Vantage Point - All Education Isn't Equal

By David Treybig, Managing Editor

The world is awash in education, yet drowning for lack of knowledge in how to get along with others. The truth and irony of this statement becomes evident when one compares the increasing number of people who have graduated from institutions of higher learning with the increasing number of serious problems facing our global society today.

Unbridled greed, of both individuals and corporations, has rocked the global economy. And as nations like Iran and North Korea scramble for nuclear technology, one can't help but wonder how long it will be before ethnic disagreement and hatred fan the flames of discontent into a nuclear holocaust.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online says, "Education can be thought of as the transmission of the values and accumulated knowledge of a society." So why can't all nations get along? Are our values misplaced? Is our collective knowledge incomplete?

Since there is a cause for every effect, something must be wrong with modern education. With so many leaders receiving formal educations, why aren't national squabbles and disagreements fading? Why haven't the Jews and Arabs made peace? Why haven't Muslims and Christians found mutual respect and understanding?

The answer lies in the fact that humanity's most difficult problems are spiritual in nature. People's inability to get along with others is a spiritual problem that modern education can't solve.

Most colleges and universities have taken God out of the curriculum. In bygone eras God's revealed Word—the Bible—used to be accepted as the foundation or beginning of knowledge, but most education today excludes God from the classroom. So-called "enlightened" educators teach impressionable young minds that people can get along just fine without God. But the results suggest otherwise.

Does this make education pointless? Of course not. It's been amply demonstrated that, on average, the higher one's level of education, the higher one's level of income. But it's important to understand that much of modern education is incomplete. The missing dimension on how to live a happy life in peace with others is spiritual knowledge that can only be obtained through God. Given this understanding, it's important that we each take charge of our own education.

We need to understand that going to a trade school, college or university is just the beginning of a lifelong process of education. A good formal education simply prepares us for the additional learning we will do throughout our lives. As futurist Alvin Toffler noted: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

Then there's spiritual knowledge. We must each determine to spend our lives learning the ways that lead to the peace and happiness all people desire. This, too, is a lifelong process. As the apostle Paul told the young evangelist Timothy, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, New American Standard Bible).

In this issue we focus on education—its importance, the various types of intelligence and how to select professors. We hope it will help you recognize and learn about the missing dimension in today's education. VT