Track One: Our Cultural Story and Education

1. Track One: Our Cultural Story and Education Michael Goheen Vancouver, B.C., Canada

2. The Story of the Humanist Faith: The Last 200 Years

3. Romans 12.1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God�s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God�this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God�s will is�his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

4. Romans 12.1-2 for education Offer up your whole of your educational endeavours as part of your living sacrifice to God; this is simply what you should do if you are a Christian. Do not allow your educational practice to be shaped by the idolatrous humanistic and consumer story of our culture but let it be transformed by the gospel, by the story of the Bible. Then you will increasingly know, as a Christian educator, what pleases God�and you will grow gradually in that discernment of what kind of Christian education conforms to God�s will.

5. Some story will shape our lives including education

6. I am standing at bus stop when a man standing next to me suddenly says: �The common name of the wild duck is histrionicus, histrionicus, histrionicus.�

7. Story xxxxxxxxxxxxx Beginning Theme End Conflict/Resolution

8. ` The way we understand human life depends on what conception we have of the human story. What is the real story of which my life story is a part? -Lesslie Newbigin

9. Grand Story Story�not fictional but an interpretation of the meaning of universal history Normative: Public truth for all Comprehensive: True for all of life �A story is the best way of talking about the way the world actually is� (N.T. Wright).

10. Who gets to narrate the world? �. . . the most pressing spiritual issue of our time� is the question �who gets to narrate the world?� (Robert Webber) Liberal, humanist global story? Islam? Bible?

11. One of these two stories will shape the whole educational enterprise including: Purpose of education Curriculum Pedagogy Evaluation Leadership Structures Various disciplines

12. Education shaped by some story . . . the issue is not whether education is shaped by some grand story, only which grand story will shape it.

13. What is the cultural story that is shaping education?

15. Hidden Credo Humanism: �Must we not become gods?�

16. Humanist Credo: �Must we not ourselves become gods?� Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) �The Madman� �We have killed God�you and I! We are all his murderers! . . . How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderer of all murderers? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?�

17. Nietzsche�s Parable We have killed God in Western culture We must become gods Creator Redeemer: �Humanism �assigns to us nothing less than the task of being our own savior and redeemer.� (Corliss Lamont) Ruler of history

18. Hidden Credo Humanism: �Must we not become gods?� Rationalistic humanism: �Scientia potestas est� Control of non-human creation by technology Organise society according to reason

19. Hidden Credo Humanism: �Must we not become gods?� Rationalistic humanism: �Scientia potestas est� Living off Christian capital

20. Conversion of West (18th century)

21. A New Faith . . . The West had �lost its faith��and found a new one, in science and in man. - Richard Tarnas

22. Triumph of Humanism How did this happen? Two powerful stories interacting: humanist and biblical 18th c. Enlightenment: Triumph of humanistic story Why? Two mistakes of church in previous century: Dogmatic opposition to Copernican theory Religious wars

23. Opposition to Copernicus: Triumph of Humanism

24. Religious Wars: Triumph of humanist vision

25. Enlightenment humanist faith Faith in progress to �paradise� Paradise images: Secularised vision of biblical story From providence to progress Enlightenment writers �demolished the Heavenly city of Augustine, only to rebuild it with up-to-date materials.� (Carl Becker)

26. Enlightenment humanist faith Faith in progress to �paradise� Paradise images: Secularised vision of biblical story From providence to progress Progress identified primarily with economic growth and material prosperity �. . . the greatest happiness possible for us consists in the greatest possible abundance of objects suitable for our enjoyment and in the greatest liberty to profit by them� (Mercier de la Riviere, 1767).

27. Enlightenment humanist faith Faith in progress Propelled by reason and science

29. Enlightenment humanist faith Faith in progress Propelled by reason and science Scientific reason translated into technology Scientific reason translated into societal organisation and structures Progress comes �by the application of reason� to both �technical and social� issues (J. H. Plumb).

30. Rational society�examples �. . . a new social machinery could alter human nature and create a heaven upon earth.� (J. B. Bury) John Locke: Politics Adam Smith: Economics Hugo Grotius: Law Education: �. . . more treatises were written on education during the 18th century than in all the previous centuries combined.� (Perry)

31. �The ideas and values of the modern age are not only intellectualized but they are embedded in powerful institutions, arguably the most powerful institutions that have ever existed. . . . the key ideas, values, and characteristics of modernity are �carried by specific institutions . . .� (Hunter).

