Chapter 22 — The Principles of Adventist Education

SINCE THE END OF WORLD War II the importance of true education and the dangers of false ideas in the training of youth have been sensed and emphasized as never before in human history. I was in Europe the autumn immediately after the war, and everywhere people, both in press and in pulpit, were discussing the need of a different emphasis and a different outline of studies in education. It was felt over there that the great root cause of war, as well as the peril of social disintegration and an uprooted humanity, was a false education. It was stressed that this was true not only of one country but of every land. Mankind must study right principles of education, and especially the right place of religion and morality in education. What was true then across the sea was even more in evidence in America, as it has been ever since. The prosperity of the state and the welfare of any church, and above all the welfare and life of the individual, depend on the kind of education which youth receive. This fact again makes plain how timely and helpful is the instruction of the Spirit of prophecy, and how important it is that we study and follow the divine philosophy of child training thus revealed.FSG 319.1

Anyone who studies the writings of Mrs. White will find that among the many topics mentioned, education occupies a prominent place. Although she does not in detail outline any courses of study, she specifies quite fully the subjects that should be studied in schools built on the principles of true education. She never to our knowledge drew up a set of rules for any educational institution, but these messages from the Lord set forth at great length the religious spirit, the standards of conduct, the need of discipline, as well as the plans for work and dormitory life in general, that should prevail in all our training centers. Indeed, she laid down certain principles of education that have been of untold value to the advent movement. The fruitage of these principles is seen today in our schools, and it is a well-known fact that the more closely we follow the pattern of education given by the Lord’s messenger, the better our young people are trained and the more successful they become in life. Years ago, many times I heard people predict that the Adventist Church would soon break up, that the foundation on which it built was not strong enough to support an edifice or a church of worldwide dimensions. History, however, has proved the mistake of those predictions. The church today stands stronger than it ever did, and we believe it will continue that way to the end.FSG 320.1

One great reason for the stability of the Adventist Church is its plan of education. It is a well-known saying, born of the experience of many, many years, that the schools of a church either make or break that church. Practically every church that has departed from its original faith or has found its first mission zeal waning, testifies that these two factors come from the influence and the teachings of the schools of that denomination. In America a large number of churches have founded colleges. These were often started primarily to train preachers. Little by little, however, many of these colleges failed and, in some denominations, have almost ceased to exist. We grant that one reason for the failure of many church colleges in America is the popularity and small expense of university training, but the fact still remains that the chief reason these colleges have not continued to prosper is that the churches owning them have ceased to strive for the original goals for which the schools were established and have departed from the definite religious and Bible principles on which and for which those schools were first founded. Adventists should take this to heart. The same road would bring us to the same result, for like causes have like effects. This is true even though we believe there are few if any Protestant bodies in America that have as stable an educational system and as strong a set of schools from the denominational standpoint as Seventh-day Adventists. This Adventist educational system is to a large degree the fruitage of the Spirit of prophecy in the Adventist Church. We are told that the supreme goal of all true education is character building as a preparation for eternity. God desires our youth “above all else to learn life’s great lesson of unselfish service. These principles become a living power to shape the character.”—Education, 30. The student “has within his reach the power to realize in himself his noblest ideals. The opportunities of the highest education for life in this world are his. And in the training here gained, he is entering upon that course which embraces eternity.”—Ibid.FSG 320.2

It is helpful to notice what educators in the world have written about the principles of education set forth by Mrs. White. Though Mrs. White had but a limited school education and never graduated from any college, she has from the instruction given her by the Lord, written several most valuable books on education, such as Counsels to Teachers and Fundamentals of Christian Education, with other pamphlets and a large number of magazine articles. One of these books, Education, was translated by a Serbian professor into his language. He called the book The Pedagogy of the Bible, and pretended that it was his own writing. The Greek Orthodox Church in Yugoslavia, which translated and printed the book, declared it was the best book ever written on education. The book is a classical translation, the best we have in that tongue.FSG 321.1

