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Chapter 5: Theory of Education


In today's democratic society is in a dangerous state, as can be seen from the degradation of the sexual morality of youth, the frequent occurrence of school violence, and so on. Yet, a suitable theory of education to overcome this confusion is not to be found anywhere, and present-day education has lost its sense of direction. The proper relationship between teacher and student is collapsing. That is to say, students do not respect their teachers, and teachers have lost their sense of authority and enthusiasm. In consequence, the relationship between teachers and students has become one in which the teachers are selling knowledge and the students are buying it, so that schools have turned into places for buying and selling knowledge. Communism has infiltrated these circumstances, turning schools into places teeming with disturbances. In the absence of clear ideas for education, it has been very difficult to thwart the Communist offensive.

Communists have made the following accusation: "In class society, can the ruling class ever respect the rights of laborers and farmers? To fulfill one's own duty and mission in class society means to be a loyal servant to the ruling class, does it not? That is not true democracy. True democracy is the democracy of laborers and farmers, in other words, people's democracy. Therefore, true democratic education should be education for the sake of the people. It should help to overthrow capitalist society and construct socialist society." This accusation of capitalism by Communism will not lose its persuasiveness as long as exploitation, oppression, injustice, corruption, and so on remain in capitalist society. Therefore, these social evils must be eliminated at all cost. To do this, a movement for a new view of value based on God's love must be launched. Along with it, a new theory of education must be established.

The new theory of education should be established on the basis of the standards that God originally intended to establish for human growth. Such a theory will give proper direction to today's education, which is in confusion, and will provide a vision of education for future society. In other words, it is a theory of education that makes preparation for the future, ideal society. The Unification Theory of Education presented here is precisely such a theory of education.

Theories of education usually have two aspects. One is concerned with the ideals, goals, methods, and so on, of education, and corresponds to what is called the philosophy of education. The other deals with education as an objective, observable phenomenon, and is called the science of education. The science of education inquires into school curricula, student evaluation and testing, learning techniques, student counseling, school administration, educational management, and so forth.

These two fields are in the relationship of Sungsang and Hyungsang. The philosophy of education is the Sungsang of education, whereas the science of education is the Hyungsang of education. While the science of education has made great advances under the modern tendency to think highly of science, the philosophy of education is being neglected and is steadily declining. The fact that education today has lost its direction implies the absence of a philosophy of education. Therefore, what is urgently needed today is the establishment of a new philosophy of education. Therefore, to fill the need for a new philosophy of education, the Unification Theory of Education is hereby proposed.

I. The Divine Principle Foundation for a Theory of Education

A. Resemblance to God and the Three Great Blessings

God created man and woman as His objects, which are meant to resemble Him (Gen. 1:27). That is the most important foundation for education. Based on this foundation, education can be described as the process of raising children to attain resemblance to God. In other words, education is an effort to guide children to resemble God. To resemble God is to resemble the Divine Image and Divine Character. Basically man and woman have the Divine Image inherited by birth. So, to resemble God for them is to grow and come to resemble the relationship within the Divine Image and also to inherit the Divine Character, namely, Heart, reason-law, Creativity, and so on, of God. When God created man and woman, He gave them the three blessings to grow, to multiply, and to have dominion over all things. God gave them blessings (commandments), saying, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over every living thing that moves upon the earth" (Gen. 1:28). Here the first item, "be fruitful," means to grow; "multiply and fill the earth" means to give birth to children; and finally "subdue it [the earth]" means to have dominion over all things. By realizing these Three Great Blessings (or three great commandments), man and woman come to inherit God's Heart, reason-law, and Creativity, and resemble God's natures of perfection, multiplication, and dominion (Fig. 5-1).

1. Perfection

Jesus said, "You must ... be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). This is a call for people to resemble the perfection of God. Perfection refers to the round and harmonious nature of the mutual relationship of Sungsang and Hyungsang, or the unity of Sungsang and Hyungsang. In God, Sungsang and Hyungsang are in harmonious give-and-receive action in the relationship of subject and object centering on Heart, and are united in oneness. This state is perfection.

Accordingly, for people to resemble God's perfection means that their Sungsang and Hyungsang are united in oneness, centering on Heart. In a human being there are four kinds of Sungsang and Hyungsang, as mentioned in Ontology, but here I refer specifically to the spirit mind and physical mind.


Fig. 5-1: God's Resemblance and the Three Great Blessings

In order for the spirit mind and physical mind to be united, the spirit mind must become the subject, and the physical mind, the object-that is, the spirit mind must have dominion over the physical mind. The spirit mind pursues the values of trueness, goodness and beauty, whereas the physical mind pursues food, clothing, shelter, and sex. Thus, in order for the spirit mind and physical mind to be united, the life of trueness, goodness, and beauty should be primary, and the life of food, clothing, shelter, and sex, secondary. The center of give-and-receive action between the spirit mind and physical mind is Heart arid love.

In summary, a life of flood, clothing, and shelter must be led centering on the life of trueness, goodness, and beauty, based on love. This is what is meant by resembling God's perfection. When people are young, they do not understand well tile values of' trueness, goodness, and beauty; but as they mature, their hearts gradually develop and they come to lead-centering on love-a true life, a good life, and a beautiful life. Thus, gradually they come to resemble the perfection of God.

Since the human being is a dual being of the spirit person and physical person, human growth involves both the growth of the spirit person and the growth of the physical person. The First Blessing, namely, "to grow," refers not only to the growth of the physical person, but primarily to the growth of the spirit person, namely, the improvement of a person's spiritual level. Moreover, people are promised that, if they grow to maturity, they will inherit God's perfection. Therefore, this is the First Blessing, given to human beings as a promise.

2. Multiplication

Next, people must resemble God's nature of multiplication. Resembling God's nature of multiplication means resembling the mutual relationship of the natures of Yang and Yin in God. God is the Harmonious Being of Yang and Yin. Therefore, man and woman are supposed to resemble this harmony of God's Yang and Yin. The harmony of Yang and Yin in human beings refers to the harmony of husband and wife. People came into being through the harmony of God's Yang and Yin, which constitutes God's nature of multiplication. Therefore, in human beings as well, Yang and Yin (man and woman) become harmonized, and through that harmony, children come into existence.

The call to resemble God's nature of multiplication is a call for man and woman, or Yang and Yin, to become engaged in harmonious give-and-receive action in the same way as Yang and Yin in God are engaged in harmonious give-and-receive action. For this, man and woman must develop the qualifications for marriage and multiplication. That is to say, man should become perfectly equipped with the qualifications of a man, and woman should become perfectly equipped with the qualifications of a woman. Thus, the call is for them to become able to fulfill man's duty as a husband and woman's duty as a wife, respectively. When they collie to possess such qualifications, they should get married and have children. Therefore, this is the Second Blessing, given to human beings as a promise.

