Education = empty pails = heavy school bags = ???

When I was in primary school, my class perceived an educated person meant one who had gone to school, especially tertiary learning and who had a string of letters after his or her name. However, we stood corrected. Our teacher explained that an educated person is not necessarily someone who has gone to school but rather, one who has an upright moral character, behaves and treats others well. Since then, I have come to see education as a process that involves teaching, instructing, inculcating of values and imparting of information, knowledge and skills not only to develop the intellectual mind but also to build a moral character who will in turn impart these knowledge and skills to others.

My mind has been stretched further recently. From the reading and class interaction whilst studying ECC, I am taking away several interesting concepts with regards to effective education and what it should be.

1. Education is not confined to a classroom setting.

Many perceive education to be a formal training and learning process within a formal classroom setting. Perhaps it is the culture we have been brought up in but now I need to be constantly aware and conscious that education is everywhere and everything I do, for instance, spending time with loved ones and friends, in the office, etc. When we offer to pray for colleagues who are facing problems at home or at work, we are teaching them Jesus cares for and loves them. That is education in progress! Therefore we need to be mindful how we present ourselves as Christians or even as dutiful adults to the children or the youth.

2. More is not necessarily better. Rather, it is the attitude that we adopt when teaching.

Einstein was convinced that education ‘is that which remains after you have forgotten what you have learned in school’. The key word here is ‘forgotten’ which demonstrates there is either selective memory retention or that we have a natural tendency to forget most of what we have been taught. Hence, teachers need to ascertain if we are teaching more than is necessary since we do not remember most of what we have learned. Brian Hill says to teach only what is ‘necessary and valuable in a manner which encourages personal appropriation for self-awareness and self-development’ and Yeats likens education not as the filling up of an empty vessel but as a spark of fire that inspires. Again, we sense it is not the amount of knowledge that is of criteria but the ‘manner’ or attitude which the teacher adopts whilst teaching. Is the teacher merely transmitting information or is encouraging application into life?

3. Do not limit education to a church activity. This space can be expanded; think beyond the church walls.

When we know and understand where the community is, we can reach out better to people outside of the four walls of the church. Different groups have different interests and value different things. That makes it a community because they have a shared interest of certain values. The important thing is that we need to move out or penetrate into their community and not expect them to move into ours. Ideally, it should be a Christ-impacted community to touch a non-believer community. My church is reaching out to a housing estate near the church premises and recently is focusing our efforts on a group of elderly folks who gather regularly at a centre for the aged in the vicinity. We visit them regularly and have invited them to a church event not only with the intention to share the Gospel but also to show care and concern for them.