Department of Education

In the General Conference, the branch that, with its director, associate directors, and staff, fosters and directs the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist educational system. The department counsels with the officers of the General Conference relative to educational matters and leads in formulating the major educational policies of the denomination; assists the General Conference Appointees Committee in selecting educational workers for overseas duty; makes recommendations to the General Conference Executive Committee relative to requests made by schools to offer programs on the tertiary level; issues promotional posters and leaflets; prepares annual analytical reports of the educational systems of SDA schools in various countries (known as the World Report ) and assists school officials in evaluating the credits presented by foreign students through a publication known as World Patterns of Seventh-day Adventist Education ; encourages teachers in maintaining high standards of instruction; develops standards for teacher education and issues; influences through its Board of Regents the standards and trends in secondary schools and tertiary schools, and accredits those that meet acceptable standards; conducts educational councils and workshops; maintains liaison with various governmental agencies that may affect the operation of SDA schools; publishes The Journal of Adventist Education, a p rofessional periodical devoted to the interpretation of Christian education for the SDA teacher and school administrator; assists the schools and teachers in creating a strong spiritual atmosphere on the campuses of SDA schools in which children and youth may be nurtured in Christian growth; visits and inspects schools; assists in educational planning; and helps with educational meetings and councils in the various places around the world. The director of the department is the chair of the Board of Regents. Organizational units such as divisions, unions, and conferences each have an educational director. History. The Department of Education goes back to 1887. Article II, section 1, of the constitution of that time states “the officers of this [General]Conference shall be a President, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, a Home Missionary Secretary, a Foreign Missionary Secretary, and an Educational Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Executive Committee of seven, of whom the President shall be one” ( Yearbook [1888], p. 91). Among the list of officers of the General Conference elected in November 1887 was “W. W. Prescott, Educational Secretary.” In the revised constitution adopted in 1889, the Bylaws, Article I, section 4, defined the work of the educational secretary as follows: “The Educational Secretary shall have the general supervision of the educational work of the denomination. It shall be his duty to visit the different educational institutions; and he may, with the concurrence of the Executive Committee, call teachers’ institutes, when the circumstances seem to demand. It shall be his duty to suggest plans and devise means for the development of the educational work of the denomination. He shall also make a report to the General Conference at its sessions, of the progress of the work, and of the general standing of the educational institutions” ( ibid. [1890], p. 116). As the first educational secretary of the General Conference (1887–1897), W. W. Prescott, a graduate of Dartmouth College, gave vigorous leadership to the denomination’s growing educational system, traveling back and forth across the continent promoting the cause of Christian education and counseling the boards and faculties of new schools. During part of his term as educational secretary he was also president of Battle Creek College (1885–1894) and the first president of two new colleges, Union College (1891–1893) and Walla Walla College (1892–1894). A principal in each of these three colleges cared for the daily administration of the school. He organized the first North American-wide teachers’ institute for SDA educators, which met for six weeks in 1891 at Harbor Springs, Michigan, with more than 100 in attendance. Thirty had attended the first SDA teachers’ institute held at Battle Creek, Michigan, June 21–26, 1888. In 1897 the office of educational secretary was abolished by a change in the constitution, and the work of supervising the church’s schools was assigned to the corresponding secretary of the General Conference. In the reorganization of 1901, by means of General Conference departments, a system was developed whereby the president of the General Conference and major officers could be assisted by full-time specialists in promoting and guiding various aspects of the church’s life and activity. Against this background the Department of Education was organized. The General Conference elected an educational committee of seven members who appointed their own chair and secretary. In the early years it was the secretary who reported to the General Conference session on the work of the department; the chair did not devote full time to the department, and sometimes did not even reside at the