Philosophy of Adventist Education
3 Semester Hours
Aims of the Course
Students finishing this course will be expected to be familiar with the various philosophical presuppositions that underlie many of the choices made in educational work. They should be able to discuss intelligently the challenges to faith that exist in the academic world and the ways to face them.
They should be conversant with the principles of education that can be logically developed from the Adventist message of the judgment and the work that Adventists must do. They should have a basis for answering the ethical and methodological questions that are dividing Adventist educational systems today.
In particular they should be familiar with Dr. Jan Paulson’s 2003 appeal that Adventist educators cease agitating perplexing and unresolved faith issues, and the history that led up this appeal. They should feel comfortably familiar with the Ellen White book Education. Their future educational choices should be consistent with their philosophical presuppositions.
Notes on Projects:
Projects are assigned at the beginning of the class period where they are found in the outline below. They are due at the beginning of the next class where a project is assigned, or at the review for the final exam, which ever comes first.
Students who have not completed their project when it is due may choose to take a zero either on the project that is not done, or on the project that is being assigned. Students may not be working on two assignments at once. Those choosing to take a zero on the new assignment have until that new assignment would have been due to finish the first assignment.
More information on each of the projects may be found following the class outline.
Required Texts
Education, by Ellen G. White
Fundamentals of Christian Education, by Ellen G. White
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, by Ellen G. White
Handouts as listed below
Note on Reading Assignments: The notation Ed 210, FE 223, CT 101 should be read by the student as “The chapter in the book Education beginning on page 210, the chapter in the book Fundamentals of Christian Education beginning on page 223, and the chapter in the book Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, beginning on page 101.” All such notations denote a chapter rather a page. During this course you will read the entirety of the book Education.
Grading Policy
The scores of various assignments are weighted according to the following scale. The letter grade is drawn from the raw score after they have been weighted and combined. The letter grade is drawn with a degree of subjectivity that may allow the assignment of a grade that closely corresponds to the raw score.
Final Exam 50%
Projects 25%
Quizzes 25%
Reading, if not completed up-to-date at the final exam will cause 10% to be deducted from the exam score
Lecture Topics, Reading Assignments, and Projects
Class 1 No Reading required before Class
Lecture: Presuppositions and Epistemology – The foundations of educational practice
Class 2 Ed 13; [Optional: CT 49; CT 493]
Lecture: Aims and Objectives of Adventist Education – A Mission Statement from Above
Contrast with Secular Aims; Evaluation of Practice in Light of the Aim
Class 3 FE 334
Lecture: Adventist Presuppositions and Epistemology – Revelations of the Spirit
Ellen White’s Evaluation of Pragmatism, Existentialism, Post-modernism, etc.
Class 4 Ed 20
Lecture: Historical models for educational values and choices
Eden as a model; Primal principles related to the nature of man; Faulty Contextualization
Project: Interview with Secondary Principle (non-Adventist) regarding school objectives.
Class 5 Ed 23
Lecture: The logical error in popular eclectic educational choices.
Philosophy from the story of the Genesis knowledge tree
Class 6 Ed 28
Lecture: The relation of education to redemption; holistic perspectives organic to sound Biblical
exegesis; the ethics of Adventist Education
Class 7 Ed 33
Lecture: Jewish educational philosophy as built into the Jewish economy
Considering the outcomes of ancient practices: wealth, family, intelligence among Jews
Class 8 Ed 45
Lecture: The first campus-model of education; the Schools of the Prophets. Extra-Biblical sources
Basic principles; practicality of the model discussed
Project: Survey to evaluate correlation between educational privileges and worship choices
Class 9 Ed 53, 146
Lecture: Biographical models; God’s activity as a Teacher, Trainer
Great men and Bible biographies and passive mentors for today’s generation
Class 10 Ed 73, FE 438
Lecture: Survey of “Christ’s Example in Contrast with Formalism” and the chapter “The
Teacher Sent from God.”
Class 11 Ed 84
Lecture: Illustrations from the Training of the Twelve Apostles; Methods and Discipline of Jesus
Problem students in the class-room, help and hints at forging leadership from impetuosity
Class 12 Ed 99, 102, 113
Lecture: The moral value in the natural sciences; early childhood methods and philosophy;
Psycho-social values and the acquiring of common sense through nature’s lessons
Class 13 Ed 123
Lecture: Culture and Mental Agility vs Empirical Information Gathering
Shattering the idea of a static IQ; Social grace and end of the best methods in education
Class 14 Ed 128
Lecture: Science and Science “falsely so called.” Evaluating the relationship between empiricism
and faith. The importance of Christian science in Inspiration.
