Study Notes and Questions on Education ch. 7 and ch. 16

Biographical Studies

 

1. Consider the five men Ellen White speaks of in chapter 7. Three of them were removed from home earlier than they would have chosen to leave…Moses at ages zero and again at 12, Joseph at 17, and Daniel at about 17. These later became the worlds “greatest statesmen” and its “wisest legislator.” Thought question: What does this say about the importance of early education?

 

1. What lesson, in regard to the power of temptation, does Ellen White draw from the flower on the mountain?

 

1. Joseph and Moses had alike been shepherds. If the goal of education is the harmonious development of the mental, the spiritual, and the physical, how might this occupation have been of their greatest assets? What does EGW say about the development of these three powers in Daniel and his friends?

 

1. At what point in his life did Joseph make the resolve to prove himself true to God?

 

1. What evidences did Daniel and his friends face that seemed to indicate that the religion and culture of the Babylonians was superior to their own?

 

1. What would have been wrong in eating food offered to idols (in the case of Daniel) when we consider Paul’s counsel that idols are really nothing?

 

1. Daniel 1:9 says that “God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love” with the man over him. Ellen White writes more. How did this favor and love come to be?

 

1. How did men honor Daniel for his faithfulness? How did God honor him for the same?

 

1. Daniel and Joseph were great aids to the empires with which they were associated. In this sense you might say that they were adding power and efficiency to paganism’s governments. Be prepared to discuss the ethics of this kind of work.

 

1. From this chapter would you expect that faithful SDA youth might be quickly raised to position of important political trust?

 

1. Memory work: (if you have memorized it before in your life and want to be challenged, you may memorize the following paragraph instead.) “The greatest want…..the heavens fall.” This will be due at the quiz preceding Class 11.

 

1. What was the “rule of daily life” in Elisha’s home?

 

1. When God called Elisha from his home and put him to a special work, what kind of work did God have him do for the first period of his ministry?

 

1. Contrast Elijah’s call of Elisha and your personal of idea of how you would appeal to someone to do God’s work. Why did Elijah bid Elisha to return home?

 

1. Where did Elisha learn “not to fail nor become discouraged”? Notice: He would not have received a double-portion of Elijah’s spirit if he had not learned that lesson.

 

1. Elisha took up his final call after Elijah was translated. Contrast their work. Today, do we need men like Elijah, or like Elisha?[1]

 

1. How did Jochebed’s foreknowledge of Moses’ future separation from her affect her training of him? God chose Moses from among tens of thousands that could have been chosen. Thought question: If a mother today was as earnest in teaching her child, as earnest as she would be if she knew her child would leave home as a pre-teen, would their be more Moses-like souls today?

 

1. Moses and Daniel both served the world’s greatest empire (of their respective times) while their own nation suffered as a defeated body of servants. Discussion question: Why was Moses called to reject the leadership of the nation and free the Jews, while Daniel was called to accept the leadership and leave the Jews in captivity?

 

1. When did God, in a “special sense”, undertake Moses’ training?

 

1. When God specially undertook Moses’ education, were his next steps great successes or terrible failures?

 

1. In what particular ways did sheep-raising qualify Moses for a great leadership role?

 

1. Did his time in the Egyptian palace, his education there, shorten or lengthen the amount of after-education that Moses needed before entering on his great call? After answering this, think about it a bit. Heaven thought 40 years was worth it to teach and unteach Moses.

 

1. Describe the faith of Moses. Was it a “leap in the dark?”

 

1. “Saul of Tarsus shared to the fullest extent the pride and the prejudices of his nation.”  As for his education, his teachers were ruled by “self-aggrandizement, love of domination, jealous exclusiveness, bigotry and contemptuous pride” In God’s system, where character is everything, why was a man like this chosen to do a great work?

 

1. Both Moses and Paul had to learn a type of administration that differed widely from the one they were taught. In one word each, describe the laws that governed the two systems of education.

 

1. What asset allowed Paul to learn in days what Moses had taken years to learn? In other words, what special tool did the Holy Spirit, in Paul’s case, have to work with that was not available in the case of Moses? After his days of blindness, where did Paul go to continue his education?

 

1. Other than a need for money and a desire to support himself, what other factor inclined Paul to labor at the trade of tent-making?

 

1. Modern Psychology has dappled with the idea of multiple-intelligences. That is the idea that we have several nearly-unrelated types of intelligence. A man may be wise with numbers but poor with spatial concepts. He may have a great mind for music but poor reasoning as a strategist. Ellen White seems to allude to an idea like this in the life of Paul. He had strong “intellectual endowments.” But he had a “rarer wisdom.” In your own choice of two or three words, how would you characterize this type of wisdom?