32. The problem of leading a Christian life in a non-Christian society is now very present to us. It is not merely the problem of a minority in a society of individuals holding an alien belief. It is the problem constituted by our implication in a network of institutions from which we cannot dissociate ourselves; institutions the operation of which appears no longer neutral, but non-Christian; and as for the Christian who is not conscious of his dilemma�and he is in the majority�he is becoming more and more de-Christianized by all sorts of unconscious pressures . . . - T. S. Eliot

33. Humanistic Educational Structures �to make deep structural changes in the school, these traditional curricular and pedagogical practices must either be removed or transformed. The daily educational practices of Christian schools often embody a worldview that hinders the implementation of a more faithful one. - John Hull

34. Modern Humanism and Education More educational treatises written in 18th century than all previous centuries combined Education to play key role in building new world Public education mandatory Remove children from influence of church and home Establish �rational� educational environment

35. Modern Humanism and Education Pass on a unified body of universal scientific knowledge Natural sciences: Technological control over nature Social sciences: Shape society rationally Equip a world of rational citizens Build a more rational world leading to freedom, justice, truth, and (especially) material prosperity

36. Establishment of Enlightenment faith meant a narrowing of gospel �The early Christian belief that the Fall and Redemption pertained not just to man but to the entire cosmos, a doctrine already fading after the Reformation, now disappeared altogether; the process of salvation, if it had any meaning at all, pertained solely to the personal relation between God and man� (Tarnas).

37. Fact-Value Dichotomy

38. Age of Revolution (19th-20th c.) A worldview can never remain only as a vision or set of beliefs: Will always begin to reshape world Bringing society into conformity with Enlightenment faith If the Enlightenment vision is true then �the establishment of new social institutions is not a tedious incidental task, but a dire necessity and a highly ethical imperative. In that case, the narrow way to the lost paradise can only be the way of social revolution� (Goudzwaard).

39. Age of Revolution (19th-20th c.) A worldview can never remain only as a vision or set of beliefs: Will always begin to reshape world Bringing society into conformity with Enlightenment faith French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Democratic revolutions, American Revolution, Marxist Revolution.

40. Enter the Story�Romanticism Emergence of new subsidiary cultural stream Reaction to powerful march of Enlightenment modernity Share common roots and beliefs Complex interplay shapes western culture from 19th c.

41. Elements shared by Enlightenment and Romanticism Humanistic Secular Individualistic

42. Differences: Enlightenment and Romanticism

44. Romantic impressions �Our meddling intellect misshapes the beauteous forms of things�We murder to dissect� (William Wordsworth). �I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the heart�s affections and the truth of the imagination. O for a life of sensations rather than a life of thoughts� (John Keats).

45. Dead Poets Society Rip it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOENu0fK0uM&feature=player_embedded#!

46. To the Romantic mind, the distinctions that reason makes are artificial, imposed, and man-made; they divide, and in dividing destroy, the living whole of reality � �We murder to dissect.� How, then, are we to get in touch with the real? By divesting ourselves, insofar as we can, of the whole apparatus of learning and scholarship and by becoming like children or simple, uneducated men; by attending to nature rather than to the works of man; by becoming passive and letting nature work upon us; by contemplation and communion, rather than by ratiocination and scientific method. (W. T. Jones)

47. Romanticism and Education Place for arts in curriculum (Dead Poets Society) C.P. Snow�s �two cultures� New stream of educational philosophy: humanistic vs. technical (Hull�s terms)

48. 20th Century Development and Our Current Situation Postmodern challenge: Increasingly comprehensive and widespread challenge to Enlightenment faith Survival and global spread of an economic form of the Enlightenment faith Consumer culture�fruit of both developments

49. What Time Is It?The Postmodern Challenge Michael Goheen Vancouver, B.C., Canada

50. What time is it�in the Western story? Modern story: Faith in science and technology to enable us to progress toward a better world Today�three mutually reinforcing trends: Globalization: Global spread of (economic form of) modern (liberal) story around world Postmodernity: Challenge to the modern (liberal) story in West Growth of consumerism

51. How are Christians to respond? The real question is: What is God doing in these tremendous events of our time? How are we to understand them and interpret them to others, so that we and they may play our part in them as co-workers with God? Nostaligia for the past and fear for the future are equally out of place for the Christian. He is required, in the situation in which God places him, to understand the signs of the times in the light of the reality of God�s present and coming kingdom, and to give witness faithfully about the purpose of God for all men. - Lesslie Newbigin

52. What is postmodernity? �This word [postmodernism] has no meaning. Use it as often as possible.� Discontinuity: Challenge to rationalistic humanism (anti-Enlightenment) Continuity: Consistent working out of autonomy of humanism (collapse of Enlightenment)

53. Postmodern Challenge Postmodernity is a challenge to optimism of modernity

54. Challenge to Optimism Skepticism toward big stories of progress �Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives� (J-F. Lyotard).

55. Knowledge but no unifying story Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill Is daily spun, but there exists no loom To weave it into fabric. - Edna St. Vincent Millay

56. Why don�t we believe these big stories anymore? Idols haven�t delivered! Growing poverty Declining economy Depletion of resources Destruction of the environment Escalating militarization (nuclear weapons) Social and psychological problems

57. Challenge to Optimism Skepticism toward big stories of progress Skeptical that humankind is good

58. What is God doing in our time? Judgement! �...you shall suffer the penalty� and bear the consquences of your sinful idolatry�� (Ezekiel 23:49).

59. Postmodern Challenge Postmodernity is challenge to optimism of modernity Postmodernity is a challenge to a rationalistic view of humankind

60. A Christian view of humanity Religious centre/direction Serve God or idols Many creational or structural aspects: body, emotional, rational, imagination, historical, communal, aesthetic, judicial, ethical, etc. Creational harmony Modernity: reason exalted

61. Idolatry and Depreciation Idolatry of some part of creation Depreciation of other aspects God�s faithfulness to harmonious interrelation of diverse creation Suppressed aspects forces its way back

62. Non-rationalist dimensions of humanity suppressed by rationalism Body Emotions Senses Subconscious Desire, passion Religious or spiritual Imagination Instinct, intuition

63. What is God doing in our time? Human rationality cannot bring redemption Invitation to find true unity

64. Postmodern Challenge Postmodernity is a challenge to optimism of modernity Postmodernity is a challenge to a rationalistic view of humankind Postmodernity is a challenge to an objectivist view of knowledge

65. Modern worldview . . . Stories of progress to paradise Rooted in confident rationalistic humanism Messianic quality of scientific knowledge to achieve paradise

66. Objective knowledge of science Science gives us objective knowledge Scientific method gives us a neutral standpoint outside relativities of culture and history Objective and neutral knowledge enables modern man to shape the world with technology and social planning

67. Subjective factors shaping knowledge SOCIAL Tradition Community Language Culture History Faith PERSONAL Feelings Imagination Subconscious Gender Class Race

68. Change in knowledge Certainty to uncertainty One truth to pluralism Objectivity to relativism Don�t take self too seriously Suspicious of power play in knowledge claims

69. What is God doing? Judgement on idolatry of reason Invitation to find a more humble, creational role for reason

70. Postmodern Challenge Postmodernity is a challenge to the optimism of modernity Postmodernity is a challenge to a rationalistic view of humankind Postmodernity is a challenge to an objectivist view of knowledge Postmodernity is a protest against the injustices of the modern story

71. Injustice created by modern story Toward minorities with different stories (gender, class, sexual orientation, ethnic group, religion) Toward third world cultures Toward poor Toward environment

72. What is God doing? �Idols will never fail to fail.� (Chris Wright) Instead of producing world of justice, peace, and love it produced a world of injustice and violence Invitation to new, liberating story

73. Postmodern Challenge Postmodernity is a challenge to the optimism of modernity Postmodernity is a challenge to a rationalistic view of humankind Postmodernity is a challenge to an objectivist view of knowledge Postmodernity is a protest against the injustices of the modern story Postmodernity is a challenge to the naturalistic secularism of modernity

74. Search for spirituality in religious smorgasbord/pluralism: . . . New age, psychics, astrology, gnostic religions, eastern and native spirituality, occult, etc... �. . . in a recent survey of twentysomethings finding spiritual fulfillment was ranked more important than achieving financial success.�

75. What is God doing? Invitation to find true and living God as revealed in Jesus as orientation for lives

76. Christian response As a believing community we are entering into a new missionary situation We need to understand the postmodern shift not simply react We must be committed understanding and living within the story of the Bible We must engage in dialogue from within the story of the Bible This dialogue with postmodernity will give us a deepening insight into modernity that has been shaping our culture for centuries

77. Christian response In postmodernity we will find dangerous idols that bring death (avoid simple celebration) In postmodernity we will find new insights that bring life (avoid simple condemnation) We need to struggle with new ways to understand our relation to postmodern culture so we can be both faithful and relevant This dialogue with postmodernity must not lead only to understanding but must take on forms of communal life that embody life and reject death

78. Features of PostmodernityOne pastor�s take Disdain for truth claims Disdain for hierarchical leadership models Disdain for those who do not welcome and appreciate plural worldviews (synthesis not antithesis)

79. Features of PostmodernityAnother pastor�s take Distrust of authority and power Suspicion of exclusive truth claims Concern for social justice, poverty, environmental stewardship, etc.

80. Features of Postmodernity Another Pastor�s Take Truth is experienced not taught Authority comes by way of community not top-down leadership Relationships not institutions are important

81. Features of PostmodernityAnother Pastor�s Take Truth has to be seen as experientially satisfying Truth has to be seen as relationally significant

82. Features of PostmodernityOne last pastor�s take Less into propositional truth and more into meaning of life (story) Only trust truth that is experienced, therefore: Relationships, spirituality, community are in Authority and dogma are out

83. Postmodernity�s Five Core Values (Brian McLaren) Postmodernism is skeptical of certainty Postmodernism is sensitive to context Postmodernism leans toward the humourous Postmodernism highly values subjective experience For postmoderns, togetherness is a rare, precious, and elusive experience

84. Opportunity Maximizers (McLaren) We need to see truth and goodness where they exist in postmodernism Appropriate humility Healthy scepticism Thirst for spirituality Openness to faith Congenial tolerance Limited relativism

85. Opportunity Maximizers (McLaren) We need to magnify the importance of faith We ought to be more fair We need to be more experiential We need to address the postmoderns� (and our) existential predicament We need to listen to postmoderns� stories We need to tell our stories We need to address issues we have never thought about before We need to avoid coercion and pressure

86. Opportunity Maximizers (McLaren) We need to see the postmoderns in here, out there, and everywhere We must rely more than ever on art, music, literature, and drama to communicate our message We must believe that the Holy Spirit is out there at work already We must become seekers again We must reassert the value of community and rekindle the experience of it

87. Communicating the Gospel in Postmodern Era Humility and listening Dialogical rather than dogmatic No easy answers Sweat the big stuff See dialogue partners as friends, potential strugglers Communicate winsomely with respect and compassion Stories

88. What might this postmodern ethos mean for pedagogy and communication with our kids?

89. What Time Is It? Globalisation and Consumerism Michael Goheen Vancouver, B.C., Canada

90. What time is it�in the Western story? Modern story: Faith in science and technology to enable us to progress toward a better world Today�three mutually reinforcing trends: Globalization: Global spread of (economic form of) modern (liberal) story around world Postmodernity: Challenge to the modern (liberal) story in West Growth of consumerism

91. Every style of culture is in turn related to the religious question of how people view the ultimate meaning of their life and society. - Bob Goudzwaard

92. Ultimate meaning of post-Enlightenment West End: Economic growth, material prosperity, consumption of goods and experiences Means: Market, economic processes, technology

93. Romans 1.18-32 and Our Story �Worshiped and served created things�: Western culture more and more focusses on economic sphere of life �God gave them over�: Creation of wealth, consumer society, accompanying joys and ills Economic globalisation: Spread of this culture around the world

94. Enlightenment Vision: Seeds of Economic Globalization Progress Paradise images Paradise of material prosperity Material prosperity Reached by reason Discerning natural laws Translated into technology Society reorganized according to reason Exaggerated place of economics

95. . . . in the Enlightenment descriptions of the future the emphasis is on great material prosperity and an abundance of luxury and leisure as a result of advanced technology (Goudzwaard).

96. The Making of Economic Society . . . at the time of the Enlightenment �we begin to see the separation of economic from social life. The processes of production and distribution were no longer indistinguishably melded into the prevailing religious, social, and political customs and practices, but now began to form a sharply distinct area of life in themselves� (Robert Heilbroner).