3. Dominion

Furthermore, man and woman must resemble God's nature of dominion. To resemble God's nature of dominion means to resemble God's Creativity, which is the ability to create objects centering on Heart (love). Therefore, God created human beings and all things with Creativity, and intended to have dominion over them. Since human beings were originally endowed with this Creativity, they were created to have dominion over all things, centering on Heart. To be precise, it is only after human beings are fully developed that they come to possess this ability. Therefore, this is the Third Blessing, given to human beings as a promise.

For example, industrial activities are activities of dominion over all things. Farmers cultivate the land, which is a form of dominion over the land. In a factory, workers produce goods out of raw materials-by using machines.

This is a form of dominion over raw materials and machines. Fishing is a form of dominion over the fish and the waters, and forestry is a form of dominion over trees and mountains.

To have dominion over all things means to manifest creativity. Seen from the viewpoint of the formation of the four-position base, creativity refers to the ability to form an inner four-position base and an outer four-position base. Accordingly, in agriculture, farmers cultivate the fields making creative efforts, based on their own ideas, to obtain a greater harvest. In commerce, too, people will not be successful without ideas and creative will. In short, agriculture, mining, industry, commerce, forestry, fishery, and other human industries are all forms of human dominion over all things by manifesting creativity. Science and art, also, come into the category of dominion over all things. Dominion over society, namely, participation in politics, also comes into the category of dominion over all things.

Yet, due to the fall, people failed to inherit God's Creativity (which is Heart-centered Creativity) and came, instead to manifest self-centered creativity, often inflicting damage on other people and on nature. Therefore, in the new education we are proposing here, teachers must guide students to manifest creativity by resembling God's nature of Heart-centered dominion.

B. The Process of Growth of Human Beings

Human beings were created to resemble God. This resemblance, however, does not occur instantaneously from the moment of birth. In order to come to resemble God, people need time to develop themselves. Thus, human beings are made to grow through the three stages of Formation, Growth, and Completion, and then to resemble God in perfection, multiplication, and dominion. Growth, therefore, is a process of coming to resemble God, whereby people come to resemble God's Personality, God's harmony of Yang and Yin, and God's Creativity.

The Three Great Blessings given by God imply that it is after growing completely that people will be able to inherit God's perfection, multiplication, and dominion. Therefore, the Three Great Blessings are, in fact, the Three Great Promised Blessings; they are Commandments with the condition of Blessings. Due to tile fall, however, the Three Great Blessings, or Commandments, were not fulfilled. Nevertheless, even though people fell away from God, those commandments given by God have not been canceled but remain valid even until today. This means that tile Will of I-leaven has been urging human beings, through their subconsciousness, to fulfill the Three Great Commandments. That is why human beings have been endeavoring to fulfill the Three Great Commandments, even if unconsciously. Accordingly, even in fallen society, people have endeavored, according to this Will of Heaven, to mature themselves in personality, to find a good spouse and form a family, and to improve society and rule nature. It is for this reason that tile desire to grow, the desire to get married, tile desire to rule, the desire to improve oneself, and so on, have been irrepressible desires in all societies and at all times.

Thus, the human being must grow through completing the Three Great Blessings. Things of nature grow through the autonomy and dominion of the Principle. This means that they naturally grow as life within them propels them to growth. As for human beings, however, the physical person grows through the autonomy and dominion of tile Principle, like the other creatures, but not tile spirit person. In order for the spirit person to grow, humans must fulfill their "portion of responsibility." This means that humans perfect their personality through their own responsibility and effort. They grow by experiencing God's love while observing the norm (the Principle) with their own free will.

The first human ancestors, Adam and Eve, should have grown through observing God's commandment, should have become husband and wife, and should have actualized God's love. Since Adam and Eve represented all humankind, they were responsible not only for themselves but also for their descendants. For that reason, God totally refrained from interfering with their responsibility. If Adam and Eve, in such a severe situation, had fulfilled their portion of responsibility, and had grown through observing God's Word, then their descendants would have been able to grow through fulfilling a much lighter condition. In other words, in the case of Adam and Eve, they had to fulfill the Three Great Blessings solely on the basis of their severe responsibility; in the case of their descendants, however, they would have been able to perfect the Three Great Blessings through a light responsibility, that is, simply by following, obediently, the teachings of their parents. This is the origin of the need for parents to teach their children, or, the need for education.

Therefore, in its most fundamental form, education is the guidance that parents give to their children so that the children may fulfill the Three Great Blessings. Hence, the original form of education is family education. In fact, aboriginal types of education seem to have been primarily family education. Yet, as civilization developed, the amount of learning and information increased, and life styles became diversified. Thus, education took the form of private classes, and later adopted the educational system of public schools. Such is the situation today.

Since it is difficult for parents to provide education to their children, this task is left to teachers, who impart education in schools on behalf of parents. Therefore, teachers must instruct students as the representatives of parents, with parental heart. This is the original way of education.

C. The Three Great Ideals of Education

The purpose of education is to help human beings achieve resemblance to God's perfection, to God's nature of multiplication, and to God's nature of dominion. From these goals, the ideals of education are established.

First, from the resemblance to God's perfection, the perfection of individuality is established as an ideal of education. The perfection of individuality is the First Blessing. So, education should be given in order to perfect one's individuality.

Secondly, from resemblance to God's multiplication, the perfection of the family is established as an ideal of education. The aim is to educate children to grow and get married, to manifest conjugal harmony, and to build a harmonious family. In other words, it is education for guiding children to be able to fulfill the Second Blessing.

Thirdly, from the resemblance to God's dominion, the perfection of dominion is established as an ideal of education. The aim is to equip children with the ability to exercise Heart-centered dominion over nature and society, following God's Creativity, and to fulfill the Third Blessing.

II. The Three Forms of Education

Based on the ideals described above, what kind of education will be required? For the perfection of the individual, education of Heart is required; for the perfection of the family, education of norm is required; and for the perfection of dominion, education of dominion is required, including technical education, intellectual education, and physical education. Each of these forms of education will now be discussed.

A. Education of Heart

1. Education for the Perfection of the Individual

The education for bringing the individual to the resemblance of God's perfection is the Education of Heart.

