Quo Vadis for
Education: Where are systems going?
Education will
always be there. ---Pragmatism
rules over Education. ---It does not
mind how fancy the education at school has become, at the end of the day
vegetables and fruits need to come from trees to feed the empty stomachs. ---Some has to
walk away from Education systems to follow the applicational rules to sow plant
and reap. ---Whether
everything is done by a computer or not, there are billions of stomachs
waiting. ---In the
Middle Ages a boy of 7 was sent to a Latin School to learn Latin and Greek and
sometimes also Hebrew. ---Some of
them graduated with a BA from university as early as the age of 17! A doctoral
degree before 23 or 25 and started a career as professor at 25. ---Fluent in
Latin, German/English/French, Greek, Hebrew. ---No
computers to help them. ---They wrote
the dictionaries that we are using today. ---Now where was I
at the age of 7? First grade Elementary School or standard one. ---After
Standard five we went to the Middle School with many subjects and after two
years selected only six majors and went deep into them until the end of High
School. ---Instead of
Maths, I chose Bible. I chose German. Two more languages were mandatory for all
anyway, mother-tongue and English, if English is not your language or
Afrikaans, if it is not your language. ---This it was
until recently. ---Recently I
noticed as a University Professor that there are elements of erosion in Education
showing up. ---I am not
talking of religious education. Not yet. ---I am
talking about secular education. ---Keep in
mind that the word secular has changed in all countries. The fusion of secular
and religious led to a Secular Theology at the Universities. ---It is good
for students to learn how to drink because the culture in the country has a
long drinking culture. Bla. But that is what was said. ---Then came
the strange subject of Fusion Technology. ---At first I
thought it is smart because it is teaching some scholars to be a “jack-of-all-trades”
which is kind of the education I myself got at our manual labor college where
we were educated in Africa. ---Manual
Labor? Yes. Each student, rich or poor was required to work 10 manual labor
hours “because it is good for character building”. It was. Believe me. ---5 hours on
Sunday from 8-12h30. Some time for shower before lunch. ---Where and
who came. The president of the university was waiting for his team of students
to come at 8 to lay curbstones on a new road he was building from the entrance.
---He stood
there in his building clothes and was physically laying curbstone for curbstone
himself! ---I have a
photo of him and me on a roof building the roof for the remodeled Admin without
shirts both of us! ---Manual
physical labor. You are selected by computer. And you must be there. Period. ---What if you
are not? Punishment system. You get extra hours to work during the week when
others are off. ---So BMW
students who’s fathers build them a large house outside the gate because he is
a mayor of another town, was standing in shorts and t-shirt laying curbstones. ---Character
building. With sweat. Good combination. Try it. ---But then
there came an Educational policy in the country that the student is king and
the teacher is slave. ---What do I
mean by this? ---Simply that
the student choose his teacher and those teachers not chosen is “dumped” next
year by the school. Send home permanently. Fired? ---This led to
serious stress among the teachers. They did not know from semester to semester
what their future is going to be. ---That system
was still fine. But now they are bringing that nonsense into private schools
and it is here that the egg hits the fan. ---It is then
no longer just students are free to select the teacher they like, it is now
that students from one department does not have to stay studying just in that
department, they can go to any department to study. ---Eclecticism
in Education. ---Educational nomadism. ---“Jack-of-all-trades-but-Master-of-none”.
This is the ball-game. ---And this is
where Education is leading to. ---Empty
heads. Touch and go Education. ---Here a
little, there a little, big show but empty shell. Correct? ---I thought
the chaos will end there and that makes it easy. ---Not so. Now
students may interfere what the content of the syllabus should be. ---So
traditional requirements like Hebrew 1 before Hebrew 2 before Hebrew 3 before a
Masters in Hebrew is exchanged for a little here and a little there. ---Greek is
even taught no longer like we had to with Grammar and Dictionary every day and
night until final exam. No, hardly any Grammar or Dictionary and just in
English everything! ---Why?
Because in the class is a fusion student who choose eclectically only this
course in the Department but lack ability in Greek! ---Who
suffers? Everyone. ---The teacher
has to write a new Guide or Book for Instruction. ---But, says
the teachers, if we do not do it, the Department will have no students and who
is going to pay my BMW and my expensive apartment? No, they did not say the
part about the cars and houses but they did say it. ---Welcome to
Education 2023 on earth…if you are from Mars. ---So everyone
is AI robot everywhere now as if it is the Educational solution for the future.
---Can we sit
down and reflect before we go further? ---Human is
human whether it is Adam in 4316 BC or myself in 2023. ---Sin is sin
in those day and it is sin in our days. ---Yes but
wrong is people designed, says the AI robot. Wrong. The Law of God is divine
and given from heaven not from below or from the earth. ---Thus the TI
is bigger than the AI. Theological Intelligence is bigger than the Artificial
Intelligence. No joke. Really. ---God only
permits us to enter this digi-modernism for the universe to see that humans
remain sinful and conversions still takes place the same way. AI will not improve
them any bit. ---The plan
and process of salvation is the same before the AI robot time and during the AI
robot time. No difference. ---Illusion, dreaming, imagining, irrealis
are the words that one has to give as products of this kind of Fusion Education
dished up by governments to their country-people. ---So where is
the Latin, Greek and Hebrew between 7-10 years old? Where is the dictionaries
and grammars written by humans. ---Zombis.
That is what everyone is heading to. ---Sleepwalking.
Knowing nothing. Need to know nothing. Just flash-flash from one photo to
another of the likes and beauties around. ---Chaotic
cognitive emptiness. ---Paul says
that he could see the End-times we are living in. I think he did. ---Lawlessness,
chaos, lovers of self more than lovers of God. ---What about
our religious schools? ---They run or
ran after the world ideas. Result? Parent did not or do not want to send their
children to these schools that are now also secular. ---Result?
There are no Adventist students in our Adventist Schools. ---Where is
the Adventist future? ---Outside of
these schools. ---So
Adventist teachers are teaching non-Adventist students with a strong
non-Adventist Parents-and-Teachers’ Association. ---What a lost
of Vision and a lost of Mission! ---So how to
regain? ---Convert.
Teachers must be on their knees asking help from God. ---Then stand
up and change the fees policy of the schools. ---If students
come from houses that are not Adventists, they will be paying 200%. ---Adventists
parents children will pay only 30% because they have been paying tithe the rest
of their lives and it was the tithes that helped setting up the schools and
building them. ---Because the
Adventist parent is tapped into Adventist tithe and offerings systems for
decades, therefore they are almost “owners” of these schools. Correct? ---Thanks.
More Adventists’ children will come. I can assure you. ---Secondly,
these parents attending the meetings have a Value Added Vote. A VAV. ---It means
that the parent’s vote at these meetings count for 4 not for 1 only like
non-Adventist parents. Why? They paid tithe for decades and also offerings and
helped building the schools. Is that fair? Correct. ---What if
they drop out of school about these policies? ---Bye. We
talking about a proper Future in Education. Are we not? ---Now we can
begin to roll back where past leaders have mistaken. We can fix the errors and
bring tranquility in our Vision and Mission. Correct? ---Do we need
to bring tranquility in our Vision and Mission? ---Are we
committed to bring that tranquility in our Vision and Mission? ---Then get
back to manual labor. Roll up the sleeves and start working. Correct? ---Back to the
Future!