So far as we know, this book is the only Adventist work ever printed for circulation by the Greek Catholic Church. It is true that the translator wrote an introduction and some added paragraphs here and there, but a careful investigation of the book showed that more than eighty per cent of it was quoted without change from the book Education by Mrs. E. G. White. The church used this book as a textbook for priests in the study of educational problems, and they advertised it as “the best book on moral education in the Slavic language.”FSG 322.1

Not only did the printing of this book by the Orthodox Church show how highly educators value the writings of the Spirit of prophecy, but it also helped us greatly in our literature mission work in Yugoslavia. When the government first closed our publishing house and tried to forbid our colporteurs to work, we took this book to the officials and said, “Where is the fairness or the logic in closing our publishing house and imprisoning our colporteurs because they sell a book of the same kind and by the same author who wrote this book that you have translated and printed?” The book they did not want us to circulate was Steps to Christ, by Mrs. White. And the fact that they thought so highly of another of her books helped them to open our publishing house again and permit our literature to be sold.FSG 322.2

Mrs. White, as an American, wrote much concerning schools in this country, though the principles she set forth apply more or less in every land. There is in her writings a constant urge for higher and better training. Even though she wanted the church to have its own schools, she never in the remotest way made any attack on the plan that the state conduct schools. Concerning false ideas of education she writes:FSG 322.3

“Satan has used the most ingenious methods to weave his plans and principles into the systems of education, and thus gain a strong hold on the minds of the children and youth. It is the work of the true educator to thwart his devices.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:127.FSG 323.1

We have seen this perversion of education most clearly in heathen lands but also in Central Europe, and there is danger of it even in America.FSG 323.2

Though Mrs. White earnestly warned against the worldly centers of learning where the very idea of a God and His law and reign is ridiculed, and where dictates and desires of immorality are freely taught, she urged our members everywhere, when they had no schools of their own, to send their children to the best schools that they could find and see to it that the children secured a good education. She made it plain that secular education is doomed to failure because God is left out. Schools in which infidelity and iniquity abound or schools where the children are taught fairy tales, myths, and fictitious stories, and the Bible accounts of creation, the Flood, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the fall of Jericho are scoffed at, are a deadly peril to our youth. One of the first references to education in Mrs. White’s books is in the Testimonies, volume 2. This deals with education for our children in the public schools and the reading children should have. We must remember that at that time many of the new sections of America had almost no schools. She wrote:FSG 323.3

“You have robbed your children of their rights by not interesting yourself in their education, and instructing them patiently and faithfully in regard to forming characters for Heaven.... You have been very zealous to plead the necessity of not denying our faith by our works, and have made your faith an excuse for not granting your children an opportunity to obtain an education in even the common branches.”—Testimonies for the Church 2:94-96.FSG 323.4

Mrs. White urged that children be sent to school, and if need be to the public schools, but she also advised that wherever and whenever possible “parents should be the only teachers of their children until they have reached eight or ten years of age.”—Testimonies for the Church 3:137.FSG 324.1

The writings of Mrs. White on education set forth certain principles that are of great importance. First of all, she gives an unusually fine definition of education, as follows:FSG 324.2

“True education is the power of using our faculties so as to achieve beneficial results” (Testimonies for the Church 2:263, 264); its object is “to restore in man the image of his Maker” (Education, 15).FSG 324.3

“Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursuing of a certain course of study.” “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 thought. 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.... Instead of educated weaklings, institutions of learning may send forth men strong to think and to act, men who are masters and not slaves of circumstances, men who possess breadth of mind, clearness of thought, and the courage of their convictions.”—Education, 13, 17, 18.FSG 324.4

In order that this beneficial result may come from our schools, it is stated:FSG 324.5

“Education must be based upon the word of God. Here only are its principles given in their fullness. The Bible should be made the foundation of study and of teaching.”—The Ministry of Healing, 401, 402.FSG 324.6