Class 15 Ed 135
Lecture: Business Principles and Methods. Discussion: Enron and its aftermess; the ethical deficit
and its relation to philosophical presuppositions of existentialism.
Class 16 Ed 159
Lecture: Education and the arts; the roles of poetry and song in sacred history; the failures of other
forms in light of Christian principles, namely sculpture and drama.
Project: Design music policy for a secondary school
Class 17 Ed 169
Lecture: Mysteries in the Bible; Dealing with modern skeptical thought; the place of doubt in
education; evidence-based faith. Discuss Paulson’s 2003 appeal to professors for restraint
Class 18 Ed 173
Lecture: History and Prophecy—Christianity’s offensive argument in the battle over world-views.
Discussion: Pascal’s Wager – why we don’t need it. The subjective in uninspired history.
Class 19 Ed 185
Lecture: The scope and limit of the Bible as an informant. The Bible as a guide. The Bible as
a source of multidisciplinary information. Discuss practical applications.
Class 20 Ed 195; FE 425
Lecture: Holistic approaches to the study of physiology for all students. Discuss: Current issues
in health education; childhood, Irish, Philadelphia obesity.
Class 21 Ed 202
Lecture: Temperance and Dietetics; Discuss “Every student needs to understand the relation
between plain living and high thinking.”
Project: Begin preparing for Midterm Exam. Exam will be within the next week of classes.
Class 22 Ed 207; Handout “Ellen White on Sports and Games;”
Lecture: Discuss the Handout. How do the ethics that govern the sports arena correlate with those
imposed by a rational development of Christian principles?
Class 23 Ed 214; FE 416
Lecture: History of the Manual Training Movement among educational reformers in the 19th
century, its impact on America. Discuss: Adventism and manual training today.
Class 24 Ed 225
Lecture: The relation of Educational Reform to the Judgement: CharacterBuilding, the means
to the end in Adventist Education. Methods.
Project: Create a fact sheet illustrating in two columns areas of educational choices that have been
laid down for Adventists, and areas that have been left to our discretion.
Class 25 Ed 230
Lecture: Educational methods in light of Adventist educational philosophy, Lecture A
Class 26 No Reading Assignment for this Class
Lecture: Discussion regarding “Methods” in the book Education
Class 27 Ed 240, FE 62, FE 100, CT 100-101
Lecture: Meddling with Mingling – Why Adventist educational institutions instituted non-courting
policies. Issues today. Various views and their coherence.
Class 28 Ed 246
Lecture: Discussion regarding chapter “The Relation of Dress to Education.” Regulations.
Merits of uniforms considered.
Project: Design dress standards for a secondary school; work, class, recreation, cosmetics, etc.
Class 29 Ed 250
Lecture: The SabbathSchool and Adventist Education. Family Education. Discuss “The Sabbath
and the family were alike instituted in Eden, and in God’s purpose they are indissolubly
linked together.”
Class 30 Ed 253
Lecture: Teaching Practical Religion; Faith and Prayer and other spiritual disciplines in Adventist
educational practice. “Should” vs. “How” and “Show” vs. “Tell” in teaching.
Class 31 Ed 262
Lecture: Helping students with career choices. Desires, amplitudes, needs, impressions – and
a multitude of counselors. Discus “To do our best in the work that lies nearest, to commit our ways to God, and to watch for the indications of His providence—these are rules that ensure safe guidance in the choice of an occupation.”
Class 32 Ed 275
Lecture: Teacher Qualifications and Efficiency. Preparing teachers, teachers preparing, hiring
instructors with values corresponding to the mission of Adventist education.
Class 33 Ed 283
Lecture: Modeling “co-operation” in the home and school. The dangers of inconsistent mentors.
Laboratory: Evaluate past experiences in the secondary setting.
Class 34 Ed 287, FE 277, FE 454
Lecture: Discipline, Suspension, Expulsion, Caution
Project: Draw up discipline guidelines for staff at a secondary institution.
Class 35 FE 92, FE 167, FE 381
Lecture: Curriculum. Prohibitions and Required Subjects in light of Inspiration.
Class 36 FE 196
Lecture: The epistemology of Authority. Its dominance in various levels of academia, its
value in light of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians.
Class 37 CT 107, CT 158
Lecture: Home-schooling, a movement and its methods and values. Polarization in current
generation of youth.
