Brenneman's World

Today we had another sermon by Mr. Bob (i.e. Robert D. Zollinger) on the importance of agriculture. And it is important, but not so important that everyone must worship at an altar dedicated to the farm manager. As Ruth B. Zollinger mentioned this morning during her Sabbath School program, chemicals are destroying our way of life, including our food supplies.

What are this discussion about "true" education comes down to is simply this - balance! There must be no part of the program allowed to trump another. Battle Creek College was entirely dedicated to academic education and all brain work so Mrs. White had to say something very strongly about the importance of agriculture to make it stick with the people in charge of that college. What she recognized was a principle that even our public high schools are beginning to realize - if your education includes a component of useful labor plus academics and values courses, you are on your way to achieving a balanced student lifestyle (there was an entire newsletter from Edutopia devoted to this subject just this week).

As even public schools are beginning to realize, knowledge of how to grow your own food is important. There is something about working with the soil that does transform a person. But to make that pursuit an all in all and put down everything else is not called for.

Also it has always been interesting to me that the foods grown are many times those the leader likes. By extension, everyone else must like them, too. It doesn't work that way, however. One time I threw out about 3/4s of a ton of squash because someone in authority loved that food and made sure it was grown. Everyone else didn't so the squash languished in the freezer until it got freezer burn. The other day I threw out quite a bit of okra for the same reason - although we have top-notch cooks, students and staff members (and perhaps their systems) are not used to eating this particular food. Yet we grow it and serve it - and throw it away!

Then too, why should flowers be the object of hours of attention by retired people and students they have assigned to them? Flowers look nice, and they certainly give a person plenty of opportunity to work with the soil. But are flowers what Mrs. White was discussing when she stressed the importance of learning agriculture techniques? I don't think so.

It all comes back to educational balance and common sense. Just because I think something doesn't make it truth. Just because I like something doesn't mean that it is the only thing to do. The Lord wants us to stay with the principles of balanced education and not run after everything we think we should do.

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