From Mrs. White’s writings on education many, many pages of like import could be quoted. She encourages the most comprehensive study of true science, but she warns earnestly against the false conception of modern thought that human science is the great infallible standard and only test of what is truth. She emphasizes that the revealed truths of the Bible are the final criterion of what truth is, and that the theories of science are only to be accepted and taught to our youth when they agree with the Holy Scriptures. She teaches that there was, and will be again when the reign of sin ends, a perfect harmony in all the universe.FSG 325.1

It should be remembered that these messages from God’s servant urging religion as a vital part of true education came at a time when the whole trend was away from the Bible in the schools as one great fundamental in the training of youth. In nearly every civilized land secularism and humanistic paganism were getting the upper hand. The theories of evolution had become so popular and arrogant that many instructors took delight in ridiculing students almost to the point of persecution when they had the courage to maintain their faith in creation as taught in the Word of God. Indeed, not only were such students made objects of scoffing and scorn, as being ignorant and superstitious, but in some cases a degree of scholarship was denied to capable, bright students by the blustering dictation of evolutionists unless the students gave up their faith. Now, with evolution almost bankrupt, this needs to be kept in mind, especially in America, where a Roman Catholic education is coming into vogue.FSG 325.2

The messenger of truth was not intimidated by the vain boasting of refined atheism. We quote:FSG 325.3

“Science is ever discovering new wonders; but she brings from her research nothing that, rightly understood, conflicts with divine revelation.” “Geology has been thought to contradict the literal interpretation of the Mosaic record of the Creation. Millions of years, it is claimed, were required for the evolution of the earth from chaos.” “Such a conclusion is wholly uncalled for. The Bible record is in harmony with itself and with the teaching of nature.”—Education, 128, 129.FSG 325.4

In an earnest protest against this veiled and unscientific teaching, so often carried on in the name of science, Mrs. White wrote:FSG 326.1

“In the study of science as generally pursued there are dangers equally great. Evolution and its kindred errors are taught in schools of every grade, from the kindergarten to the college. Thus the study of science, which should impart a knowledge of God, is so intermingled with the speculations and theories of men that it tends to infidelity.”—Education, 227.FSG 326.2

“Men are so intent upon excluding God from the sovereignty of the universe that they degrade man, and defraud him of the dignity of his origin.” They trace back his origin not “to the great Creator” but “to a line of developing germs, mollusks and quadrupeds.” (Patriarchs and Prophets, 5.)FSG 326.3

These brave words of protest against godless education and the stirring appeals to save our youth became the greatest incentive to establish schools of all grades in which faith in the Bible was to be a dominant keynote, and Christian education the law of life.FSG 326.4

It is not Adventists only who deplore the irreligion and even out-and-out anti-Christian influence and teaching of many schools. In The United Presbyterian, under the heading “The Greatest Weakness in American Education,” Joseph Findlay Paydon, Ph.D., writes:FSG 326.5

“For several years my experience as a teacher, first in the public schools in Illinois, later at Northwestern university, and now at the Naval academy, and my service as a Naval officer during the late war have brought me into close contact with young people from all parts of the country. Some very saddening facts have been brought to my attention with ever increasing emphasis. Chief among these is that we Protestants, to our great disgrace, are neglecting to rear our children ‘in the admonition of the Lord.”FSG 326.6

“Our neglect is so marked as to approach treason to our Sovereign Master. We are allowing—no, we are forcing—our children to grow to maturity through a system of education deliberately designed to prevent their receiving a really accurate knowledge of the one Person in history it is most needful they should know the truth about. In our schools our children are subjected to a vicious barrage of insidious propaganda, from direct but unproved accusations to slowly phrased insinuations, denying the importance of our Lord. It sneers at His authority and His unique claim upon mankind. It scoffs at the truthfulness of His Word. It seems to aim at the erasure of the evidence of His existence as well as His power. It is constantly working to eradicate and destroy any confidence in our Creator and God that our young people may have developed.”—January 20, 1947.FSG 327.1