Class 38 Handout on Public Education and Ministry to Public Universities
Lecture: Discussion: Currents in public university ministry. Dangers, liabilities, opportunities.
Class 39 FE 520
Lecture: Funding Adventist Education, ethics, values, and methods
Class 40 FE 492
Lecture: Colonization. Criticism of societal tendencies to undermine integration. Application to
Adventist educational centers.
Class 41 CT 465, CT 474
Lecture: Graduate educational systems in Adventist education. Discussion: Training Adventist
medical professionals and physicians
Class 42 CT 500-555
Discussion: The reading.
Class 43 Begin Review for Exams
Examine School Calendar for Dates and Scheduling of Exams
Project Details
Project: Interview with Secondary Principle (non-Adventist) regarding school objectives.
The interview may be by phone. You will likely need to buy a phone card. You may interview any public-school principal or principal of a private/Christian school, excepting that they must be in the state of Arkansas. You may not chose the same principal as another student.
Design the interview before you call. Ask the principal if he/she has ten minutes or so to help you with an assigned interview for a class on educational philosophy. Your questions should reveal the following: Why did he/she get into educational administration? In what ways, if any, do his educational goals differ from those of the those that are over him? What outcomes does the school under his direction aim to instill in its graduates?
When you hand the assignment in it should be in the form of an interview transcript, with your words being nearly word-for-word and the answers being as close to word-for-word as you can manage.
Project: Survey to evaluate correlation between educational privileges and worship choices
The survey may be conducted in a parking lot or by a random calling of phone numbers. You need 30 qualifying surveys. Persons that do not qualify for the survey include 1. People you know 2. Persons still in school.
Here are the survey questions:
- What grade-level of education did you complete? (ie, 7th grade, 11th grade, 2 years of college, bachelor’s degree, one year of graduate school)
- How often do you read the Bible?
- More than once per week
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Several times each year
- Annually or less
- I do not attend religious services
- Would you have an interest in a free Bible study class if one was available? (Recommend www.afacts.org for those that say “yes.”)
Work with four other students to tally results (so that there are 120 surveys tallied on your assignment.) Students may share their results with as many others as they desire. When you hand the assignment in, it should be in the form of two columns, with education level in one and frequency of religious attendance in the other. Following the columns should be a paragraph of your own evaluating the data in light of the question “Does an increase in educational achievement increase or decrease the likely-hood of religious attendance in Southwest Arkansas, or neither?” At the top of your assignment list the four persons who contributed results to your study.
Project: Design music policy for a secondary school
The policy should be enforceable and defensible. Issues: What about computers with CD players? Approved musical CD’s and tapes? What to do with contraband? How to define contraband? Or eliminate all music? Canned music for backgrounds to special music? Policies for what staff play in their homes when students are around? Or no such policy?
Project: Draw up disciplinary guidelines for staff at a secondary institution
The goal of your guidelines is to help the staff save the students, to help prevent disciplinary problems by giving advice and setting up a system for handling disciplinary issues. Remind the staff of principles that should guide them in choosing when and how to administer discipline, and of what ought to be done to prevent the need for discipline.
Project: Create a fact sheet illustrating in two columns areas of educational choices that have been
laid down for Adventists, and areas that have been left to our discretion.
Examples of items that might go in one column or another:
The number of students in our schools
The location of our campus
The arrangement of the daily class schedule
The nature of student housing
The names of books that should be studied
The list should be long. YOU MAY COMPARE WORK on this project AFTER you have at least 25 items on your own list. Lists will be graded for completeness.
Project: You may suggest your own project to replace any one or two of those projects suggested here. Have your proposed project suggestion approved before you begin working on it. (smile).
For the Word Doc:
Views of ellen white on epiatmology and axiology
Haggai, I am not sure this is a question. But the book Education very much reveals Ellen White’s philosophical suppositions and conclusions including in the areas of epistemology (how do we know what is true?) and in the field of axiology (what has value? and why? What is morally excellent?)
Hello brother Prewitt.
I’ve been listening to your sermons on AudioVerse.
All my life people told to study the Bible. But no one really taught me how to do it.
By now I figured out a way to do when I need to teach Sabbath School but it is not suficient. Since you are a Bible teacher, are you willing to help me to understand and to know how to study the Bible by myself? Please!
Please contact me. I really would appreciate your help.
My email is: ritasofiaalmeida8@gmail.com. I will be waiting for an answer.
Many thanks