Methodism and Education

Methodism has played an important part in the development of education, particularly through the role of setting up schools and providing universal education. From the very beginning, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, has emphasised the importance of education and this was reflected when the matter of education was raised personally by John Wesley at the first Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion in 1744.

Today, especially in Malaysia's education landscape, the Methodist church continues to have a role in the development of education through the Methodist schools and colleges. However, have we ever take a moment to ponder and reflect precisely what has been the influential doctrine and guiding principles of John Wesley's approach and understanding about education?

There may have been many different influences to Wesley's idea of education, but arguably, the most significant influence was his own mother. In the book by F.C. Pritchard (1949), there was a letter written by Susanna Wesley at her son's request when he consulted his mother about the "educational practice" of his upbringing, in which I seek to share the interesting bits of it:

-Extracted from Pritchard (1949, pp. 20-26)

July 24, 1732

Dear Son,

According to your desire, I have collected the principal rules I observed in educating my family; which I now send you as they occurred to my mind, and you may (if you think they can be of use to any) dispose of them in what order you please.

The children were always put into a regular method of living, in such things as they were capable of, from their birth: as in dressing, undressing, changing their linen etc. The first quarter commonly passes in sleep. After that they were, if possible, laid into their cradles awake, and rocked to sleep; and so they were kept rocking till it was time for them to awake. This was done to bring them a regular course of sleeping...

When turned a year old (and some before), they were taught to fear the rod, and to cry softly; by which means they escaped abundance of correction they might otherwise have had...

As soon as they were grown pretty strong, they were confined to three meals a day... [and] never suffered to choose their meat, but always made eat such things as were provided for the family... Drinking or eating between meals was never allowed...

At six, as soon as family prayers were over, they had their supper; at seven the maid washed them.... and got them all to bed by eight; at which time she left them in their rooms awake - for there was no such thing allowed of it our house as sitting by a child till it fell asleep.

In order to form the minds of children, the first thing to be done is to conquer their will, and bring them to an obedient temper. To inform the understanding is a work of time, and must with children proceed by slow degrees as they are able to bear it; but subjecting the will is a thing that must be done at once, and the sooner the better. For, by neglecting timely correction, they will contract a stubbornness and obstinacy which is hardly ever after conquered; and never, without using such severity as would be as painful to me as to the child. In the esteem of the world they pass for kind and indulgent whom I call cruel parents, who permit their children to get habits which they know must be afterwards broken... I insist upon conquering the will of children betimes, because this is the only strong and rational foundation of a religious education...

The children of this family were taught, as soon as they could speak, the Lord's Prayer... They were very early made to distinguish the Sabbath from other days... They were as soon taught to be still at family prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately after...

There were several by-laws observed among us.

1) It has been observed that cowardice and fear of punishment often led children into lying, till they get a custom of it, which they cannot leave. To prevent this, a law was made, that whoever was charged with a fault, of which they were guilty, if they would ingenuously confess it, and promise to amend, should not be beaten. This rule prevented a great deal of lying, and would have done more, if one in the family would have observed it. But he could not be prevailed on, and therefore was often imposed on by false colours and equivocations; which none would have used, had they been kindly dealt with. And some, in spite of all, would always speak truth plainly.

2) That no sinful action... should ever pass unpunished.

3) That no child should ever be chid or beat twice for the same fault; and that, if they amended, they should never be upbraided with it afterwards.

4) That every signal act of obedience.... should be always commended, and frequently rewarded.

5) That if ever any child performed an act of obedience or with intention to please, though the performance was not well; the intention should be kindly accepted and the child with sweetness directed how to do better for the future.

6) That propriety be inviolably preserved, and none suffered to invade the property of another in the smallest matter...

7) That promises be strictly observed...

8) That no girl be taught to work till she can read very well...

We might not entirely agree with the methods used by the Wesley family, as some of them might not be practical to our current situation. Nonetheless, it is clear that, from the account of John Wesley's mother, the most crucial principle that needs to be indoctrinated into the child is discipline. This is arguably the pre-requisite to education, and is clearly one of the driving principles to Wesley's idea of education.

Shouldn't go to university?

There was a recent article in the Times newspaper that argues why people shouldn't go to university. In response to the article, a friend shared the following:

"Recently my friend who is mechanical engineer at aircond factory at Bangi earning 3k decided to resign and open a supermarket back at his hometown, i am thinking, hmm... maybe he should work in supermarket after SPM instead..." (by Tim L.)

Briefly, the story was about a mechanical engineer who was earning an average monthly wage of a university graduate, decided to quit the job in the city and returned to his hometown to start a supermarket. My friend who shared the story, then, argues that it might be better for the "engineer" to venture into the supermarket business immediately after secondary school, instead of going to university.

To many of us, this story seems to be rather familiar. Many university graduates, especially in Malaysia, do not venture into the careers that are expected of them. More often during such discussion, issues such as graduate unemployment, graduate employability as well as the standard of our tertiary education will subsequently be raised.

However, this article attempts to look at this story from a slightly different perspective. While reading the story for the first time, a question immediately came to my mind.

"If this person is "destined" to venture into a supermarket business, how would university education makes a difference to his career?"

I guess, if we are to evaluate this question in relations to the story, our answer will likely to be guided by how we understand university education.

If we take the cost-benefit approach, certainly, the cost will exceed the benefit. The cost will not only include the tuition fees to pursue a degree, but also includes the opportunity costs, i.e. earnings that were foregone while studying and, the possible "experiences" and "opportunities" of working in the supermarket earlier; yet, the "tangible" benefits remain relatively unchanged.

If we assume university education as a form of credential that only leads into the related careers, expectedly, we are likely to argue that university education in such situation is unnecessary.

However, if we return to the basic idea of university education, which is a form of intellectual training and development, then confidently, we can argue that university education will indeed makes a different to the person as a whole.

University education is not only the certificate that one receives at the end of the course or the number of A's that one scores in exams, but rather, it is "the education and training" to become an intellectual person, which can be defined as a person who uses his/her intelligence and analytical thinking, either in a professional capacity or for personal reasons. In the book titled "Knowledge and Decisions", intellectual was also used to mean an individual whose profession solely involves the dissemination and/or production of ideas, as opposed to producing products or services. Briefly, university education could be regarded as a form of training to produce intellectuals, which are then expected to translate their intellectuality into all aspects of life.

It is clear that only through understanding the role of university education, as a form of intellectual training, we could convincingly argue that it remains worthwhile to pursue university education regardless of the career aspiration. This also explains why courses, such as philosophy, classics, literature, languages, history and theology, are relevant and remain as an essential part of the university, despite their practicalities and applicabilities are being challenged.

This post is also available in The Malaysian Education Debate