For Taiwan National University (NTU), yesterday was a big and exhilarating day, for as many as 22860 college students took the entrance exams for its graduate schools according to the local media. The school official explained that the increase of students taking the graduate school entrance exams is closely related to the economic recession and the rising unemployment rate. Meanwhile, a NTU mater degree frequently represents the top quality of education and will be a guaranteed a good job with handsome income.

Each year students around the world are competitively vying for admission to the most prestigious universities that would offer them good education and sharpen their competitive edge in the job market. We are told that the only way to free from poverty is through education. But education is not the cure-all. Duke of Wellington once said, “Educate men without religion and you make them but clever devils.” The Webster dictionary defines the word “educate” well, “to educate is to develop mentally, morally, or aesthetically especially by instruction.”

For Christian education, it is not to implant the head knowledge of the Bible into believers nor train them to skillful Christian workers or ministers, but to lead them to Christ the Rock on which their foundation must be built securely. We absolutely need the foundation of Jesus Christ, not the education of worldly system.