Our first parents, Adam and Eve, began their instruction from God Himself. They learned about their world by spending time with their Creator as they explored the Garden of Eden.
Education, one of the guiding texts for the global philosophy and mission of Adventist education, describes this “first school” as one of loving instruction from God and angels.
Adam and Eve walked in the garden and listened to God’s voice. They communed with Him face to face, and His every purpose was directed at their highest good. They were both instructed in and entrusted with practical labor. They named the animals and cultivated the garden.5
Further into the Old Testament, times had changed of course. Sin had entered into the world through an endeavor to obtain knowledge apart from God, and there was greater need for helpers along the journey of family education. Prophets became recognized as teachers appointed by God. To train these teachers, God appointed Samuel to establish what many scholars believe to have been one of the first schools for the prophets at Ramah.
These schools became the salve to a broken world and provided mental and spiritual education for youth.
Instructors were well-educated in the Scriptures, and they also had a personal relationship with God.
The learners gained an education in spiritual and academic studies. Meanwhile, they supported themselves through practical labor.6
After Eden, the Old Testament schools were a necessary step in the right direction, but still not enough. The world needed another teacher.
God delivered a teacher and a Savior in one. Jesus, who created the earth as part of the Godhead, came down from heaven to walk among humanity.
Jesus knew each human being as He knew Himself, which made Him the ideal teacher for any person. His own education “was gained directly from Heaven-appointed sources: from useful work, from the study of the Scriptures and of nature, and from the experiences of life.”7
And so, in loving instruction, He taught the church, the children, kings, the powerful, the marginalized, and left no person out.(**
5. White, Ellen G., Education, p. 21 backToReference
6. Ibid. backToReference
7. Education, p. 77 backToReference
