One of the solutions being offered in educational circles today is in fact a contributing problem. The so-called solution proposes that education should be treated like a business.

This is a problem faced primarily on the college level right now, but it may certainly trickle down to grade schools. In my mind there are two faulty business model approaches to education.

The product approach is easily dismissed: Teachers don’t offer a product because people are not things. Nor are we merely offering information (that’s what encyclopedias and search engines are for). The approach is one-sided. If teachers offer information students do not learn, students may fail, parents may complain, and teachers may be accused of failing to teach. But education requires teachers who teach and learners who learn. Education doesn’t offer a product but a relationship where teacher and student should be held accountable.

The service model is an educational vision like that of businesses that specialize in doing something for people rather than making something for them. But this is also a mistake. Service in business is not the same thing as the service we should offer as teachers.

As soon as educators start thinking and advertising that we are offering a service, students and parents start thinking we “owe” them. Restaurants offer a service (to feed us). Auto garages offer not just parts, but the service of repairing the car. Service is different from product. It seems to match up with education except for one huge difference: education isn’t something students always want. If a restaurant waiter serves me dinner, it’s because I’m hungry. If the food is bad, I may send it back. But I don’t ask for it, pay money for it, and then decide I don’t really want to eat it. Of course I’ll eat the good tasting food in front of me. That’s how a service model works. And that’s why it doesn’t work for education.

This happens in education frequently. The teacher offers students a way of learning knowledge. He does the best he can to teach. But students will often choose not to follow his instructions and learn. The biggest mistake in a service model of education occurs when students and parents think they have the right to passing grades (this takes us back to the issue of entitlement I raised in the first essay in this series). “I paid for the course. I should get an A.” That is absurd, but it is happening in education more and more today. And colleges and universities are the ones making it happen because they have chosen to view and advertise education as a service. But it’s a service many students don’t really want—not as much as they should.

Another model is needed, and maybe for once I can come close to offering a solution. The one model I can think of that comes close to describing a true teacher/student relationship is that of apprenticeship.

In an apprenticeship, the apprentice and the expert work together to achieve mutual goals. If an apprentice works toward helping the expert complete goals (a carpenter’s apprentice would help a master carpenter build a house or a piece of furniture), the apprentice may be paid a token wage for his contribution to the project, may be given room and board for his work, or may even have to pay for the privilege of working with the expert. This is because the apprentice model acknowledges the value of the master’s expertise and the apprentice’s need and desire to have that expertise imparted to him. In other words, all apprenticeships begin with a foundational vision: the teacher or master has knowledge which, through apprenticeship, he imparts to the novice or uneducated. Whether the apprenticeship is in carpentry, plumbing, martial arts, or graduate school, its purpose is ultimately one of education. Why in the world, then, would we apply the apprenticeship model to any variety of crafts except education?

Apprenticeship acknowledges a sacred bond between master and novice, teacher and student. Each is responsible for learning through a relationship where each gives his best to the process. It is the kind of servant relationship Christ modeled when he washed his disciples’ feet (John 13:3-16). The master, who is truly acknowledged as master (see verse 13 in the John passage), humbly elevates his servants above himself. The servants receive this honor in humility, and in humility seek to honor their master above themselves. In such a relationship, learning can take place. In a business model, people become products, information becomes money, and diplomas merely pieces of paper. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells