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Why Understanding the Purpose of Man Matters in Education

Posted by John Rutherford on Feb 26, 2018 9:58:00 AM

purpose of man in education

One day a man hears some rustling behind his shed and decides to investigate. He peeks around the corner and observes his son with three items: a board, a nail, and a watch. This combination of items perplexes the father, so he decides to watch his son for a brief moment before revealing himself. Then, his son adjusts the board, placed the nail in position, and began striking the nail with the watch, attempting to drive the nail into the board. After hitting the nail several times, the boy pauses to observe his progress. He finds that the nail has made only a tiny indention in the board, and the glass of the once ticking watch is now broken. In disgust, he throws the watch down and abandons his project.

It is at this point that the father intervenes and calls his son to him and asks, “Son, why did the watch not accomplish your purpose?” The son pauses a minute to reflect and says, “The watch was not made for that. It was made to tell time.” “Exactly,” the father says. The father then beckons the son to follow him to the tool shed to get a hammer.

why understanding purpose of man matters in education

What the father teaches the son in this story is to think about the purpose of things, the reason they were made. And this is the very same question educators must ask about mankind, if man is to be educated properly.  We must know the reason man exists.  If we do not get this right, education will tell man he can find his identity in something else, that he is "for" something else. 

So, what is man’s purpose? Many godly, educated men of the church put it like this: 

Man’s chief end (purpose, goal) is to love God and enjoy him forever. 

This is why we were made and this is why we exist. We exist for God, which means our happiness is bound up in who he is. 

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And since God created the world, all the subjects we study at Covenant tell a story about his beauty, complexity, and majesty.

History unfolds as the story of God’s sovereignty over all the earth.

The study of literature and all “happy endings” foretell the time when God makes all things new in the new heavens and the new earth.

The study of math reveals a God of extraordinary order and precision.

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What people produce in the fine arts on a canvas, in a song, or on a stage mimic the beauty of the Creator, but are only shadows of his incomprehensible beauty.

The sciences reveal that if humans live in a universe that is so vast, so intricate, and so astounding, the God who made the universe must be so much MORE than his creation.

The study of foreign languages and cultures tell of a God who delights in communicating well and finds joy in community.

Finally, the Bible reveals a holy God who is making a people who will be called by his name, but at great cost to himself.

This is why we must know man’s purpose. If we do not know what man is made for, we will see the world differently and educate differently. If God is not in the picture, then the soul of each subject is lost, and the soul formation we desire in the students is stagnated.

However, if we understand who man is, then educating him for the world God has made will produce wonder and joy as each subject reveals more of who God is.

When this occurs, students are transformed and will love and enjoy God all the more.

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Topics: Education