Learning from the Master

The first four daily 'thoughts' are available on this blog, directly below this post. If you would like to read them and the remaining 36 entries 'in print', then please order the book from Amazon or your preferred online retailer.

Day 1 - The purpose of education

Undoubtedly, he is perfectly educated who is taught all the will of God concerning him, and enabled, through life to execute it.  And he is not well educated who does not know the will of God, or knowing it, has received no help in his education towards being inclined and enabled to do it.

Have you ever wondered what you are doing in your classroom? You are providing an education of course, but what kind of education is it? Is it simply teaching your student(s) to read, or write? Is your goal simply to give them a grasp of higher mathematics, or a deeper understanding of history? 

Thomas Arnold believed the purpose of education was much deeper than just imparting knowledge about a particular subject. The purpose of education is that the student should know God’s will for his life, and be strengthened to do it. In contrast, a poorly educated person is someone who has no knowledge of how God wants him to live. For instance, does God want people to be hard working or lazy? Does he want your students to be courageous or cowards? Does he want them to learn that bullying brings no negative consequences, or that a lawful authority will always protect the vulnerable?

Who we are in the classroom teaches the student as much as what we write on the blackboard or say from our desk. The things we laugh at in the class, the behaviour we punish or tolerate, the language we use or permit others to use either reveals God’s will to the students, or conceals his will from them.

For Arnold, God’s will was clear. God wants people to believe in his son.

“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40) 

Whether you are a home educator, or work in a school, be encouraged in your job as you start the term. But don’t forget that the primary purpose of education, according to Thomas Arnold, is to bring young people to a knowledge of God’s will for their lives. Because one day, a few years from now, the students you teach today will be facing moral decisions, and there is only one person who can lead them in the right way. Furthermore, one day, perhaps many years from now, your students will be facing the reality of death - and there is only one man in history who can save them from it. If you are a Christian, you are his ambassador in the classroom today.

Day 2 - The new boy

It is a most touching thing to me to receive a new fellow from his father - when I think what an influence there is in this place for evil, as well as for good…. If ever I could receive a new boy from his father without emotion, I should think it was high time to be off.

Arnold was well aware of the high privilege it was for a father to send his boy to Rugby - that is, the high privilege it was for him to receive the boy. Boarding schools can places of real vice (and they were in the 1830s), and day schools are not much better. Anxious parents have placed their child into your hands  today and they expect you to keep him safe. That eleven-year old boy you are teaching today, he is someone’s son. That sixteen-year old girl, she is somebody’s daughter.

The children in your class are precious in the eyes of their parents. And even if they are not, because the parents abuse or neglect them, they are still precious in the eyes of God. He created them, knows all about them, and sent his Son to die for them.

If you have children (or, if you’re educating your own children at home), think how important they are to you. Think how you would want their teacher to take an interest in their work - and more importantly, in their well-being.

If you don’t have children then you will not know, personally, what it feels like to send your child into the world. But be aware that the parents of the boys and girls in your class have given their hopes and dreams, their future, into your hands. The parents long for the best for their child, and they treasure him or her dearly. Furthermore, don’t forget that the child has even greater value in the eyes of God.

For Thomas Arnold, the boys mattered. He learnt that from Jesus.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10)

Whether you are a home educator, or work in a school, be encouraged in your calling. Strive to remember that the children, however challenging they may be today, are precious to their parents - and precious to God.

As Arnold would say:

God ever bless you.

Day 3 - The real work

‘I am quite well, and enjoying my work exceedingly.  May I only remember that, after all, the true work is to have a daily living faith in Him whom God sent.  Send me a letter to tell me fully about you and yours; it is sad that we can never meet, but we must write oftener.  Business ought not so to master us as not to leave time for a better business, and one which I trust will last longer, for I love to think that Christian friendships may be part of the business of eternity.’

You might be getting used to your daily routine now. You might be a little worried that some of the students already seem to be falling behind, or even worse, that you are falling behind in your planning. Perhaps the children have not achieved what you have hoped, perhaps the difference in ability among the children is making classroom management difficult.

On the other hand, perhaps all is going well. It is, after all, the start of term. You won’t be behind on your marking yet. Chances are that few of the children are giving you serious problems, because it’s only the third day. In all that you are doing today, remember to take time out to enjoy it. Arnold became a teacher seemingly by accident, and perhaps teaching wasn’t your first choice either. Perhaps you never dreamed of home-schooling, but here you are doing it. Arnold was encouraged by his good health and was enjoying his work when he wrote this letter to a friend. The Bible encourages us to enjoy our work:

“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment.” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)

But there is an even greater work which Arnold was keen to remember. ‘May I only remember that, after all, the true work is to have a daily living faith in Him whom God sent.’ Arnold is quoting the words of Jesus directly at this point:

“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:29) Have faith in the Great Master today and be encouraged. That is the true work, that is the most important lesson for any teacher. 

God ever bless you.

Day 4 - National education

National Education

‘I hold myself bound to influence, so far as I may be able, the working of a great experiment, which will probably … affect the whole country. I hold myself bound to prevent, so far as in me lies, the establishment of more sectarian places of education, which will be the case if you have regular colleges for Dissenters; and yet Dissenters must and ought to have Degrees; and you shut them out from Oxford and Cambridge…. Nothing more reasonable than that national education should be in accordance with the national religion.’ 

What is the ideal society or nation for people to live in? For Arnold the answer to this question was essential for establishing the right kind of education. He recognised that education is linked to the kind of society desired by its citizens, and until it has been determined what kind of nation is desired, the education of its citizens will be unclear, nor will educators have a definite goal in their own minds as to what they are trying to achieve.

Arnold believed the ideal society was a Christian one. Because the supreme earthly authority in any individual’s life is the state (chiefly meaning the legislature and executive branches of government), it is crucial that the state should conform to Christ’s law and way of life for the best possible society to exist. It was not necessary for all individuals to consent that Christ had risen from the dead to be part of that society, but it was necessary that citizens be morally obedient to the law. The aim of the state ought to be the ‘good’ of its people - not that they should accede to certain religious truths, and the ‘highest moral perfection’ would only be found in Christ’s person and his teaching.

If you believe that Jesus Christ demonstrates the best way of life for mankind, if you agree that his life was perfect and that he calls his disciples to live as he lived, then as you teach your students today, strive to present Christ to them. In the things you say and don’t say, in the things you do and don’t do. In the joy and pleasure you show at the good, your displeasure at wickedness (of which there is so much in the world, and generally it is not lacking in the classroom). 

The education of a nation brings forth the values of that nation. If you are a Christian, you probably will want your country to be Christian. It matters little what your others think of you, you are Christ’s ambassador in the classroom. His values must be your values, his ways must be your ways. Hopefully, by your example, your students (or your children) will see they are the best values anyone, or any nation could have.

God ever bless you.