Dr. Paydon, who writes as a loyal Protestant American, does not hesitate to say, “We are condemning our sons and daughters to be infidels.” “Would it be out of question, where churches are strong, to establish parochial schools?” Guided by the messages of the Lord, we have found it not only possible but a real boon to have our own day schools for our children. Indeed, as early as 1853 the “sentiment prevailed quite largely among Seventh Day Adventists that their children should be educated more directly under the supervision of those of the same faith than was possible in the public schools.” Many small family or church schools were started with teachers “firm in the faith, and competent to instruct in matters of religion, as well as in the common branches of school education.” It was a real loss that these schools were not continued. (The Review and Herald, November 6, 1888, Page 689.)FSG 327.2

Christian education as set forth in the writings of the Spirit of prophecy may be said to rest on three main pillars. The first is the dignity and value of honest work even in character building. The second is the study of nature both for profit and pleasure, so that man created in the image of God may find himself in tune with the other works of God. Nearly all the many ills of modern ways of life may be traced to disharmony and the many discordant notes. Harmony can only come when man the creature is in harmony with his Creator. The third pillar on which the philosophy of education as taught by Mrs. White rests, in the dignity and freedom of the individual.FSG 327.3

“Every human being, created in the image of God, power to with a power akin to that of the Creator, is endowed individuality, think and do.”—Education, 17. “The greatest want of the world is the want of men,—men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.”—Education, 57. “In all true teaching the personal element is essential. Christ in His teaching dealt with men individually.”—Education, 231.FSG 328.1

Mrs. White warned against “the education that consists in the training of the memory.”—Education, 230.FSG 328.2

“For ages education has had to do chiefly with the memory. This faculty has been taxed to the utmost, while the other mental powers have not been correspondingly developed. Students have spent their time in laboriously crowding the mind with knowledge, very little of which could be utilized. The mind thus burdened with that which it cannot digest and assimilate is weakened; it becomes incapable of vigorous, self-reliant effort, and is content to depend on the judgment and perception of others.FSG 328.3

“The education that consists in the training of the memory, tending to discourage independent thought, has a moral bearing which is too little appreciated. As the student sacrifices the power to reason and judge for himself, he becomes incapable of discriminating between truth and error, and falls an easy prey to deception. He is easily led to follow tradition and custom.... The mind that depends upon the judgment of others is certain, sooner or later, to be misled.FSG 328.4

“The power to discriminate between right and wrong we can possess only through individual dependence upon God. Each for himself is to learn from Him through His word.”—Education, 230, 231.FSG 328.5

At the time these messages were given, many schools were turning away from the principles of Christianity. They were giving up their faith in the Bible for what was called science and evolution. A large share of the instruction on education given by Mrs. White is devoted to earnest warning against these false methods and ideas of education. Again and again she urges that in all our educational work we must stand true to the Bible and make it prominent in the training of our young people.FSG 329.1

“As a means of intellectual training, the Bible is more effective than any other book, or all other books combined. The greatness of its themes, and the dignified simplicity of its utterances, the beauty of its imagery, quicken and uplift the thoughts as nothing else can.” “And not alone in searching out truth and bringing it together does the mental value of Bible study consist. It consists also in the effort required to grasp the themes presented.”—Education, 124.FSG 329.2

However, the study of the Bible as emphasized in the Spirit of prophecy is not to limit our students in their love for research. It is stated clearly that a second and very important source of true education is the observation and study of nature as a revelation of the ways and will of God. Again and again it is urged that we must place definite emphasis on the study of nature, or as many call it, science. Nature is to be studied as an interpreter of God, of His character, His laws, and His great love. The messenger of the Lord also stresses strongly in her writings the need of thorough research. It is not so much the memory we are to depend on as independent thinking. This alone, we are told, will keep the students from becoming an easy prey to deception.FSG 329.3

The first college established by the Adventist Church was located in Battle Creek, and began its work in 1873. The purpose of this school was first of all the training of preachers. We read: “Too little attention has been given to the education of young men for the ministry. This was the primary object to be secured in the establishment of the College.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:22. Mrs. White goes on to enlarge on the need of an educated ministry, and the great lack of it in those early days. Of this it is stated:FSG 329.4