97. Adam Smith�s noble concern Father of classical economics Moral philosopher, not economist Situation of economic deprivation and poverty Primary concern: Increase goods to distribute to poor

98. Adam Smith�s noble vision Progress toward material prosperity Technology applied to production of goods�mechanise labour Specialisation of labour Build up capital Free market coordinates all forces Economic growth: end of society

99. Ideology or Idolatry of Economics Absolutises societal end or goal which takes exaggerated (idolatrous) importance because of context [economic growth and prosperity] Selects certain social means [free market and innovative technology] that take exaggerated (idolatrous) significance to reach end or goal Organise and unify society around vision of life Takes form of story of progress

100. Economic organisation of society Illustration of queen bee in beehive Queen bee�s task to produce eggs Whole hive functionalised and directed toward that task

101. Industrial Revolution Adam Smith�s economic vision implemented in Industrial Revolution Specialisation and mechanisation of labour

102. Dramatic Rise in Productivity

103. Dramatic Economic Growth

104. Industrial Revolution Adam Smith�s economic vision implemented in Industrial Revolution Specialisation and mechanisation of labour Market mechanism to distribute goods

105. Industrial Revolution Adam Smith�s economic vision implemented in Industrial Revolution Begins to reshape all of European society

106. Capitalism �has reorganized the social structure for the purposes of manufacturing, production, and consumption . . . It has changed the shape of our world. . . . [And] technology facilitates the processes of capitalism, and rationalizes all of life.� (David Wells)

107. Industrial Revolution Adam Smith�s economic vision implemented in Industrial Revolution Begins to reshape all of European society Pinnacle of confidence in this vision at end of 19th century

108. 20th Century Series of body blows to optimism of progress: wars, depression, failure to deliver Enlightenment dream

109. The twentieth century�with its death camps and death squads, its militarism and two world wars, its threat of nuclear annihilation and its experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki�has certainly shattered [the earlier] optimism [in progress]. Worse still, suspicion lurks that the Enlightenment project was doomed to turn against itself and transform the quest for human emancipation into a system of universal oppression in the name of human liberation. . . . There are those�and this is the core of postmodernist philosophical thought�who insist that we should in the name of human emancipation, abandon the Enlightenment project entirely. - David Harvey

110. 20th Century Series of body blows to optimism of progress: wars, depression, failure to deliver Enlightenment dream Yet progress as economic growth toward material prosperity survived and flourished Dominant worldview in West

111. �. . . it is to Adam Smith and his immediate predecessors . . . that we should look for the inner meaning of progressive ideology [today].� (Christopher Lasch)

112. The concept of progress can be defended against intelligent criticism only by postulating an indefinite expansion of desires, a steady rise in the general standard of comfort, and the incorporation of the masses into the culture of abundance. It is only this form that the idea of progress has survived the rigors of the twentieth century. More extravagant versions of the progressive faith . . . collapsed a long time ago; but the liberal version has proven surprisingly resistant to the shocks to easy optimism administered in rapid succession by twentieth-century events (Lasch).

113. 20th Century Series of body blows to optimism of progress: wars, depression, failure to deliver Enlightenment dream Yet progress as economic growth toward material prosperity survived and flourished Dominant worldview in West Produced consumer society

114. Consumerism: Pervasive and foundational reality of our day Consumer capitalism, both for good and for ill, is a pervasive and foundational reality of our day. - Rodney Clapp

115. The Religion of Our Day? Consumerism appears to have become part and parcel of the very fabric of modern life. . . . And the parallel with religion is not an accidental one. Consumerism is . . . arguably the religion of the late twentieth century. - Steven Miles

116. Making of consumer society �. . . manufacturing, production, and consumption . . .� (Wells) �So, how did this happen? Well, it didn�t just happen. It was designed.� (The Story of Stuff) Growing gap between production and consumption

117. Consumption as a way of life There was a huge gap . . . between production and consumption. How to close it? Industrial production�s momentum had already built up, so cutting production was not feasible. Manufacturers decided instead to pump up consumption, to increase demand to meet supply. But they realized consumption was a way of life that had to be taught and learned. - Rodney Clapp

118. Consumption as Way of Life Our enormously productive economy . . . demands that we make consumption a way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods in rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption. . . . We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing rate. (Victor Lebow, economist, 1955)

119. Making Consumption a Way of Life Planned obsolescence: Designing stuff to break down or be unusable quickly Perceived obsolescence: Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary.

