Earth's First School

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 4, 1907

Earth's First School

1. Who planned the educational system first introduced into this world? What did it involve?

Ans.—“God might have created them [our first parents] without the power to transgress his requirements; but in that case there could have been no development of character; their service would not have been voluntary, but forced. Therefore he gave them the power of choice—the power to yield or to withhold obedience. And before they could receive in fulness the blessings he desired to impart, their love and loyalty must be tested. . . . The knowledge of good had been freely given them; but the knowledge of evil,—of sin and its results, of wearing toil, of anxious care, of disappointment and grief, of pain and death,—this was in love withheld.”—“Education,” page 23.

This quotation plainly shows that man was created with the possibility of development, and that this development was to come through a system of education which the Creator himself had planned for man.

2. Describe earth’s first school. Why was it located as it was? What relation was this school to bear to all educational effort in after time?

Ans.—Eden was a school. Adam and Eve were the pupils. God and holy beings were their teachers. Nature, the works of God, was their study book. The school was located in a garden where the students might be surrounded with only the works and glory of God. “The garden of Eden was a representation of

what God desired the whole earth to become, and it was his purpose that, as the human family increased in numbers, they should establish other homes and schools like the one he had given. Thus in course of time the whole earth might be occupied with houses and schools where the words and the works of God should be studied, and where the students should thus be fitted more and more fully to reflect, throughout endless ages, the light of the knowledge of his glory.” The school was not located in a city, nor were the students instructed to build a city in which to receive their education; for in so doing their hearts’ affections would be turned from the wisdom and works of God to the works of man. See “Education,” pages 20-22.

3. What family relation did they bear to their teacher? Then what kind of school was it?

Ans.—God the Father and Jesus our Elder Brother personally directed their education. They were assisted by holy angels, students in the heavenly school. It was therefore a family school.

4. Who is primarily responsible for the education of children? Can this responsibility be shifted to another?

Ans.—The responsibility of a child’s education rests first and most heavily upon his parents, who can not shift it to another.

5. What relation did the care of their schoolroom bear to the education of our first parents? What part did they have to act?

Ans.—The teacher led out in the plans and preparation for the arrangement of the schoolroom; but the children, as a part of their study and development, were to dress and keep it—do the janitor work. This brought them into closer association and co-operation with their teacher and his plans for their work than was possible without it.

6. Should the children in our church-schools bear a responsibility in maintaining the order and neatness (janitor work) of the school?

Ans.—This should be a part of their work. They should, under the direction of their teacher, “dress and keep it.”—Central Union Conference Educational Series.