To resemble God's perfection is to resemble the unity of Sungsang and Hyungsang, which refers to the state in which the spirit mind and physical mind engage in give-and-receive action centering on Heart and are united in complete unity. Therefore, in order for the spirit mind and physical mind to become united, Heart must be the center of the give-and-receive action between the spirit mind and physical mind. Accordingly, education of Heart turns out to be education for the perfection of the individual.

To carry out the Education of Heart is to raise people to become persons who love all people and a things in the same way as God loves all people and all things. In order to receive such education, those who are to be educated need to be guided to the experience of God's Heart. How do people come to experience God's Heart? The first step is for them to achieve a clear understanding of God's Heart.

2. Forms of Expression of God's Heart

God's Heart has been expressed in three forms through the process of creation and the dispensation of restoration. The three forms of God's Heart are the Heart of hope, the Heart of sorrow, and the Heart of pain.

a) The Heart of Hope

The Heart of hope is the Heart of God at the time of creation. It refers to God's joyful feelings, full of expectation and hope, in anticipation of begetting Adam and Eve, His most beloved children, to whom He could devote His unlimited love. It was also God's joyful feelings at the moment when Adam and Eve were born.

God spent as long as 15 to 20 billion years in the creation of the universe. What was all that for? It was all for the sake of creating Adam and Eve, His most beloved children. In the hope of seeing the moment when His children would be born, God spent all that time creating the universe, in spite of all kinds of hardships.

God, being filled with hope, did not feel the process of creating the universe as too long or too painful, no matter how long and difficult it actually was.

We, also, sometimes have this kind of an experience. When we work for some thing joyful, we do not feel the work as painful, no matter how painful it may actually be. We even forget about the time, because joy waits for us in the future. God's expectation of joy was far greater than any kind of joy we may experience.

Moreover, the joy God felt when Adam and Eve were born was so great and deep that it cannot be compared to anything else.

b) The Heart of Sorrow

Yet, Adam and Eve fell away from God into the realm of death under the rule of Satan. So, God deeply grieved. His grief at that moment was so great that there is no way to express it. Because His expectation and hope during the period of creation had been so great, God's grief was exceptionally profound, beyond anything we can imagine. Limitless joy was transformed, by the betrayal, into limitless sorrow.

Even among human beings, when a child whom the parents love is dying, they feel desperate and grieve deeply. Even though a child's illness is very serious and the parents are told that the child will die, they will still try to keep the child alive by any means available. That is what the parental heart is like. So, when the child dies, though the parents knew it would happen, still they feel as though their hearts have been cut to pieces. That is the heart of parents.

c) The Heart of Pain

God's Heart in the course of the dispensation of restoration, or, in the process of resurrecting fallen people, is the Heart of pain. God could have abandoned fallen Adam and Eve in their condition, and could have created other human beings; yet, even though Adam and Eve fell away from Him, God did not abandon them and their descendants, due to His parent-child relationship with them. Instead, God's desire was to resurrect fallen Adam and Eve and to love them as His children forever. Another reason for resurrecting fallen people is that, if God had given tip on fallen Adam and Eve and had created entirely new human beings, He would have failed in creation and would have lost His dignity. He had to establish the condition of not having failed and to demonstrate His authority and perfection. Fallen people, however, not only were separated from God, but also were dominated by Satan, and came even to ridicule God, their Heavenly Parent. They also persecuted God's representatives, the saints and sages whom God sent to them. They would often imprison, expel, or kill them. God felt the persecution against those people as persecution against Himself. Every time God saw the saints and sages suffering from persecution or imprisonment, God would feel as though a nail was being driven into His chest or His side was being pierced by a spear.

3. Understanding God's Heart

Through education of Heart, children should come to understand the three kinds of God's Heart described above, especially the Heart of God in the course of the providence of restoration (the Heart of Pain).

Therefore, I will introduce God's Heart in the course of Adam's family, Noah's family, and Abraham's family and also in Moses' course and Jesus' course. What follows is an introduction to God's Heart according to the teachings of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

a) God's Heart in Adam's Family

When God created Adam and Eve, He was filled with boundless joy; but when Adam and Eve fell away from Him, God's grief knew no limit. Therefore, in order to save Adam and Eve, God encouraged Cain and Abel, their children, to make offerings. God, of course, very much hoped that they would succeed in their offerings. There may be those who suspect that God might have known, from the very beginning, that Adam and Eve, and later Cain and Abel, would fail, since God is omniscient. If that were true, then how could God have grieved in the true sense? This, however, is a misunderstanding of God's omniscience, or foreknowledge.

God's omniscience, as well as His omnipotence, toward human beings will become a reality only when human beings become perfected by fulfilling their portion of responsibility; for only then will God be able, through human beings, to rule over all things, actions, and events on earth. God gave human beings a portion of responsibility because He hoped they would fulfill their responsibility, and He believed they would indeed do that. God would never have given human beings a commandment that was impossible to carry out.

However, since the fulfillment of the human portion of responsibility depends on a person's free will, needless to say there is always a possibility of failure. So, from a rational point of view, the omniscient and omnipotent God must have known that as well. But God is "omni-loving," even more so than omniscient and omnipotent. So, His state of mind at the time when He gave Adam and Eve their portion of responsibility was such that it was filled with the expectation that Adam and Eve, His most beloved ones, would simply fulfill their responsibility. Because of such a state of mind, filled with love, God's foreknowledge that Adam and Eve might fall was overwhelmed by His mind of expectation with love; the result was the same as though He had no such foreknowledge at all.

In the days of Adam and Eve, and also in the days of Cain and Abel, God at first was a God of expectation and hope, who wished for nothing but success for them. But Adam and Eve, and also Cain and Abel, failed.

Because of that, God's sorrow and disappointment were great. However, at those moments, God could not simply break down in tears, losing His dignity, no matter how sorrowful He felt, because Satan was watching. That's what caused Him an indescribable suffering of heart. All He could do was leave, silently, with His head bent and a tragic countenance.

b) God's Heart in Noah's Family

After God left Adam's family, He walked the path of wilderness for the long period of 1600 years, 1 looking for someone on earth with whom He could work. In the meantime, no one welcomed God; everyone turned away from Him. There was not a single home where God could dwell, not a single square meter of land for Him to stand on. In such a situation, God searched for someone to work with, and He finally found Noah. God's joy at that moment was beyond compare. Yet, God had to give Noah a very strict order, which was to build the ark. Noah accepted God's order and faithfully devoted himself to build the ark for 120 years, all the while suffering ridicule from the people.