 

1. In Adventism today there is a conflict over Allah. When ministering to Muslims, should we confess that their Allah is our own loving Heavenly Father? Or is Allah a name for an ancient moon-god? What help might the story of Paul in Athens provide to this issue?

 

 

1. Briefly, how would you characterize the contrast between the greatness that could have been Moses’s and Paul’s and the greatness that is theirs now?

 

On Chapter 16

 

1. How does Ellen White contrast the biographies of the Bible with those from other sources? What does this have to say about the nature of inspiration and the question of whether a prophet’s opinions may color his wording and story telling?

 

1. What truth is taught with greatest clarity in the Bible, according to Ed. 146? Think about this statement “Terrible is this truth.”

 

1. This chapter covers lives like that of Jacob where cause and effect did not play out so happily. How did Jacob reap what he had sown as a young man?

 

1. When did Jacob gain victory over the evil in his character? Is that when he stopped reaping the results of what he had done wrong?

 

1. Describe how God related to the curse on Levi when the tribe repented and turned away from its evil.

 

1. What story does EGW use to illustrate Pr. 23:7?

 

1. Sister White wrote “No truth does the Bible set forth in clearer light than the peril of even one departure from the right.” But she gives two examples. What is one other example that you can think of that illustrates this principle?

 

1. What kind of life qualifies as the “strongest bulwark of vice in our world?”

 

1. God did not originally ordain to translate Elijah when He did. What act of Elijah hastened or postponed his translation? After this act he was called to anoint __________________.

 

1. You have likely heard of the School of Christ. What department of that school does Ellen White mention that all must be trained in before they “render true service”?

 

1. Many dream of having power like that of a king. After witnessing the position first-hand, how did David feel about that kind of power? How did he feel about going back to take care of sheep?

 

1. What positive qualities arose through David’s hardships when fleeing Saul? Thought question. . .what ill qualities might have risen had he reacted differently to the same?

 

1. Solomon had much of the same genetic material as David, but lacked the early discipline. What difference did this, apparently and according to Education, make in his life?

 

1. Who recorded the history of Solomon’s apostasy? Think about that.

 

1. In these chapters Ellen White draws many lessons from the lives of Bible men. If you were to characterize these lessons at one time, what kind of lessons are they? What kind of thing do they teach? (not “what things” but “what kind of things”….science? math? History is the mode, but what do the ends have in common?

 

1. According to Job’s faith, so was it unto him.  What faithful thing did he say that was fulfilled in his own experiences.

 

1. In your own words, what lessons does EGW bring out from the lives of Jonathan and John the Baptist?

 

 

Hand-out 4

Philosophy of Adventist Education

Education chapters 4, 5 and 6

 

1. Briefly, explain how it can be that two processes that look so different in most cases can be truly one. I am speaking of Education and Redemption.
2. In what sense, or senses, might it be true that Jesus has lighted every man that has come into the world, as in Jn. 1:4, 9
3. Sin destroys not only are ability to understand God, but even our _________ to understand him.

 

1. Ellen White speaks of the “true teacher” and contrasts his aims with those who merely hope to make “clever accountants, skillful artisans,” etc. What other aims does the true teacher have?

 

1. Ellen White briefly addresses the issue of “changed conditions” in chapter 4. In your own words, what does she say regarding the original plan of true education in relation to these changed conditions?

 

Regarding Chapter 5

 

1. What are some benefits that come from a family-centered education?

 

1. All you have to do for this question is notice something: Notice the model in the second paragraph for teachers to adapt their teaching style and method to the needs of their rebellious or otherwise needy students.

 

1. This chapter twice mentions God’s “plan of life.” Both times it contrasts those that followed the plan and those that did not. What did those that did NOT follow the plan do in the two examples of the chapter?

 

1. What preparation did God give to Israel before giving them the Law at Sinai? What was the method of the preparation? What was the desired outcome of the preparation?

 

1. The Hebrews had a great need and weakness that had been caused by their idolatry in Egypt. How did God work to help them with that need?

 

1. The law at Sinai was to impress them with their need and helplessness. The sanctuary was to teach them something more than this. What lessons was it to convey?

 

1. God’s purpose in the sanctuary was that the worshippers might “read His” ____________________________. Paul gave evidence that he understood this.

 

1. Ellen White speaks of an industrial school in the wilderness. The Bible identifies a few of the students by name, and also the teacher. Who were those students? Who was the teacher?

