Degrees–In view of all this, our schools should have little to say now of “degrees,” and of long courses of study. The work of preparation for the service of God is to be done speedily. Let the work be carried forward in strictly Bible lines. Let every soul remember that the judgments of God are in the land. Let “degrees” be little spoken of.–Letter 382, 1908, p. 4. (To G. A. Irwin, Dec. 23, 1908.)
While being only a letter, this statement shows what Ellen White thot about educational “degrees”.
Recently i’ve had the opportunity to view someone’s “doctrinal” thesis. It was for AIIAS, http://www.aiias.edu/ a Seventh-day Adventist institution of “higher” learning. It was about integrating love in counseling young people around ages 6-16.
It was a handbook on how to carry out a Sabbath School program for children. I’m not kidding. The more i skimmed, the more i thot – “Hey, this looks familiar, VERY familiar.” Approximately 1/4 of the thesis was literally a hymn book for young folk. Around 1/4 was letters from people saying how much they had been blessed by this being done in their high school, and the bulk of it was how to carry on a Sabbath School service with a sample song, prayer, and a short story about Joseph, Moses, Daniel etc. and applying it to various situations kids today may face.
Last nite, while thinking about this, i thot how many of my SS teachers when i was a kid should have been “knighted” by the “higher learning” institutions – ha!
But really, what is all this about? It is about leaving God’s way, and following the way of the world. Sad to say, the person who wrote this thesis and did receive a doctorate has almost zero common sense. After a phone call with her yesterday (somehow she is scared to come to the school, believing that we are not up to govt. regulations), one person said something like “maybe too much religion has made her crazy”. I spoke: “Jesus was the most religious person ever, but he was balanced with what he said.”
So now Jesus’ name has been dis-glorified, and the govt. and SDA church and some accreditation body has certified that this lady is qualified to lead others, and be an instructor, when she herself is “unbalanced”, to put it mildly.
God never designed that our SDA schools should do accreditation. Recently i looked at the WASC web site, and saw that accreditation shows the public that they can “trust” an institution to have a certain standard of instruction.
So should God’s people go to the world to get people to trust them? That is a pretty sad state to be in! Yes, i understand that many of the accreditation standards are good, and that sometimes SDA schools do not give quality education. That is very sad. But when you submit to someone else’s telling you what you must and mustn’t do, and that person does not have the same foundation of truth that you do, then it inevitably leads to compromise in some areas.
One of those areas is the number of staff with “higher” education. The more staff that have “higher” degrees, the easier it is to get accreditation. Those with no “higher” degrees at all are looked down on, and pushed out of the educational field altogether.
This is not a new phenomenon. In the very first SDA school started in Battle Creek in the 1870s, the head principal/founder was a man named Bell. He was a graduate of Oberlin college, a college looked down on by most others because they advocated students working and not giving degrees etc. (That college is one of the very worst liberal colleges today tho, and yes, they do give degrees now….)
How many degrees did Jesus’ disciples have…..Well, Paul, the apostle did, but the Lord had to basically kick him hard to shake him up before he followed the truth.
Degrees tend to cause divisions in society creating an aristocracy as it were, and a dividing wall between the “haves” and “have nots”. If we were to give degrees, i think the highest degrees should go to those with the most “common” sense, and those who are the humblest.
We should avoid accreditation bodies like the plague, and insist that all our students and teachers get the real training, training that leads to a balanced mind, body, and soul, and prepares one to live forever with God in heaven.
These are nice ideals. You would not be able to teach in Thailand without your degree.
I am currently working towards a degree so that I can be employed. We cannot always follow our ideals.
If i had not pursued a degree, perhaps God would have led me to an even better place where i could have done better work?
.
No doubt about it.
.
We must follow the ideals that God lays out.
.
The only big regret i have in my life is choosing to get a worldly, college education instead of getting medical missionary training and working full-time for God…….
God bless as you aim to follow His ideals and minister to others.