Noah, though not qualified to be a "son of God," he was established as a "servant of God" and a righteous man. God walked the path of suffering in the position of a servant together with Noah. However, since Noah's son Ham did not fulfill his portion of responsibility, Noah's family, which had been saved from the flood, was invaded by Satan. When that happened, God felt a heart-breaking pain. Deeply disheartened, God could not but abandon Noah's family.

c) God's Heart in Abraham's Family

Four hundred years later, God found Abraham and established him within the providence. The most serious point in Abraham's course was when he had to offer Isaac, his only son, whom he had begotten at the age of one hundred years (Gen. 21:5). God ordered Abraham, who had failed in the symbolic offering of doves, ram, she-goat, and heifer, to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham's heart at that point was inexplicably painful. He was at a loss as to whether he should keep Isaac alive, according to human ethics, or offer him, according to Heaven's command. In his heart, at that moment, Abraham would much rather sacrifice himself than his son.

Nevertheless, he finally made up his mind to sacrifice Isaac according to God's order. Abraham wandered around Mount Moriah for three days. That period of three days was a long, painful path for Abraham.

During that time, God did not merely watch from afar; rather, having issued such a severe order, God suffered along with Abraham, as He watched how Abraham was suffering.

When Abraham was about to sacrifice his beloved son on Mount Moriah, he established the condition as though he had indeed killed Isaac, even though in fact he had not. That is why God was able to stop Abraham just prior to killing Isaac, and provided him with a ram to be offered as a burnt offering instead of his son. At that moment, God said, "Now I know that you fear God." That was an expression not only of God's pain, but also of His joy at the fact that Abraham had obeyed His command.

The mission was then passed on to Isaac, who followed Abraham's determination. Later, Isaac's descendants would leave their homeland of Canaan and enter Egypt to walk the path of suffering for four hundred years in order indemnify Abraham's failure in the symbolic offering and to establish the foundation to receive the Messiah on the national level.

d) God's Heart in Moses' Course

Moses, who was raised as a prince in the palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt, spoke out for the liberation of his compatriots, the Israelites, in order to take them back to the land of Canaan. In the process of going back to Canaan, however, the Israelites, amidst extreme suffering, revolted against Moses, their leader. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, having received the two tablets after he completed forty days of fasting on die mountain, the Israelites were worshipping a golden calf. God said, "Behold, it is a stiff-necked people; now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them" (Exodus 32:910). How did Moses feel at that moment? Moses felt he had to save his people by any means, even at the cost of his life. He appealed to God, saying, "Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people" (Exodus 32:12), In the face of Moses' fervent appeal, God refrained from destroying the Israelites.

After the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, God told Moses to bring forth water from a rock at a place called Kadesh Barnea (Num. 20:8). Out of anger at the Israelites, who showed litter faithlessness toward God, Moses struck the rock twice, which wits against God's will. So, God called Moses to the top of Mount Pisgah. Showing him the land of Canaan, which Moses worked so hard to reach, God said, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, I will give it to your descendants. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." (Deut. 34:4, Rsv).

Actually, God very much wanted to let Moses enter the land of Canaan; but because there was an accusation by Satan (based on Moses' having struck the rock twice), God took that measure unwillingly.

God felt deeply pained by that decision. His Heart at that moment was like that of someone about to enter an enemy territory alone, after losing a close and clear ally.

e) God's Heart in Jesus' Course

Jesus came to earth as the Messiah. The entire earth should have welcomed him wholeheartedly, but, since childhood, he found nothing but rejection. His family rejected him; his religion (Judaism) rejected him; and his nation (Israel) rejected him. In the end, there was no place to which he could go.

For 33 years, Jesus spent his days almost always by himself, leading a lonely life. So, when he saw a cloud, he said, "Cloud, you can understand my suffering heart, can't you?" When he spoke to the trees, he said, "Are you kind enough to know this pain of mine?" Jesus was leading such a terribly lonely life. As he walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he talked to a Samaritan woman, who was not one of the chosen people. God walked with that lonely Jesus through such a lonely path.

Finally, watching Jesus being crucified, God felt extraordinary pain. Since Jesus looked so miserable, God could not bear to watch him, and turned His face away from him. God was unable to take His beloved son down from the cross. Looking at Jesus on the cross, God suffered even more than Jesus himself.

4. How to Introduce God's Heart

Thus was the Heart of God in the courses of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Furthermore, behind the tribulations of the saints, sages, and righteous people of other religions and other nations, there was the Heart of God guiding them. Teachers and parents should introduce this Heart of God to children. In addition to giving talks about God's Heart, they can teach them through movies, videos, novels, plays, paintings, and so on.

5. Education of Heart through Practice

It is also necessary to teach God's Heart through the practice of love in family life. To do this, parents must seriously love their children, so that, even when they scold their children, the feeling will well up naturally in children's hearts that they are being scolded because their parents love them. Also, children must come to respect their parents. In order for that to take place, the parents have to work hard for the sake of God and humankind through suffering, even to the degree that the children come to feel sorry for them.

The same can be said with school education. Teachers must show God's love through practice. Teachers should give love to the children from the bottom of their hearts, with a parental heart. Then, children will be moved by this, and will come to respect and love their teachers, and will become willing to follow their teachers from the bottom of their hearts. While giving love to the children in this way, teachers should lead them to the practice of a life of love, helping them realize how much joy they can obtain from living for the sake of God and other people.

B. Education of Norm

1. Education for the Perfection of the Family

Education of Norm refers to education to obtain the qualifications to become a spouse and to form a family.

A man must be equipped with the way of a husband; and a woman, with the way of a wife. The Education of Norm also includes learning the proper behavior for parents, the proper behavior for children, and the proper relationships among brothers and sisters in the family.

Through the Education of Norm, the sanctity and mystery of sex should be taught with special care. Sex is something to be experienced only after marriage, and should never be violated until that time. According to the Bible, God told Adam and Eve, "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat" (Genesis 2:17, RSV). This means that sex is sacred, and must not be violated. That commandment was not intended only for Adam and Eve, it was intended for everyone and is valid until today. That is a supreme order which will be valid in the future as well. Accordingly, Education of Norm is education for the observance of laws; it should teach children, first of all, how to observe God's commandment.