 

1. Notice what Ellen White says about the order in the Hebrew camp. Notice what she wrote about the sanitary laws. What blessing was absolutely dependent on order and sanitation.

 

1. What parts of Israelite life were too personal and private to be a matter of Divine Law?

 

1. On page 41 EGW mentions a great variety of methods and illustrations used by God to cause the Hebrews to remember Divine principles. How were these symbols intended to prepare the mind of the people to receive instruction? In other words, what reaction were they intended to arouse?

 

1. How did God blend special provision for the social needs of Israel with their needs for instruction in holy things? Thought question: For those that do not keep the Hebrew feasts, what practically could be done to gain some of the same benefits.

 

1. In God’s educational method, every man needed a piece of ground to work. How did God organize Israel so that every man would indeed have a piece of ground? In most countries land become the possession of the wealthy.

 

 

Chap. 6 – The Schools of the Prophets

 

1. “The Israelites surrounded themselves with _______________ that few had power to resist.”

 

1. What two uses does Ellen White give to the word “prophet”? The schools of the prophets were to train students to be prophets of one kind by studying the writings of prophets of the other kind. Which type of prophet were they to be?

 

1. The schools of the prophets could train only a small minority of the youth. What kind of positions did it train these youth to fill?

 

1. More than be academically qualified, the teachers in these schools had another qualification. What was this?

 

1. Samuel established two of these schools. What made these two cities special (simple answer, different for each one)?

 

1. How were teachers supported, many of them at least, in the schools of the prophets?

 

1. What were the four subjects of primary study at the schools of the prophets?

 

1. Students in many religious schools are taught that they should pray, that they should draw near to God, that they should exercise faith in Him, that they should understand God’s word and obey It. How did the schools of the prophets go a step further than this?

 

1. Financially, the reigns of David and Solomon were prosperous. Ellen White traces this back to a cause extant prior to their reign. What was the cause?

 

1. Ellen White traces the decline of Israel, from its greatest glory. What experience does she indicate caused Israel to return to transgression?
2. Solomon and David sincerely repented of their wrong. What impact did this have on the natural results of what they had done wrong?
3. Thought question: Why does the chapter never mention Elijah and Elisha, the later restorers of the schools of the prophets?

 

For the Word Document: D_Education_04-06

Study Notes on Education Ch. 2-3

Philosophy of Education Class

 

1. Describe God’s plan for the earth, educational-wise, had there never been sin. What would have happened?

2.  Adam and Eve were given great intellectual gifts that they might “discern the wonders of the visible universe.” What else were they to comprehend (20:3)?

3.  Easy Point: “In His interest for His children, our heavenly Father personally directed their” __________.

4.  How might wealthy children benefit particularly in their educational philosophy from a consideration of the Garden of Eden?

5.  In what sense did Adam “hold converse” with objects “animate and inanimate”?

6. What were some of the “objects [subject matters] of study” by the pupils in the first school on earth?

(from Chapter Three)

7.  Consider the question “Why did God allow Adam the power to do evil” as addressed in the first paragraph. Did Adam receive the fullness of the blessing that God intended to impart when he was placed in the garden? What kind of development would have been impossible without freedom to do wrong?

8.  Why did God withhold knowledge of evil from Adam? Adam could have known sin the way that God knew it…to have been aware of its effects and malignity. But he did not.

9.  Contrast the words “Lord’s admonition” and “God’s commandment.” How does the story of the knowledge-tree in Genesis illustrate the ethical authority of God’s not-commanded counsels?

10.  “Satan desired to make it appear that this knowledge of good mingled with evil would be a blessing, and that in forbidding them to take of the fruit of the tree, God was withholding great good.”  Write briefly, how does Satan do the same today in educational lines?

11. In the first paragraph of the book Education EGW wrote that our ideas of education ought to be higher and broader. In the third chapter she attributes this same idea to Satan as the serpent. Be prepared to discuss this point intelligently.

12. In the book Steps to Christ, Ellen White speaks of “prayer” as the “key in the hand of faith.” In this chapter it is “faith” that is the key. What door does “faith” open?

13.  Review question: Would a student that puts communion with God and surrender to all He asks as first priorities in his life have a miraculous advantage over others in his study and preparation for college classes?

14.  Consider the phrase “a tree to be desired.” Be prepared to draw an illustration of the human mind and its faculties that expresses the proper relation of desires to the will (from Lecture 5).