denomination’s headquarters. However, when Frederick Griggs became chair (1904), that post became the major position, and he himself reported to the General Conference sessions. The provision for both a chair and secretary of the department continued until 1909, when Frederick Griggs, who had been chair since 1904, was appointed secretary of the department, and the position of chair was abolished. The new plan then adopted, under which the president of the General Conference is the head of all departments, has continued to the present. By 1914 an assistant secretary was added, and in following years associate and assistant secretaries were chosen to help carry the growing work of the department. The term director was substituted for secretary in 1974. With minor variations resulting from financial problems or the capabilities and interests of the staff, since 1931 the organization of the department has been essentially as follows: the director of the department, who has general oversight of all departmental activities; and associate directors having specified responsibilities. Under the reorganization of 1901 the duties of the Department of Education were outlined as follows: “1. To act as a committee of reference in relation to all educational matters. “2. To assist in an advisory way in supplying properly qualified teachers for the different schools. “3. To suggest plans for promoting and properly representing the educational work at the camp meetings and other large gatherings. “4. To act as a Book Committee in relation to the different educational books, providing for the securing and writing of books by suitable authors, and planning for the introduction of suitable books into our schools. “5. To promote the development of church and conference schools in all fields” (tenth meeting of General Conference Committee, Battle Creek, Michigan, Apr. 25, 1901). In 1903 the Department of Education called a nationwide conference of SDA educators at Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska, “to study all the phases of schoolwork which are general in character, and to devise and inaugurate plans that will be of universal application” ( General Conference Bulletin [1903], p. 224). At that meeting “a general scheme for the organization of the school interests of our denomination was planned and adopted”; the Department of Education was asked to “advise and assist in the conduct of schools and to foster educational interests throughout the world” ( ibid. [1909], p. 77). Plans were laid whereby each union and state conference would establish a department of education patterned after that of the General Conference. Each union conference was to establish a college or training school, and the local conferences were to assume responsibility for primary and intermediate schools. The basic pattern then adopted for promoting and directing the SDA parochial (church school) system remains to the present. Within a few years after 1903, union and state conferences in North America set up departments of education, and a decade or two later, overseas Seventh-day Adventist conferences and missions had done likewise. At various times since that first nationwide conference of SDA educators, the Department of Education of the General Conference has organized other conventions (some of them worldwide and some as joint councils with the Missionary Volunteer Department), which set the tone and direction of Christian education in the SDA denomination. The major conventions were held at Lincoln, Nebraska, 1903, 1904, and 1906; Berrien Springs, Michigan, 1910; St. Helena, California, 1915; Lincoln, Nebraska, 1917; Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1923; and Blue Ridge, North Carolina, 1937. The rapid increase in the number of schools and teachers has made it inadvisable to hold large conventions of that type in recent years. The department assists the division departments of education in holding conventions and workshops in addition to holding at least one annual Institute for Christian Teaching in various world educational centers. In 1993 the department functioned under the structure of a director, three associate directors, the editor of the Journal of Adventist Education , and three secretaries. The purposes and duties of the department are defined in the General Conference Working Policy and implemented through the following functioning committees and boards: General Conference SDA International Board of Education, Committee on Seventh-day Adventist Theological Education, and the Board of Regents. Educational Secretaries of the General Conference: W. W. Prescott, 1887–1897; L. A. Hoopes, 1897–1901. Departmental Secretaries (called chairmen until 1909 and directors since 1974): J. H. Kellogg, 1901–1902; W. W. Prescott, 1902–1903; L. A. Hoopes, 1903–1904; Frederick Griggs, 1904–1910; H. R. Salisbury, 1910–1913; J. L. Shaw, 1913–1915; Frederick Griggs, 1915–1918; W. E. Howell, 1918–1930; C. W. Irwin, 1930–1933; W. E. Nelson, 1933–1936; H. A. Morrison, 1936–1946; E. E. Cossentine, 1946–1966; Charles B. Hirsch, 1966–1974; Walton J. Brown, 1974–1980; Charles R. Taylor, 1981–1985; George H. Akers, 1985–1990; Humberto M. Rasi, 1990– .