Education, False Or True? -- By: Gordon H. Lovik

Journal: Central Bible Quarterly
Volume: CENQ 09:1 (Spring 1966)
Article: Education, False Or True?
Author: Gordon H. Lovik


Education, False Or True?

Gordon H. Lovik

Viewed today, education has essentially two designs: (1) the development of capacities, and (2) the acquisition of experience. The first pertains to the maturing of the body and mind to full growth and strength; the second to the process of furnishing the child with the “heritage of the race.” Consequently the teacher’s work has become the cultivation of capacities and the transmission of experience. Education no longer can see absolutes. The pupil ever learns but never can come to a knowledge of the truth. Education now is a process of analyzing experience, choosing what is useful and affords the greatest satisfaction. Even born-again Christians many times accept the philosophy of John Dewey. The aim of education, whether school, home or church, has become the reconstruction and reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience and which increases ability to direct the course of subsequent experiences.

In 1884 John Milton Gregory authored “The Seven Laws of Teaching.” He was a Baptist minister who gravitated into education; he was the organizer of the University of Illinois in 1868, which leadership he continued for thirteen years. His book, considered a classic in the field of education for years, was revised and republished in 1954. This new edition contains certain additions and alterations which are the result of more recent educational theory. This article is designed to set forth in survey fashion many of the principles of education published in his original work. It is hoped that the contrast between this and modern education will be revealed so clearly that parents, pastors, and teachers will review their concepts of

teaching and training to see if they are truly God-ordained.

True education involves both the development of powers and the acquisition of knowledge. In this respect it is a science. However, education is also an art, for it involves both teaching and training. Teaching is the systematic inculcation of knowledge, whereas training is the systematic development and cultivation of the powers of both mind and body. The training may be physical, intellectual or moral. That which is genuinely moral is based upon the spiritual principles of God’s Word. A young child may learn intellectually the moral truths of God’s Word, but these truths cannot become a part of his life unless he is first born again. Within every process of true teaching there are seven factors involved in teaching: (1) a teacher who knows the lesson to be taught, (2) a learner who attends with interest to the lesson given, (3) a common language which is used to communicate the truth, (4) a lesson or truth which must be l...

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