2. Education for Becoming a Being of Reason-Law

The Education of Norm, at the same time, refers to the education through which one becomes a being of reason-law who lives according to the way of Heaven. This is because the family is a miniature of the universe. The way of Heaven is the law of give-and-receive action penetrating the universe. Two kinds of' laws derive from the way of Heaven: laws of nature and the laws of values. The laws of values form the norm. As there are both vertical order and horizontal order in the universe, so there are vertical order and horizontal order in the family. In values as well, there are vertical values and horizontal values. In addition, there are individual values. The topic of values has already been treated, in greater detail, in the chapter "Axiology." The Education of Norm must be accompanied by the Education of Heart. Norms are, "You must not do this"; "You ought to do that"; and so forth. If there is no love in norms, the norms will become formalistic and legalistic. Therefore, Education of Norm must be conducted in an atmosphere of love. In other words, norms and love must be one.

Love without norms is usually called blind love. Should parents or teachers love the children with that kind of love, the children would come to despise them. Parental love and die love of teachers must have some form of authority and dignity. In order to be that way, their love must be in accordance with Logos. In situations where there is too little love and too much emphasis on norms, the children will feel restricted and come to revolt against their parents or teachers. The reason is that love should be above norms. Even when children fail to obey norms, still they must be given love continuously.

Love and norms must be united. Love is harmonious and round, whereas norms are, so to speak, linear. So a person in whom love and norms are united is a person in whom, so to speak, a circle and a straight line are united. Love seeks to forgive and accept him, whereas norms seek to regulate strictly. Therefore, such a person has a character equipped with unified polarity, being most harmonious and at the same time most strict. A person with this kind of character is sometimes very strict and other times very kind, and can always assume the proper attitude according to the time and place.

C. Education of Dominion (Intellectual Education, Technical Education, Physical Education)

1. Education for the Perfection of the Nature of Dominion

In order to perfect the nature of dominion, one must first acquire knowledge about the objects over which one is to have dominion. Intellectual education is necessary for that purpose. Next, one must acquire technique to develop creativity. That purpose is served by technical education. Furthermore, since people are supposed to be subjects of dominion, their physical strength must be built up. That purpose is realized through physical education. Intellectual education, technical education, and physical education, together, are called "Education of Dominion." The Education of Dominion is based on general education, which, when more deeply developed, becomes specialized education in various fields. In intellectual education, such specialized knowledge as natural sciences, politics, economics, culture, and social studies are taught. In technical education and physical education as well, there are various specialized fields. Education for the performing arts, for example, may be regarded as a kind of technical education.

Through Education of Dominion, we learn the methods of developing our creativity. Creativity is inborn, and everyone is naturally endowed with it as a potentiality. Education of Dominion, however, is necessary in order actually to manifest it.

2. The Development of Creativity and the Two-stage Structure

The development of creativity refers to the cultivation of the ability to form an inner four-position base and air outer Four-position base in the two-stage structure of creation. The ability to form an inner four-position base refers here to the ability to form a Logos (i.e., a plan, a design, or a conception). In order to be able to develop a Logos, one must acquire a great deal of knowledge through intellectual education, and enhance the contents of the Inner Hyungsang (ideas, concepts, and so on) qualitatively as well as quantitatively. As the Inner Sungsang (intellect, emotion, will) acts upon the Inner Hyungsang centering on Heart, one makes a plan or a design by using the information within the Inner Hyungsang. To develop a Logos means to develop new ideas; in industry, this means to develop technical innovations.

Next, the cultivation of the ability to form the outer four-position base refers to the enhancement of the ability to substantialize new ideas by using tools and materials according to a certain plan-in other words, the development of skills in conducting outer give-and-receive action. Here technical education is required.

Of course, good physical condition is required as well. Therefore, improving one's physical strength through physical education is also necessary.

3. Education of Dominion Based on Universal Education

The Education of Dominion must be carried out on the basis of, and in conjunction with, Education of Heart and Education of' Norm. Only when based on Heart and norm can intellectual education, technical education, and physical education become wholesome and can creativity be fully manifested.

The Education of Heart and Education of Norm must be given equally to everyone. They are called universal education. On the other hand, the Education of Dominion must be given to people according to their abilities, interests, and desires. Some may major in natural science, others in literature, and still others in economics, and so forth. Thus, the field a person chooses varies depending on that person's preference and aptitude. In this sense, the Education of Dominion is "individual education." It can be said that universal education and individual education are in the relationship of' Sungsang and Hyungsang. The reason is that the Education of Heart and the Education of Norm are spiritual education, that is, the education of the mind, whereas the Education of Dominion is material education, in the sense that the student learns certain materials and acquires certain techniques for the actual exercise of dominion over all things. Accordingly, universal education (Education of Heart and Education of Norm) and individual education (Education of Dominion) must be carried out side by side with each other. That is what is meant by "balanced education" (Fig. 5-2). They include the aspects of universality and individuality in education.



Fig. 5-2: Universality and Individuality in Education

In ancient Greece, in the Middle Ages, and in the Modern Age, there was always an effort to provide education of love and education of ethical and moral principles, even though the teachings provided were not perfect. Today, however, these kinds of education are being slighted, and what can be called "unbalanced education," with excessive emphasis on knowledge and technique, is being practiced. As a result, the healthy growth of human nature is hampered. Therefore, a new theory of education must appear whereby the education of love and the education of ethical and moral principles can be given on a new dimension. It is on this basis that intellectual education and technical education should be conducted. Only through such balanced education can science and technology be guided in the proper direction. Then such problems as pollution and the destruction of nature will naturally come to be solved. Moreover, through this kind of education, teachers will regain their authority as teachers.

It should be added that the starting point of education lies in family education. School education is the extension and development of family education. Accordingly, family education and school education must be united. If this is not done, it is difficult for proper education to be carried out, especially Education of Heart and Education of Norm. In that case, unity in education cannot be actualized.

III. The Image of the Ideal Educated Person

Up to now there have been many kinds of education, each with its own image of the ideal person corresponding to its own idea of education. The Unification Theory of Education must also have an image of the ideal person. The image of the ideal educated person in the Unification Theory of Education is as follows: first of all, a person of' character; second, a good citizen; and third, a genius. These are the images of ideal man and woman corresponding, respectively, to the Education of Heart, Education of Norm, and Education of Dominion. Therefore, when education is seen in terms of the image of the ideal person, the Education of Heart may be called education to develop a person of character, the Education of Norm may be called education to develop a good citizen, and the Education of Dominion may be called education to develop a genius.

A. A Person of Character

The image of the ideal person in the Education of Heart is that of a "person of character." Education of Heart is the education that leads to the experience of God's Heart. Those who receive this type of education become persons of character. Heart is the source of love, and it is the core of personality. Those who are lacking in Heart-regardless of how much knowledge they may have, or how healthy they may be, or how much power they may hold-will never be persons of character. In the secular concept, a person with a certain degree of virtue, knowledge, and health may be called a person of character, but in Unification Thought, a person of character is one who has internalized God's Heart and who practices love.

