World Church: Education Report Stresses College, University Changes
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The concern that Adventist colleges and universities worldwide are moving away from the church's traditional Adventist values was described in a report presented by the Adventist Church's Commission on Higher Education to the delegates of Annual Council Oct. 14 at the church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. |
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Gerry Karst, Adventist Church vice president.
The concern that Adventist colleges and universities worldwide are moving away from the church's traditional Adventist values was described in a report presented by the Adventist Church's Commission on Higher Education to the delegates of Annual Council Oct. 14 at the church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.
"Take special note of indicators which suggest that as a whole our educational institutions and programs are slowly but surely sliding in the direction away from orthodoxy to secularism," said Gerald D. Karst, a general vice president of the world church, who chaired the commission. "Some major issues have surfaced in this report."
The report highlighted a number of issues including Adventist faculty who are trained at non-Adventist institutions as well as an increasing number of faculty and students who are not Adventist church members. The commission estimates that by 2010 about 28 percent of the faculty and 46 percent of students at church institutions of higher learning will not be Adventist.
The statistics in the report are a serious concern for Adventist education, according to church officials. The fear is that the report now places some Adventist colleges and universities at a crossroad as they gradually move further away from the Adventist philosophy of education.
Dr. Garland Dulan, education director for the world church who explained the findings, said the report refers in many instances to the published work of three education experts who have studied the effects of secularization on faith-based institutions. "By observing indicators pointed out by these authors, we can see a trend toward secularization in the Adventist education system," Dulan said.
The commission on higher education made six recommendations for "immediate implementation." The first group sought to strengthen the Adventist philosophy of education among faculty "who have not been adequately exposed to these topics."
Dr. Bertil Wiklander, president of the church in the Trans-European region, said, "I think it's a matter of cultivating a culture on the campus where everybody is geared to what Adventist mission and thought is all about. This is cultivated by devotionals, by the way the leadership relates to the staff."
Wiklander referred to the recommendation that graduate level courses on Adventist values be taken by faculty trained at institutions that are not Adventist and said, "I would see taking a course as something very superficial. I can think of cases where teachers where I worked took courses, but it never led them to change of attitude. But talking to them personally, praying with them, having a constant conversation about these matters, suggesting books for them to read and evaluate, and them coming back to it in a personal way--that I found to be more helpful."
Other recommendations include seeking ways in which students, faculty and board members can continually be exposed to the teachings of the church and its education philosophy.
The final group of recommendations called for a series of subcommittees to be formed to study the increased secularization of Adventist institutions of higher learning.
Some Adventist educators feel that the growing number of students and faculty that are not Adventist may not be the entire problem.
"Even if you have a 100 percent Adventist faculty, 95 percent Adventists students ... the trend for secularization is still a problem in any campus," said Dick Osborn, president of Pacific Union College in Angwin, California.
"Even with those indicators, there [are] still tremendous trends that are taking place. I think we need to involve a broader area in hearing recommendations than we have," he added. "You've done an excellent job of independent surveys, you've met with each of the [church] divisions, you've gotten a lot of statistical data and input from those divisions, but we've heard nothing since then. We now have several months that I think we can begin to involve grass roots. Because you cannot create culture change from a top-down approach."
Jung Kwon Chun, president of the church in Korea, reported that the majority of students at the church's Sahmyook University in Korea are not Adventist church members, but he doesn't view that as a problem. "That is good for our mission," he said, adding that some of the students have since been baptized into the Adventist Church. Chun explained that the teachers at Sahmyook University are "sincere Adventist church members" and "are eager to teach the message."
The motion to receive the report and its recommendations was voted unanimously by Annual Council delegates. Subcommittees will address the items for further study and recommendations will be brought to Spring Meeting in 2004. View the full Commission on Higher Education report at www.adventist.org.
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