15.  According to Ellen White, was the great sin of Eve one of “yielding to appetite”? What not-so-visible sins were part of the eating experience?

16.  By listening to Satan man lost his ability to _________________ “the good that God had so freely bestowed.”

17.  God had made all the world. Why, according to 25:4, was Eden a poor place for Adam and Eve to continue their studies after the fall?

18. How has the message in nature changed, in content, since the fall?

19.  From Adam and Eve, prior to the birth of their children, the spirit of rebellion was spread. Where was it spread? Where did it appear?

20.  Hindu’s and other pagans have witnessed the cycle of life, the death of the seed and resurrection of the new grain; the falling of leaves and their replenishing in the spring. From these Hindu’s have developed reincarnation. What lesson were these cycles intended to teach us?

21. What evidence of God’s compassion is observable in order of his statements to Adam, regarding the future, spoken after the fall? How might this be instructive for teachers giving discipline today?

For the Word Document: C_Education_02-03

Study Notes

Philosophy of Adventist Education

Handout Two

Education, ch. 1, Counsels to Parents and Teachers, ch. 6 and ch. 69

 

Questions – Be ready to answer on a quiz, and on the exam.

 

1. EGW writes that our scope in education must be broader and our aim higher. What does she mean?

2. In this chapter EGW makes reference to the following sources of knowledge:

Authority (of learned men of vast research)

Reason (reason discovering the mind of God as revealed in created things)

Empiricism (finding truth by research into the created world)

While validating each of them, she offers critiques of them as well. What weaknesses, according to her, plague these sources?

3.  What was God’s purpose in the creation of man? Be comprehensive rather than brief.

4.  In 14:2 Ellen White resolves, for Adventists, the metaphysical-epistemological dilemma. How does she do it?

5.  When Ellen White writes that we are to learn to be thinkers (and not mere reflectors of men’s thoughts), does she give encouragement to existentialism?  Postmodernism? Why or why not?

6.  What kind of researcher has a metaphysical advantage over his co-workers in the laboratory?

7.  Ethics, to the secular mind, is little more than a study of “the good life” and “what is best for everyone’s happiness.” What does this chapter have to say about happiness? About the source of joy? Are these legitimate ends in a Christian philosophy of education? (see 13:1, 15:1; CT 51:3)

8.  A theme of this chapter is “purpose” “meaning” “the object of education.” Why do naturalistic philosophers have difficulty with these words?

9. Describe the relationship between anthropology and theology in this chapter.

10. Examine 17:1. What kind of homework does it suggest true education should assign? How could such work be graded? Or should it be? Be prepared to defend (on paper) your answer.

11.  Is EGW’s philosophy of education holistic or academic?

12.  How did sin affect the three aspects of man’s nature? (15:2)

13.  How does Ellen White prove that love is the basis of true education?

14.  What does Ellen White mean by the term “educated weakling”?

15.  How is the ‘mind renewed and the soul recreated in the image of God’?

16.  Trivia Question: What is the most valuable gem according to Job and Solomon? What color is it? Was this color affected by the fall and sin?

17. What kind of fatal mistake has been made due to misconceptions of the true nature and object of education?

18.  What does CT 51:3 say about ethics in relation to the size of your class load?

19.  What does EGW say about history as a source of truth and information?

20.   “A reverent contemplation of such themes as these cannot fail to soften, purify, and ennoble the heart, and at the same time to inspire the mind with new strength and vigor.”  What themes does she refer to?

21.  According to CT 495, for what purpose did we establish schools?

22.  According to CT 496:2, how might a once-converted student become the ‘sport of Satan’s wiles’?

23.  According to CT 498:2, what are some duties of the teacher?

For the Word Doc, click here:B_Education_01_CPT_6,_69

TERMS FOR LECTURE ONE

 

Philosophy

 

Love of Knowledge; Philosopher – one who lives in a way appropriate for knowing and sharing a love of knowledge. The word “philosophy” may refer to the collective ideas one has about philosophical issues.

 

Metaphysics

 

                What is real? Literally “beyond physics”, metaphysics poses questions that can not be answered by experiment.

 

Cosmology           How did the Universe come to be?

Theology               What is true regarding God? Does He exist? What is His nature?

Anthropology       What is true regarding man? What is His nature?

Ontology               What is existence? Is there a non-physical existence? Does ‘spirit’ exist?

 

Epistemology

 

How do we know what is real and true? Can we be sure? Is truth relative or absolute? subjective, or objective?

