The Heart of the Issue

Recently, Vladimir Putin won the Russian election for presidency. In numbers, 15,759,224 people voted for him–87.97% of all the votes.^[1] Must be a great guy, right? After all, a whopping majority voted for him. Compared to Biden, who only won 51% of the total votes in 2020,^[2] Putin looks like the next global superstar.

However, for us in the US, it’s not exactly hard to question whether Putin’s landslide victory is proof of overwhelming support from his country. And given that “all opposition candidates who could have challenged Putin . . . were either barred from the contest or have been exiled, imprisoned or have died under suspicious circumstances,”^[3] I can’t blame anyone for being suspicious.

Putin, on the other hand, claimed that the victory was “transparent and absolutely objective.”^[4]

To be clear: This article isn’t an exposé on politics. It is just a very stark (and perhaps inflammatory) illustration on the deceptive nature of numerics. “Numbers don’t lie” is, in fact, a lie, and in the case of ministerial success, this same conclusion also applies. Just like Putin used his overwhelming numbers as proof of people’s favor toward him, we sometimes take the same attitude in our educational work by pointing to outward numerics as indicators of inward conversion.

This is not an issue isolated to education. For example, in the field of canvassing, high book sales are generally interpreted as an indicator of God’s presence: If you sell more books, you are more successful. On paper, this seems like an obvious interpretation of numerics: High numbers = success. But is this the case? If 87.97% of the people voted for Putin, does he have the support of the overwhelming majority? Are high book sales a measure of God’s success, or does success not always come in a way that is humanly visible?^[5]

Take another example: The church in general. Do high attendance rates mean success in the church? Or in other words: Do large numbers of baptisms indicate God’s working? Or is there something more than another tally in the church books that indicates success?

The same problem appears in education. Sometimes we tout externals as measures of success: “Our students do outreach.” “We don’t do sports.” “Our food is 100% vegan.” This is all well and good; having policies and programs that aid in helping the student live a more principled life is always ideal. However, it is not enough to simply have policies and programs. Policies never change people, just as much as the Law never changes the person.^[6] Real success is not simply having mandatory policies and programs, but rather having the principles behind these policies internally implanted within the students.

Externals are quite obvious when they fail to become internals. For example, it’s great having mandatory outreach programs in our educational institutions–we can be sure to show off how 100% of the school participates in outreach. However, the real measure of success is in whether or not the students participate of their own volition. In other words, if you have to drag students out of their rooms to do their mandatory outreach, or if they complain about how much time they have to spend on said programs, the external program has clearly failed to become internal. The desire to do outreach should come naturally out of a converted heart; for “[no] sooner is one converted than there is born within him a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus. The saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in his heart.”^[7]

If students, after graduating, don’t do outreach programs of their own volition, it appears that the mandatory programs only concealed a lack of internalization.

Take another example: Diet. It’s all well and good to provide 100% plant-based food at school. Again, this is a good thing. But if students are simply avoiding eating in the cafeteria and opting for nearby fast food chains outside, something is wrong. And if students, after graduating, leave behind the diet fed to them at school, then it is clear that the target has been missed.

All this is to say that real success is not merely having rules or policies, but rather having their foundational principles internally planted in the students.

To be clear: This is not a decry against school policies. I am a firm believer in policies based on the principles outlined in the Spirit of Prophecy. Personally, compliance to school policies played a large part in my conversion experience. All the different mandatory aspects–such as morning worships, prayer meetings, Bible classes, and diet–helped clear my mind to be susceptible to spiritual things. However, it was not enough for me to attend these functions and obey these policies–what really changed things for me was when my teachers took time and interest to nurture my spiritual hunger and paint a vision of something better in life. This made the policies I complied with much more than mere policies–they became channels by which I grew spiritually as opposed to perceived roadblocks to whatever my carnal nature wanted to do.

We cannot flaunt external policies as indicators of our success with students. Instead of relying on outward compliance as a mark of victory, teachers should watch for indicators of internal motivation and work towards that internal change in every student. Does the student show interest or is he bored out of his mind when doing outreach? Is the student thankful for vegan food, or does he avoid eating it at every possible turn?

If the aim of True Education is whole-person transformation, mere compliance is not enough. Mere compliance will only last as long as the student is in school. Whatever we do on the outside is useless unless it becomes internalized; and while it is true that children should be taught to obey before they are able to reason,^[8] adults cannot be treated the same. They should be taught to reason and internalize. This is what True Education seeks to do: It seeks to create men and women of character; men and women who not only have compliant hands, but who also have converted hearts. No unconverted student should fall through the cracks.

To accomplish this, there needs to be more explanation of “why” rather than “what.” Policies should be explained in terms of the principles that they are founded on. And beneath all of this, Christ must be at the core. Let students see Christ, eternity, and Heaven as their motivation for everything they do—only then can the change become internal. If students show compliance but a lack of internalization, teachers should come beside them and seek to give them a clearer picture of Christ. This can never take place unless the teachers themselves are constantly connected to Him. It will be impossible to inspire students to internalize principles unless those principles are lived out, both within the classroom and without. “The teacher should be himself what he wishes his students to become.”^[9]

It is true that teachers alone cannot ever convert students–conversion is only a possibility when the individual yields their whole heart to God.^[10] However, teachers have a large responsibility in aiding this process, for they are in every way as responsible for the souls of their students as ministers are over their congregants.^[11] They will be accountable to God for the part they have played (or failed to play) in the conversion of their students.^[12]

These injunctions do not call for a reduction of policy–policy can be a means by which students gain contact with Christ. All of this is to say that there needs to be a focused direction and energy turned towards students that show a lack of internal motivation, for ultimately, this betrays a lack of true conversion.

Numerics are not always a good indicator of spiritual success, as these metrics are often based upon mere compliance to policies, rather than internalized principles. So instead of patting ourselves on the back for how many good policies or programs we have in our institutions, let us instead focus on the hearts of students. Let us work to show them a picture of Christ so clear that they will be compelled to allow Him into their hearts that He may change them from within.

[1] Jacob Knutson, “Putin Wins What Russia Claims Was an ‘Election’ for Its Presidency,” Axios, March 18, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/03/17/putin-russia-claimed-presidential-election.
[2] Ruth Igielnik, Scott Keeter, and Hannah Hartig, “Behind Biden’s 2020 Victory: An Examination of the 2020 Electorate, Based on Validated Voters” (Pew Research Center, June 30, 2021), 4.
[3] Jacob Knutson, “Putin Wins What Russia Claims Was an ‘Election’ for Its Presidency,” Axios, March 18, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/03/17/putin-russia-claimed-presidential-election.
[4] Ibid.
[5] “We are to be sincere, earnest Christians, doing faithfully the duties placed in our hands, and looking ever to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Our reward is not dependent upon our seeming success, but upon the spirit in which the work is done. As canvassers or evangelists, you may not have had the success you prayed for, but remember that you do not know and cannot measure the result of faithful effort.” Ellen G. White, Colporteur Ministry (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1953), 114. Emphasis supplied.
[6] See Romans 8:3-4.
[7] Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1898), 141.
[8] Ellen G. White, Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association. 1913), 110.
[9] Ellen G. White, Special Testimonies on Education (1897), 48.
[10] Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1892), 43.
[11] Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1885), 419
[12] Ibid, 420.