“The teachers of the common schools are required to be masters of their business. They are closely examined to ascertain if children can properly be trusted to their care. By investigation, the thoroughness of their qualifications is tested according to the importance of the position which they are required to occupy. I saw that God’s work is of as much more exalted character, and of as much higher interest, as the eternal is above the temporal. A mistake made here cannot be repaired. It is of infinite importance that all who go forth to teach the truth, should be qualified for their work. No less strict investigation should be instituted in reference to their ability to teach the truth than in the case of those who teach our schools.”—Testimonies for the Church 2:555, 556.FSG 330.1

Even back in the first early years when the Adventist Church began to establish schools of its own, it was emphasized that the education given in our schools should be not only more thorough and advanced but in some ways different from that which is generally given.FSG 330.2

“A more comprehensive education is needed—an education which will demand from teachers and principal, such thought and effort as mere instruction in the science 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.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:23.FSG 330.3

Mrs. White urged strongly in her writings that our schools should be located in the country. She wrote against the establishment of the college in Battle Creek because it would be in the city, and in the midst of a large Adventist community.FSG 330.4

“There are serious objections to having the school located in Battle Creek. The church is large and there are quite a number of youth connected with it. If the influence which one member has over another in so large a church were of an elevating character, leading to purity and consecration to God, then the youth coming to Battle Creek would have greater advantages than if the school were located elsewhere. But if the influences at Battle Creek shall be in the future what they have been for several years past, I would warn parents to keep their children from Battle Creek.”—Testimonies for the Church 3:197.FSG 331.1

In later writings she enlarged very much on the need of having schools located away from the cities, in the quiet of nature, where the students could be trained without the evil influences of our large centers of population.FSG 331.2

The question of health and hygiene is set forth as an essential part of genuine education. One of the most important phases of the philosophy of education as taught by Mrs. White is a knowledge of our own bodies.FSG 331.3

“Without health, no one can as distinctly understand or as completely fulfill his obligations to himself, to his fellow-beings, or to his Creator. Therefore the health should be as faithfully guarded as the character. A knowledge of physiology and hygiene should be the basis of all educational effort....FSG 331.4

“In the study of physiology, pupils should be led to see the value of physical energy, and how it can be so preserved and developed as to contribute in the highest degree to success in life’s great struggle.FSG 331.5

“Children should be early taught, in simple, easy lessons, the rudiments of physiology and hygiene.... They should understand the importance of guarding against disease by preserving the vigor of every organ, and should also be taught how to deal with common diseases and accidents. Every school should give instruction in both physiology and hygiene.”—Education, 195, 196.FSG 331.6

Concerning the things that were especially to be emphasized in our education, the Lord’s messenger instructed us to place the physical training of our bodies as among the very first, and we are earnestly warned against a cramming process of mechanical education.FSG 331.7

“Many parents keep their children at school nearly the year around. These children go through the routine of study mechanically, but do not retain that which they learn. Many of these constant students seem almost destitute of intellectual life. The monotony of continual study wearies the mind, and they take but little interest in their lessons; and to many the application to books becomes painful.... In the early education of children, many parents and teachers fail to understand that the greatest attention needs to be given to the physical constitution, that a healthy condition of body and brain may be secured.”—Testimonies for the Church 3:142, 143.FSG 332.1

In order that our youth might obtain the best education possible, it is stated:FSG 332.2

“It would be well could there be connected with our college, land for cultivation, and also work-shops.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:23.FSG 332.3

“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 Ministry of Healing, 398, 399.FSG 332.4

One very strong feature of the instruction given in the Spirit of prophecy on education is the constant warning against adopting worldly standards. The idea is not that our schools should have a low standard of scholarship.FSG 332.5

“God designs that the college at Battle Creek shall reach a higher standard of intellectual and moral culture than any other institution of the kind in our land.”—Testimonies for the Church 4:425. “We have lost time in neglecting to bring young men to the front, and give them a higher, more solid education.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:583.FSG 332.6