What, then, is a person of character? A person of character is someone who has perfected the whole personality, having developed the faculties of intellect, emotion, and will in a balanced way, on the basis of Heart (love). A person of character is, above all, a person who practices love. This is a person who loves brothers and sisters, practices filial piety toward the parents, serves society, is loyal to die country, and loves the whole of humankind.

B. A Good Citizen

The image of the ideal person sought in Education of Norm is that of a "good citizen." Ultimately, a good citizen is a good member of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Education of Norm may be given in schools, but the basis of it must be in the family. Since the family represents a miniature of the order of the universe, it can be said that society, nation, and world are expansions of the system of order in the family. Therefore, a person who has received a good standard of Education of' Norm in the family can easily observe norms in society, nation, and world as well. As a result, that person becomes a good member of the family, a good member of society, a good member of the nation, and a good member of the world. In other words, if one is well disciplined in the family, one can naturally behave in conformity with the norm of society, nation, and world.

A person who has lived as a good citizen on earth will become a good spirit person in the spirit world as well. Leading a good life both on earth and in the spirit world, such a person is called a good member of the cosmos. (The cosmos refers to the combination of the physical world and the spirit world.) Living as a good citizen in the family, society, world, and the cosmos is the same as living in the Kingdom of Heaven.

C. A Genius

The image of the ideal person in the Education of Dominion is that of a "genius," which refers to a person with rich creativity. Originally everyone has tile talent of a genius, since humans originally are beings with creativity, having been given God's Creativity. Creativity is given to a person at birth as a potentiality.

Therefore, except for those who are mentally defective, all people can become geniuses as long as they manifest their creativity one hundred percent. In order to actualize creativity, however, education is necessary. The kind of education necessary for that purpose is the Education of Dominion.

As mentioned above, the Education of Dominion should be based both on Education of Heart and on Education of Norm. In other words, education must be well balanced; only then can true creativity be expressed. If Education of Heart and Education of Norm are insufficient or lacking, creativity cannot be fully manifested. For instance, suppose there is a child with musical creativity who is trying to learn how to play the piano. If parents of that child are always quarreling with each other, or often strike or scold the child, then the child will go to school with a damaged heart. Then when playing the piano, the child will not be able to move the hands so smoothly, because of the disturbed emotions. Even though the child may have excellent creativity, that creativity comes to be diminished.

Since human beings have been given individuality, each person's creativity, likewise, has unique characteristics. Some people are endowed with musical creativity; others, with mathematical creativity; someone else has political creativity, and others have business creativity. If the creativity received is fully manifested, that person may become a musical genius, a mathematical genius, a political genius, or a business genius. That is to say, based upon individuality, each person can become a unique genius.

Due to the fall, however, people have become unable fully to display their God-given creativity to the fullest extent, and it has become very difficult for them to develop into geniuses. In fact, there may be only one person out of tens of thousands who can reach the level of a genius, while all the rest remain in mediocrity. That is the reality of the Education of Dominion in fallen society.

Moreover, we should know that, in education for a genius, there is cooperation from the spirit world as well. When well-balanced education is provided, on the basis of a God-centered family, good spirits will provide spiritual assistance, and, as a result, the children's God-given talents rapidly develop.

IV. Traditional Theories of Education

This section introduces representative traditional theories of education. By comparing the Unification Theory of Education with those theories, it will be possible to understand the historical significance of the Unification Theory of Education.

1. Plato's View of Education

According to Plato (427-347 BC), the human soul consists of three parts, namely, the "appetitive part," the "spirited part," and the "rational part." The virtue required in the appetitive part is temperance; the virtue required in the spirited part is courage; and the virtue required in the rational part is wisdom. The virtue that manifests itself when these three virtues are harmonized is justice. There are three social classes in the nation corresponding to these three parts of the soul. The mass of citizens, including tradesmen, artisans, and farmers, form the lower class, corresponding to the appetitive part of the soul. Public officials (guardians) form the middle class, corresponding to the spirited part of the soul. And rulers form the upper class, corresponding to the rational part of the soul. When philosophers who have recognized the "Idea of the Good" rule the nation, an ideal nation is realized. For Plato, what brings people closer to the world of Ideas is education. By that lie was referring to the education of philosophers, a ruling minority. Plato's image of an ideal person was that of "one who loves wisdom" (or a philosopher) and that of "one who is harmonized" -- that is, a person whose mind and body are harmonized, possessing the four virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. The purpose of education would be to build an ideal nation, where the Idea of the Good is embodied.

2. The Christian View of Education

In the Middle Ages Whereas in the Age of ancient Greece education pursued the goal of developing good people who would serve the society, in the Christian society of the Middle Ages education aimed at cultivating people who would live the Christian ideal. The image of the ideal medieval person was that of a "religious person" who would love and respect God, while loving his neighbors. Strict education was given, especially in monasteries, to attain a perfect spiritual life, with the virtues of purity, honest poverty, and submission. The purpose of this education was to cultivate people to become good and to prepare them for life after death.

3. View of Education in the Renaissance

In the Age of the Renaissance, a human-centered world view, which valued human dignity, came into being, overthrowing the God-centered world view, which regarded obedience and abstinence as virtues.

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1515) was the main representative of that new, humanistic education. He asserted that the purpose of education is to teach people, who were originally free, to attain the complete development of their human nature and to acquire a rich individual culture. He emphasized the humanistic aspect of culture, such as literature, fine art, and science. Emphasis was also given to physical education, which had been neglected in the Middle Ages. The image of the ideal person in the Renaissance Age was an "all-round man of culture," whose mind and body are harmoniously developed. Erasmus' idea of the return to the original human nature was inherited by Joharm A. Comenius and Jean Jacques Rousseau.

4. Comenius' View of Education

For Joharm A. Comenius (1592-1670), the ultimate purpose of human life is to become united with God and to obtain eternal bliss in life after death, with life here on earth being the preparation for life after death. For that purpose, everyone should

(1) know all things,

(2) become a person who can control things oneself, and

(3) become like the image of God.

He advocated the necessity of three kinds of education: intellectual education, moral education, and religious education. To teach "all things to all men" was the theme of Comenius' theory of education, which was called pansaphia. 2 Comenius considered that the talent to realize the goals of education is naturally inherent in people, and it is the role of education to bring out this natural gift, that is, "nature." Comenius said that, fundamentally, parents are responsible for education, but should they become unable to do it, schools would become necessary to replace them.

