LEARNING AND EDUCATION

John Ruskin (1819-1900) philosopher and polymath wrote,
“Education is the leading of human souls to what is best and making the best out of them. You do not educate a man by telling him what he knew not, but by making him what he was not.”

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.” He also wrote: “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”

There are many thoughts and philosophies about education. With traditional, academic, vocational and technical learning it seems to me that the greatest missing element in them all is apprenticeship. Learning and then learning by doing with someone more experienced. This was certainly a biblical pattern with Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha and Paul and Timothy, Jesus and the Twelve and many others. The greatest of course was Jesus who said:

“A pupil is not above his teacher, but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.” Jesus