 

To the first question, people posit a variety of answers:

Empiricism            The senses, by experiment

Revelation            Inspired utterances or writings

Authority               From those that know, those that are right, those in authority

Rationalism          Reason, by thinking it through

Intuition                                Gut reaction, 6^th sense, enlightenment

 

To the second, several tests have been suggested

 

Correspondence   Does it agree with the facts?

Coherence             Does it makes sense internally? Is it consistent?

Pragmatism          Does it work? Is it useful? Does

Axiology

 

                What has value?

 

Morris and Morris                Conceived vs. Operative Values, Tactical and Strategic Values

 

Ethics                     What is morally upright? What should one do? What is the “good life”?

Aesthetics              What is beautiful? What is attractive?

 

Education and Philosophy

 

Our views regarding metaphysics and epistemology may be described in terms of presuppositions. This is because we can not really know “how” to find truth without having truth to tell us “how.” And we can not be sure that the “truth” that tell us “how” is true without having an idea of “how” to know what is truth. This dilemma, known as the epistemological-metaphysical dilemma, leaves man hanging.

 

Faith is how we start answering philosophical questions. Dead or alive, faith alone is the only basis by which even the absolute atheist can arrive at his metaphysics and epistemology.

 

Faith: Living by a set of philosophical presuppositions. Living faith has Christian presuppositions.

For the Word Doc, click here:A_Terms_of_Philosophy

Notes on FE 334 with questions and other

 

Handout Three

(Handout One was the terms for the philosophical part of this class, in case you wonder)

 

1. What does the first paragraph tell us about the nature of Ellen White’s inspiration? Be prepared to discuss the word “urged.”
2. How may deep impressions by the Holy Spirit be “depressed and quenched” by the plans and management of teachers?
3. Discuss “delay should not be advised or allowed.” Should students over-anxious to add courses of study be expelled or refused the privilege of registration?
4. How does ill-advised extension of the college program affect donors and sponsors?
5. How does Ellen White’s pragmatism show itself in her axiological statement regarding the value of many years of study?
6. How does Ellen White expand the use of the phrase “false prophets” from its application to those that claim to have had revelations and visions?
7. What does this phrase mean “the ken of man”?
8. Mrs. White writes that there is a day that God has appointed for the end of the world. Read the statement in context. Does she mean a certain day predetermined, preset?
9. In an essay on Adventist Education EGW seems to branch off into a sermon on end-time events. Explain briefly how this topic fits her subject, how our eschatology ought to mould our educational axiology. What message does she urge must be kept repeatedly before the world and the church?
10. What is the apparent epistemology of this statement “Let no one’s interpretation of prophecy rob you of the conviction of the knowledge of events which show that this great event is near at hand”?
11. Ouachita Hills is adding building after building to its current campus. How does this accord with the counsel in this chapter regarding the extension of facilities at Battle Creek? How does EGW makes an illustration of the building issue in her article on speedy preparation?
12. EGW wrote “They spend nearly all their time in the perusal of books; they seem to know but little else.” What else might she wish that they knew?
13. That evil does EGW perceive would arise from giving students more studies than “absolutely necessary?”
14. After speaking of long years of study, EGW speaks of several specific periods of time that are apparently short periods. What examples does she give of these periods that might be a blessing to large numbers of Adventist youth?
15. Money is a big part of this article. If all students could place themselves through school without taxing the revenues of the church, would that make long years of study acceptable to God? Be prepared to explain your position.
16. Examine the paragraph on 338 beginning “Christ’s work” and explain how it undermines the axiological position of parts of modern academia.
17. Philosophy, a “love of knowledge”, carries certain dangers. What is a danger in loving knowledge? Be prepared to discuss the difference between the dangerous love of knowledge and the essential quality of “loving truth.”
18. How much instruction did Jesus give? In other words, how did He determine how much information to share? Does this provide a model for how much information we should try to gather? Later in the chapter, what does EGW say about the disciples in this regard?
19. EGW says students should be “pushed through” a quick course of study. We speak of the mistake of pushing students through public educational systems that can not read and write. How is our religious system so different that it is a virtue to push someone through?
20. What branches of philosophy are touched by the following sentence: “In His gospel, God speaks not merely to benefit the growth of the mental capacity of man, but to instruct how the moral senses may be quickened”? What illustration does Ellen White give of this principle? Ought we to aspire to being able to interpret dreams and visions?
21. In your own words, what personal qualities should students be careful to preserve while they study?
22. Describe the employment axiology of Jesus. What does He value? What does He not value when choosing workers?

For the Word Doc, click here: A_FE_Speedy_Prep