“It is good enough for who it’s for,” stated my friend in response to a query regarding a project he had just completed for me. We both laughed at this little joke that had become standard between us whenever I asked about how good something was. But over the years I have thought about how this same statement has been applied in Adventist schools. It seems that mediocre teaching is good enough for small schools or kids living in a rural area. We don’t have to have outstanding education as long as it is Christian education. In fact, I’ve heard it stated a many times over the years that a poor Adventist education is far better than a good public education.
I find such an attitude to be totally inconsistent with our Adventist philosophy. From my perspective, good enough should never be acceptable. Adventist education should be the very best and still strive for improvement. Our small one-room schools should have the same high quality of instruction as the very best suburban school. Average teaching should never be accepted as good enough. God’s high ideal for his people can best be exemplified in the very best education for our Adventist young people.
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I don’t think “good enough” describes Adventist Education. It seems to me that NAD has done some in house research and that Adventist Education is quite a bit better than education in general in North America. We are not perfect but working toward that goal.
I remember when I was principal at The Village SDA elementary school in Berrien Springs and we got back test results our students had class average starting at 70 percentile for 3rd grade and worked up to 90’s in 8th. These were good but I felt we had room to improve. Not only did I want our students to have the best and be the best, but for those who don’t know VSDA is literally surrounded by the public schools in Berrien and Ruth Murdock was just down the road. There was no room for average and the fact that many of the same teachers are there and enrollment seems to be holding tells me they are conituing that high standard.
I agree with your views, but the problem seems to be that you can hardly get two people (educators or parents) to agree on what good education is — whether it is requiring uniforms or having the latest technology, etc.
My theory on why so many of our small schools are subpar and failing: they are being run by amateurs in their spare time.
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