120. Advertising Average North American exposed to 3000 ads per day Creating new desires �Advertising aims to teach people that they have wants, which they did not recognise before, and where such wants can best be supplied.� (Thompsons Red Book on Advertising, 1901)

121. Advertising and the Gospel of Consumption Average North American exposed to 3500 ads per day Creating new desires Creating dissatisfaction The early part of the 20th century was the advent of the consumer economy. [B]usiness leaders realized that in order to make people �want� things they had never previously desired, they had to create �the dissatisfied customer.� Charles Kettering of General Motors was among the first to preach the new gospel of consumption. GM had already begun to introduce annual model changes in its automobiles and launched a vigorous advertising campaign designed to make consumers discontent with the car they already owned. �The key to economic prosperity,� Kettering said, �is the organized creation of dissatisfaction.� (Jeremy Rifkin)

122. Advertising Average North American exposed to 3500 ads per day Creating new desires Creating dissatisfaction Selling the good life Advertising and related media have served and still serve as important shapers of an ethos that the good life is attained through acquisition and consumption, and that would have its inhabitants constantly yearning for new products and new experiences (Rodney Clapp).

123. Why sociologists study consumerism Inequality of consumption (1/5 population accounts for � of consumption) Commodification of many areas of life Critique of injustices of economic globalisation that feeds consumerism Heavy cost of consumerism on the environment - Douglas Holt and Juliet Schor

124. Papal critique of consumerism There is excessive consumption by some while others suffer want Excessive consumption threatens the environment Creates ungodly character Early indoctrination into consumerism through deluge of advertising tends to breed �narcissism, entitlement, and dissatisfaction� in children. (Mary Pipher)

125. Papal critique of consumerism There is excessive consumption by some while others suffer want Excessive consumption threatens the environment Creates ungodly character For many consumption has become the primary goal to the detriment of their own well-being

126. 20th Century Series of body blows to optimism of progress: wars, depression, failure to deliver Enlightenment dream Yet progress as economic growth toward material prosperity survived and flourished Dominant worldview in West Produced consumer society Globalising of economic worldview

127. Late Modern Story Globalization is �a form or method of modernization on a global scale.� �Possibly never before has modernity received higher expression than in today�s process of globalization.� � . . . the word �modern� is not neutral; it cannot be divorced from a specific view of life, humanity, the world, and ultimate meaning.� - Bob Goudzwaard

128. Economic Globalization Economics central to globalisation Global market Unjustly created market Created wealth and consumer society in West

129. Postman and gods that shape education New �gods� that shape education: economic utility, consumerism

130. What god will your school serve? �The truth is that school cannot exist without some reason for its being, and in fact there are several gods our students are presently asked to serve.�

131. God of Economic Utility �If you pay attention in school, and do your homework, and score well on tests, and behave yourself, you will be rewarded with a well-paying job when you are done. Its driving idea is that the purpose of schooling is to prepare children for competent entry into the economic life of a community.�

132. God of Consumership �One may wonder, then, why this god [economic utility] has so much strength, why the preparation for making a living, which is well-served by any decent education, should be assigned a metaphysical position of such high station. I believe the reason is that the god of Economic Utility is coupled with another god, one with a smiling face and one that provides an answer to the question, If I get a good job, then what?�

133. Education Today Vendor of useful information and marketable skills Enables student to compete or survive in the jungle of the market Get a good job Enjoy the consumption of goods and experiences money can buy

135. Challenges to Christian Education Produced by Consumer Society We are often blind to our cultural worldview Fish in water Myth of Christian society Myth of secular or pluralistic (neutral) society We often underestimate power of entrenched educational practices and structures �The daily educational practices of Christian schools often embody a worldview that hinders the implementation of a more faithful one.� (John Hull)

136. Challenges to Christian education produced by consumer society We face parental expectations that arise from consumer society that bring economic pressure We are sometimes hostage to state testing and a corresponding vision of academic excellence that is deeply indebted to consumer society Consumer society can often marginalise continuing education (lack of time and priority from economic pressure, disinterest and pragmatism of teachers)