According to Comenius, the image of the ideal person was that of a "pansophist," or a person who has learned all knowledge concerning God, nature, and human beings. The purpose of education is to raise practical Christians who have learned everything knowable, and to realize the peaceful unification of the world through Christianity.

5. Rousseau's View of Education

In the Age of the Enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (17121778) wrote an educational novel entitled "Emil" claiming that "God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil." Therefore, he insisted on educating children in a natural way. He asserted that, since man possesses an inherent "natural goodness," his "nature" should be developed as it exists originally. Education, as advocated by Rousseau, aims to develop people naturally through eliminating factors that obstruct the development of their natural gifts, such as indoctrination by established culture and by moral and religious teachings. In actuality, however, "natural man" in the state of nature would not be well suited to the existing society. He thought, however, that in the ideal republican Society, the individual as "natural man" and the individual as citizen of society would get along well. Thus, he also advocated the necessity to educate people to become members of society.

The image of the ideal person in Rousseau's theory of education was that of a "natural man," and the purpose of education, in his view, was to nurture "natural man" and realize the ideal republican society, in which "natural man" would become citizen. Rousseau's theory of education was inherited by Immanuel Kant, Johann H. Pestalozzi, Johann F. Herbart, John Dewey, and others.

6. Kant's View of Education

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) said that "man is the only being who needs education, 4 and that "Man can only become man by education," 5 advocating the importance of education.

According to Kant, the mission of education is to develop people's natural gifts in a harmonious way and to cultivate those who can act freely while following moral laws. Kant's view of education was influenced by Rousseau. Also, Kant asserted that education should not aim at adjustment to any particular society, rather, it should aim, more generally, at the perfection of humankind. He also said education must be cosmopolitan.

On the other hand, Kant said that human beings have a radical evil in their nature. According to him, evil comes into being when moral law is subordinated to self-love. Therefore, Kant said that, through inner conversion, one should come to place moral law above self-love, and that duty so orders it. Respect for morality, trust in science and reverence for God characterize his views on education and on humankind. For Kant, the ideal image of a human being is that of a "good man," and the purpose of education is to perfect human nature of humankind as a whole, thereby establishing everlasting international peace.

7. Pestalozzi's View of Education

Under the influence of Rousseau, Johann H. Pestalozzi (174 11827) advocated education in conformity with "nature" and sought to liberate human nature, or the noble nature inherent in people. He held that when people based themselves upon something simple and pure, they come to do good by intuitively apprehending fundamental principles. He also held that education starts from maternal love in the family, arid asserted that family education forms the basis of education.

Pestalozzi said that there are three fundamental forces forming human nature, namely, mental power, heart power, and technical power; these three, he considered, correspond to mind, heart, and hand. According to him, education of the mind is education of knowledge, education of the heart is moral and religious education, and education of the hand is the education of technique (including physical education). The internal power that unites these powers is love. Love is the basis of heart power and the driving force of moral and religious education. Accordingly, lie advocated that those three types of education should be harmoniously united, centering on moral and religious education. 6 The image of the ideal person advocated by Pestalozzi was that of a person in whom the three fundamental powers are harmoniously developed-in other words, a "whole man." He advocated the education of the "whole man" centered on love and faith. The aim of education was to cultivate human nature and build a moral and religious nation and society.

8. Froebel's View of Education

Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) followed Pestalozzi and further systematized Pestalozzi's view of education.

According to Froebel, nature and humans are unified by God and move according to God's law. Divine nature constitutes the essence of all things, and the mission of all things is to express, reveal, and develop such a nature. Therefore, people should manifest in their lives the divine nature inherent within them, and education should guide people in that direction. He wrote, "The free and spontaneous representation of the divine in man, and through the life of man, which, as we have seen, is the ultimate aim and object of all education, as well as the ultimate destiny of man." 7 Froebel especially emphasized the importance of child education and family education. Froebel's basic position concerning education was that the place to develop children in a natural way is the home, where the parents are the teachers. Like Pestalozzi, lie emphasized the role of the mother. He asserted that kindergarten is a necessary supplement to family education and became the founder of the kindergarten.

The "natural man" with a good nature advocated by Rousseau was, for Pestalozzi, a "whole man" with noble human nature, and for Froebel the image of the ideal person was that of a "whole man with divine nature."

9. Herbart's View of Education

Johann F. Herbart (1775-1841) systematized pedagogy as a science. In doing so, he incorporated ethics and psychology into pedagogy, whereby he established the aim of education from ethics and the means of education from psychology.

First, following Kant, Herbart considered a "good man" to be the image of the ideal person, and the "cultivation of moral character," the goal of education. Next, he pursued the method of education, proposing that what forms the foundation of human spiritual life is presentations in mind: by cultivating the circle of thought, or a collection of presentations, a person's moral character can be cultivated. In other words, he advocated building moral character through teaching knowledge.

Herbart pointed out the importance of instruction in the formation of representations, and explained the process of instruction. According to the Herbartian school, which later revised Herbart's theory, the process of instruction consists of five stages: preparation, presentation, comparison, integration, and application.

10. Dewey's Theory of Education

In die late 19th century, a pragmatic view of life, which placed behavior at the center of human life, was born in the United States. John Dewey (1859-1952) advocated instrumentalism, asserting that the intellect is a tool useful for behavior and that thinking develops in the process of a person's effort to control the environment.

Stating that "education is all one with growing; it has no end beyond itself," 8 Dewey argued that no kind of purpose should be set in advance for education, but instead, education should be regarded as growth.

According to him, "education consists primarily of transmission through communication," 9 and "education is a constant reorganizing or reconstructing of experience." 10 This transmission should be achieved through the medium of the environment rather than directly from adults (teachers) to children, he said.

Through such education, society develops. What Dewey intended to achieve was a kind of practical, technical education aimed at the reconstruction of society. The image of the ideal person, in Dewey's theory of education was that of an "active man."

