Featured The purpose of higher education

The so called obedient brother represents the Scribes and Pharisees in that story. Just an FYI

BTW, you are correct on the older brother. He was very pompous and self righteous

 

Using the gift of discernment?

 

Scriptural reference please.

 

In Scripture, it is God who starts churches ( Acts of the Apostles 2:47 )...
He only uses His preachers to gather His children under one roof.

 

Having taught at a university which had one of the best programs in America in what I taught it was a pleasure to work with such qualified faculty. The least experienced had 12 years of field experience in what he taught, the next had 18 and three others had over 30 years. We had more companies come to interview as we did students graduating. I taught my students a semester of work in 11 weeks and then had one month to work on a real project that had been done by a company. They were to do a written presentation and an oral presentation as though everything was done with the client in mind. By the time the students graduated I saw better reports and presentations than I often saw in the professional world. At first the complaints I got was I made my students work hard but I never got any complaints after they did their first internship. Because I was a part of the faculty I was well respected. I was also appointed as part of a think tank at the university to improve education and was a mentor to the faculty in my department. At first when I asked some why questions in class it quickly set apart those who just wanted a grade and those who wanted to do well and learn. Because I what I did a number of the other faculty followed. It improved the grades and attitude of the students. All the time I addressed real life situations I had encountered and problems I had to solve. My experience is that what is taught and how it is taught depends on the faculty in the particular program. Our department head had come out of the real world to teach later in life. All of the other faculty had come the same route. We brought our knowledge and experience to the classroom. That made it more difficult for the students because we knew what they needed to know and the attitude they needed to have. A problem I saw is some of us estimated that about 5% of the students who said they were Christians could give reasons for their faith. Interestingly those who became Christians in college and were involved with a group like The Navigators could articulate their faith. About 70% of those come from non-Christian homes. Compare that to those who grew up in Christian homes and went to church. Most of those lived like the world but those involved with groups like the Navigators were reaching others.

 

I believe the job of higher education should be beyond what the church should have done. The church should be teaching how to make disciples but the kind of disciples Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:19, 20. In those two verses are two components of scripture. Those two components are correct doctrine and correct practice. That means the teaching is not just at the cognitive level but also the practical level of showing how it is done. James 1:22 says one who is not a doer is deluded. Leaders who are not practicing Mt. 28:19, 20 are serving as a poor example of what a genuine Christian looks like. Higher education should be higher education, not education that should have been done in the church.