We are now living under the tyranny of America’s only home-grown philosophy, pragmatism. The worse the economy becomes and the higher the price for college gets, the more we all want an education that gets us a job. There is even a movement to force colleges to offer students full disclosure of how much money they can make with each major and degree. In my classes I often have full attendance only when a quiz is scheduled. I regularly hear, “Will that be on the test?” And in the halls of every college that has general education requirements, one hears students grumbling, “I don’t know when I will every use this junk!”
Vocational and technical colleges have even launched advertising campaigns claiming that unlike other colleges, they will only teach you stuff you can use. In the quest for education that leads to careers, Americans are a lot like tots playing soccer—a little mob of kids chasing the ball all over the field. Colleges notice that baby-boomers are retiring, so they train a lot of nurses. But by the time the students get trained there is a surplus of nurses so the college runs to the next big thing—computer programming. And then the “tech bubble” bursts.
As a parent I too want good jobs for my kids. And if a person is going to go deeply in debt for college, it just makes sense that the graduate needs to make enough to pay off the loans. I get this. However, even though training for a job is wise, it should not be confused with education. In fact, education may have very little to do with career training. The heart of real education will often be what students discover and pursue on our own.
The beginning point isn’t a certain curriculum or methodology; it is embracing a biblical approach to education. Unfortunately many Christian parents and educators have been infected with the spirit of pragmatism and have strayed from truly biblical values. As we will see, the biblical focus of education is not utilitity but rather joy and wonder.
