Regarding Education: Are We Asking the Right Question?

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The first in a series of posts regarding education...

I was recently asked a question I love to answer... because it's not really the right question to ask. And that is always the most interesting type of question to answer. The question was this: What are the key elements that make education distinctly Christian?

Why is that not the right question to ask, you say? (Ah! That is indeed a good question!)

Why? Because the question already presupposes all sorts of things while assuming that it gets to the heart of an important matter. And, frankly, one can never get to the heart of a matter that way.

Though it may seem the inquiry of a simple child, the real question to ask is this: What is education?

(A freebie editorial comment: The questions of a child are almost always the best, but rarely posed.)

To know what something is, is to know its nature. It is more than merely identifying it with a good definition, as helpful as that is. Upon a stroll through the woods behind my home, I come upon a tree, standing in noble state to greet me. If it is a common enough tree, I may identify it by its leaf... an oak, a pine, a maple. But I hardly know what the tree truly is, its essence, its purpose, its glory, by mere modern categorization. It is not until I investigate the miracle of photosynthesis, explore the multiple layers of frozen time in its trunk rings, dig deep to wonder at its web of roots strong and sure, that I know what the tree truly is, gazing in wonder at its complete be-ing. Then, I know its nature, its essence, its reason for its place in our universe. So, let us not be content with childish definitions of education as merely the process of learning things deemed important at the time. Let us, with child-like fervor and wonder, stop. Ponder. Discover... what this thing we call education really is.

Won't you join me? Stay tuned for more posts... and feel free to join the discovery! In the comments, share what you believe education to be... Thank you, dear friend...


To see all of the posts in this series about education, click here.

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