Journey to Adventist Education Excellence in the Pacific Union W
hen Sidney Brownsberger opened the first Adventist academy in the West with just 28 students from the age of five on up, even the most optimistic would hardly have expected this small beginning to grow into a school system comprising 12,000 children attending 150 schools in seven states. Healdsburg Academy (later College) began just 10 years after the first Adventist school was started in Battle Creek, Mich. For a religious movement that looked forward expectantly to the soon coming of Jesus, the investment in such a long-term program such as education might seem surprising. But early Adventist leaders very soon saw the vital importance of investing in what they called “proper education.” They recognized that they needed to pass on
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their faith in the context of what was happening in society—to help their children find a place in this world as they prepared for the next: “The aim of true education is the elevation of the mind, with a view to helping and enabling the student to ever have in view the accomplishment of the bettering of others,” said Pastor J.O. Corliss at the first commencement service for the San Francisco church school. “Its object is to lead us to be lights in the world, guiding others to qualify themselves to enter the realms of bliss at last. True education does not omit anything that is necessary to the welfare and happiness of the student. While worldly education aims to make of the student a good citizen of the world, true education, Christian education, seeks to fit students not only to be useful
citizens in this life, but also to prepare them for citizenship in the world to come” (Pacific Union Recorder, Sept. 26, 1901). Believing in educating the various elements that make up who we are, this philosophy of education made sure to teach mental, social, physical, as well as spiritual matters. The result? A much sought-after education that went beyond the boundaries of the Adventist church, appreciated by many who wanted the best for their children. While some of the initial attempts to develop an Adventist school system failed— often due to the issue of paying teachers a viable salary—the program that developed in the West managed to meet and exceed all the demands placed on it. The establishment of three colleges of higher education that are now Loma Linda University, La Sierra