Parâmetros da educação nos escritos de Ellen G. White: implicações para o currículo e a educação adventista na atualidade

Abstract

For Ellen White, education does not take place only in the classroom. For her, education happens in the set of all the relationships that we form with each other, in interactions with our environment, but especially in our relationship with our parents and with God as Creator and Redeemer. In her view, nothing escapes or is isolated from this process, especially the relationship developed between the human being and God. For her, part of the solution to the problem of the sin of human beings, which affects them as a whole, is in what she regards as true education, the integral development of the human being – the development of character for eternity. For her, the school environment is where the educational process takes place, which should be adequate not only for cognitive needs, but also to the development of all other parts that compose the human being - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Not only are classrooms the learning environment, but also at all times, in any interactive environment, learning occurs. The main objective of this research is to analyze the philosophy of education proposed in the writings of Ellen G. White, in comparison with the educational praxis of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which maintains one of the largest private educational systems in the world. We live in a dynamic and rapidly changing society. The same ethical and moral values that were interpreted and considered as biblical values guiding the Christian church of the past are now questioned - truth in present-day society is no longer regarded as absolute, leaving churches under the direct influence of relativism, even affecting educational systems. In the context of Adventism, for example, how to operate such systems, which for Ellen White seems to have fixed parameters, in the face of the relativism of modern society? Within this confrontation of ethical values, how do we survive as an educational institution? Would there be a break-even point? Is the Adventist institution consistent with what White prescribes concerning education? According to White, the reliability of an Adventist educational or health institution is in the personal lives of those who are attached to such institutions. Good conduct, which, according to her, comes from a converted heart, should guide the life of each teacher and health professional of these institutions. Their values, should not be based on what is dictated by society, but by the Word of God.