What is Education?

Education is Training

Education means to train another to live, which means to impart, guide, instruct, and critique another in beliefs, thought, desires, decisions, behaviors, abilities, skills, and relationships. Education can be controlling, influential, or inspiring, and we have been inspired to ask the question, "What is the ultimate goal of education?" Is it to protect children? Is it to improve a student's future? Is it to improve a teacher's pay? Is it to stimulate an economy? Is it influence or control of generations of a country? Is it to religious-ize people? Is it to divide or unite people?

We have been inspired by truth and love to answer the question from the foundation and source of life and education -- God himself. Since he is the ultimate goal of life, he then is the ultimate goal of education. Therefore education trains to that end, and interestingly God inspires people to be used as means to his own end and purpose. He does not remove himself; but rather, he involves himself into and instructs humanity to trust him.

Education is Learning

God trains humanity to trust him, and as humanity learns to live in his created world, learning leads us to then trust as well as live for him. If not, then learning leads to our own ends and then becomes a means to our own end. Learning is not the end in of itself, therefore, we are not making carbon copies of another but allowing God's truth to lovingly inspire hearts to listen to learn, learn to live, living beloved, and loving while living.

Therefore, the ultimate end of education becomes the central-inspirational truth that drives, guides, and aligns education to see the connected and, many times, complex truths of this world. Education can include subjects, classrooms, teachers, or curriculum as a method but those things and people do not define education, God does.

Learning who God is becomes life giving and even directive in life, and learning is still not the end as God is using what we learn to draw us to trust him. He is the source of all that is beautiful, artistic, working, and alive.

Education is Inspirational

To inspire means to cause a motivational change that affects belief and behavior in a positive direction of life. Christian people, pastors, professors, and anyone who is wise to be learned from are inspirational. The greatest inspiration to the world is the creator of it, God. He inspires, revealing what he wants and cause a deep joy in following him in learning truth and love.

Education is Missional

God truly is the epicenter life, history, and especially then of Christianity. This applies to every area and aspect of life. Education then involves learning these areas of life, including knowledge, understanding, people, work, and rest.

Education is Contextual

Education as a context to train people in truth and love that draws people into the inspiring epicenter of life and Christianity.

What about schools, colleges and universities, seminaries? What's the purpose? What is the goal? Who educates?

1. Parents

2. Teachers

3. Pastors

Training children to become adults. Adolescence and the word 'teenager' are new terminology since the early 1900's and deriving through social and legal terminology to protect children from workplace abuse but having unintended consequences of creating a time frame of not apprenticing or working in real time or more often being trained only academically or to be raised on their own.

1. 0-6 - Training them to receive love through care, nurture, comfort, protection, and to identify their parents and the reality in which they are being born.

2. 6-12 - Training them to listen, discern whom and what to listen to, and then to learn basic life skills like that of buying, making, and giving food, life hospitality (inside and outside of the home), demeanor, beginnings of finances and economy, reading and writing, language, and nature.

3. 12-18 - Training them to learn work through apprenticeship primarily with their parents and then extending to those beyond -- what to do, when, why, with whom, where, and how -- with work being inside and outside the home. Great opportunity for parents and schools to integrate real time situations in preparation for living independently but dependent on their training.

4. 18-55 - Training continues through learning and doing and seeking to train others, especially those of younger ages.

5. 55-Etc. - Training others with life wisdom and guidance.