept it. We have been created to be agents of good and to celebrate it when we are the recipients of it. We are made to admire the beautiful and to beautify. These statements are so because the world is the creation of the God who is true, good and beautiful and we are created in the image of this God. Yet there are now people who are now attacking Christianity as evil because they don’t like God or His Laws.

¶ Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Psalm 34:8

IT’S TRUE.

There is no evidence that Goldilocks and the three bears ever existed. But if someone should claim that it was a true story we could apply certain truth-tests to its claims to conclude that it is a fictional fable. Do bears make porridge? Do bears build cabins in the woods? Do bears insist on sleeping on mattresses? The answers to these questions would lead us to the conclusion that the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears is simply a delightful children’s story that someone invented. 

¶ In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
Luke 2:1-3

But the historical accounts of Jesus of Nazareth are completely different. In Luke’s Gospel he gives precise historical details such as the names of the particular Roman Emperors and officials who were reigning at the time. He gave even more verifiable historical details in his account of the early church, Acts. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers in 54AD in which many scholars recognise that he quotes from Luke’s Gospel. This indicates that Luke’s Gospel account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth was in circulation by 54AD which meant that if his historical accounts were false they could have been refuted by any number of his contemporaries.

¶ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
First Corinthians 15:1-8

The accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth are attested to by the sheer number of ancient manuscripts dating back to the first few centuries AD. Most recently a fragment of the Gospel of Mark was found in Egypt in what archaeologists describe as a first-century rubbish dump. It is a copy of a copy of a copy. (That demonstrates how widely the original copies were in wide circulation.) This Gospel fragment is conservatively dated to 150AD but some experts are dating it as early as 80AD [Source]. The significance of this fragment is enormous. It adds to the growing body of evidence that puts pay to the claim that the Gospels didn’t originate until the late second century and beyond. It also proves how reliable our modern manuscripts are compared with the oldest known manuscripts which confirms just how carefully the original copyists undertook their sacred task. 

The claims of Christianity centring on the historical truthfulness of the life, teaching, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth are verifiable and therefore valid. As sufficient as this is for religious conversion and devotion, it is not the only thing appealing about Christianity. Christianity is good.

IT’S GOOD.

Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
First Corinthians 10:24

The impact for good of Christ and His followers on the world is virtually inestimable. This doesn’t just include the history of care for the ostracised and diseased, the education and housing relief for the poor and under-privileged, the establishment of refuges and orphanages, and the crisis relief agencies such as Red Cross and World Vision, it also includes the spontaneous acts of good that have gone on largely unnoticed. For the early Second Century, Christians were going into the town squares, forests, and by-ways where unwanted baby girls were dumped in the middle of the night to suffer the ravages of freezing nights (known as “exposure”) and ravenous wolves. These baby girls were raised by these Christian families as if they were their own children. Eventually their kindness toward these unwanted baby girls changed the Roman cultural view of the practice of exposure to regarding it as a Barbaric practice! 

¶ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Romans 12:9

Billy Graham asked Dawson Trotman to oversee the follow-up of new believers at his crusades

This tradition of Christian goodness still lives on today in both public and unnoticed ways. Following Christ has inspired some of the greatest acts of supererogatory behaviour the world has ever seen. If you have never heard of Dawson Trotman (who founded the Navigators) do yourself a favour and read a biography of his very short life and marvel at why it was so short. 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21

All of these supererogatory acts were inspired by the selfless goodness of Jesus the Christ. Of course there have been people who identified as Christians do some bad things, but in order to do so they had to violate the teaching and example of our Lord! Christianity is demonstrably good. But this is not the only appeal it has. It is also beautiful.

IT’S BEAUTIFUL.

In C.S. Lewis’s book, The Abolition of Man, he argues against those who claim that there is no such thing as beauty. A beautiful waterfall in a rainforest, he argues, is not merely a collection of hydrogen and oxygen molecules being subject to gravity. It actually is beautiful. Beauty evokes a sense of pleasure. It causes us to admire. We are created to find beauty appealing and satisfying. Things can be beautiful. People can be beautiful. Stories can be beautiful. Acts of sacrifice can be beautiful especially when motivated by selfless love – and there is no greater example of this than the story that lies at the heart of Christianity.

Liffey Falls, Tasmania. https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/about/insider-guides/waterfalls-of-tasmania

¶ One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in His temple.
Psalm 27:4

The word ‘beauty’ occurs 18 times in one of the most mysterious books of the Bible. In many respects, the story within The Song of Songs, is a microcosm of the Bible’s whole story. It is a love story. It commences with a beautiful garden scene of idyllic intimacy which is then interrupted by an unwelcome intruder who, in the absence of her protector-betrothed, enslaves her and takes her captive. What ensues is a selfless rescue plan which culminates in a glorious reunion and a magnificent marriage [watch]. This account is a shadow of the larger metanarrative in the Bible which describes the beautiful idyllic Garden of Eden setting where God, Adam and Eve, celebrated their mutual love. But then the Intruder came and drove a wedge between the lovers. The Bible then unfolds the patient rescue plan of God culminating in Him becoming a human who gave His life as a substitute for those condemned to death, climaxing in a magnificent reunion and marriage in an eternal paradise. It’s a beautiful story that lies at the heart of the Christian story.  

Because beauty is so integral to Christianity, traditional church buildings were built to be beautiful inside and out. Little wonder then that some of the world’s great art has been inspired by the beauty of the Christian story. But perhaps the most beautiful aspect of the Christian story is not merely in its telling, but in how magnificently it has transformed the lives of those whom Christ has rescued and redeemed. And I should know because I am one of them.

Pastor Andrew.