11. The Communist View of Education

Marx and Lenin sharply criticized the kind of education conducted in capitalist society. According to Marx, in capitalist society the educational policies are intended to keep people in ignorance. 11 Teachers are productive laborers who belabor children's heads and work to enrich the school proprietor. 12 According to Lenin, capitalist education is an "instrument of the class rule of the bourgeois," 13 the goal of which is to raise up "docile and efficient servants of the bourgeoisie" and "slaves and tools of capital." 14 In contrast to education in capitalist society, in socialist society, according to Lenin, "The schools must become an instrument of the dictatorship of the proletariat." 15 He also said that teachers must become the soldiers who instill the spirit of Communism into the masses of workers. 16 The purpose of Communist education is stated in the preamble of the "Fundamentals of National Education Act" (1973): "The objective of national education in the USSR is to raise a highly cultivated all-round, fully developed, active architect of Communist society who has been raised under Marxist-Leninist thought, with respect for Soviet law and the socialist order, and with Communistic attitude toward labor." 17 In other words, the purpose of Communist education is to raise dedicated people for the construction of Communist society. The image of the ideal person is "the all round, fully developed human being." 18 Then, what are the contents of Communist education? First, it attaches importance to general technical education (or "polytechnism"), as opposed to individual technical education. It then asserts that general technical education should be carried out in connection with labor. Furthermore, it asserts that, in socialist society, there are no conflicts of interest between individuals or groups, and there is no individual apart from a group, claiming, thereby, tire necessity of collective education. The general technical education was systematized by N. K. Krupskaya (1869-1939), and collective education was systematized by N. K_ Makarenko (1888-1939).

12. The Democratic View of Education

Ideas on education in democracy are based on democratic thought. Dewey's theory of education played a major role throughout tire first half of the 20th century. I will quote here from the "Report of the United States Education Mission to Japan" 19 as to what represents the educational ideas of democracy after World War II.

The report begins with the following definition of democracy:

Democracy is not a cult, but a convenient means through which the emancipated energies of men may be allowed to display themselves in utmost variety. Democracy is best conceived not as a remote goal, however radiant, but as the pervasive spirit of every present freedom. Responsibility is of the essence of this freedom. Duties keep rights from canceling each other out. The test of equal treatment is the taproot of democracy, whether it be of rights to be shared or of duties to be shouldered.

The report then describes the nature of the democratic education, as follows:

A system of education for life in a democracy will rest upon the recognition of the worth and dignity of the individual. It will be so organized as to provide educational opportunity in accordance with the abilities and aptitudes of each person. Through content and methods of instruction it will foster freedom of inquiry, and training in the ability to analyze critically. It will encourage a wide discussion of factual information within the competence of students at different stages of their development. These ends cannot be promoted if the work of the school is limited to prescribed courses of study and to a single approved textbook in each subject. The success of education in a democracy cannot be measured in terms of uniformity and standardization. Education should prepare the individual to become a responsible and cooperating member of society.

The ideal of democratic education is to nurture democratic citizens, who, while observing the principles of democracy, such as the idea of the people, majority rule, and equality of equals, will respect the rights of others and will fulfill their own responsibility, and upon that basis will claim their own rights and will make effort to perfect their own personality.

The purpose of democratic education, therefore, is the perfection of character and the nurturing of responsible members of society. Its image of the ideal person is that of a "democratic person of character."

V. An Appraisal of Traditional Theories of Education from the Standpoint of Unification Thought

Let us now appraise those traditional theories of education mentioned above, from the standpoint of Unification Thought.

For Plato, the image of the ideal person is that of a philosopher who has recognized the "Idea of the Good." Plato thought that if such a philosopher were to govern the state, an ideal state would come about. In the Age of ancient Greece, however, no such philosopher emerged who could govern the state, arid the Idea of the Good was not realized in the city-state (polis). Moreover, after the coming of the Age of Hellenism, the Idea of the Good collapsed together with the city-states. That was because the Idea of the Good was ambiguous. Unless God's purpose for creating the universe and humankind is clarified, the standard of goodness remains ambiguous, and therefore, the Idea of the Good cannot be actualized.

Christianity in the Middle Ages advocated a kind of education that could raise people to love God and their neighbors. Yet, that love was "agape," that is, the sacrificial love that was displayed in Jesus' crucifixion.

Such questions as to why God's love is such a sacrificial love, and for what purpose God created humankind were not clarified. Accordingly, it became difficult for such a Christian view of education to guide people of the modern period, who were awakened to human nature.

Education in the Renaissance period can be highly esteemed in that it liberated human nature, which had been oppressed; but from the mid-16th century on, it gradually became formalized into a mere study of the classics. It also leaned toward human-centeredness and gradually lost its religious morality.

Comenius said that the role of education was to bring out the natural gift (nature) inherent in every person.

It was not clear, however, what that gift was. There is also a problem with his concept of pansaphia, according to which the acquisition of true knowledge would lead to virtue and faith. From the viewpoint of Unification Thought, true intellectual education can be established only on the basis of the Education of Heart and the Education of Norm. Still, the three kinds of education advocated by Comenius have something in common with the Education of Heart, Education of Norm, and Education of Dominion in the Unification Theory of Education.

Rousseau, also, advocated raising people in a natural Way, but his concept of "nature" within the individual was ambiguous. Furthermore, there is a problem in his definition of human nature as unconditionally good.

He advocated bringing up children in a natural way, but without the Education of Heart and the Education of Norm centered on God's love (Heart), it is impossible to raise children as they are naturally and to lead them to become human beings as originally intended.

Kant attached importance to moral education. But his moral education had no solid foundation, because God, who should be the foundation of morality, wits conceived by Kant as an entity that is required to exist but of whose actual existence Kant was uncertain. Also, Kant dealt with morality only as a norm for individuals, but that is insufficient. Ethics, which is the norm for mutual relationships among human beings, is as important as morality.

Pestalozzi asserted that the three kinds of education, namely, education of knowledge, moral and religious education, and technical education, should be unified through love. This assertion resembles the ideas in Unification Thought of the Education of Norm and Education of Dominion based on the Education of Heart. (Pestalozzi's education of knowledge and technical education correspond to the Education of Dominion in Unification Thought, and his moral and religious education corresponds to the Education of Norm in Unification Thought.) His idea of education of the "whole man," and his idea that family education is the foundation of education, are also in accord with die Unification Theory of Education.

Nevertheless, the point that the purpose of education is the fulfillment of the Three Great Blessings was not included in his theory of education. Also a sufficient explanation of God, who is the foundation for moral-religious education, was not given by him. For these reasons, Pestalozzi's theory of education did not become solidly established.

A similar comment can be made about Froebel, who inherited Pestalozzi's theory of education. For Froebel, the "whole man with divine nature" was regarded as the image of the ideal person. This is in perfect accord with the viewpoint of Unification Thought, which says that the essence of education is to teach children to grow to resemble God.

Herbart considered presentations and their mutual relationships to be the origin of all spiritual activities, such as emotion and will, and asserted that moral character can be built by cultivating the circle of thought.

From the viewpoint of Unification Thought, however, it is not through cultivating one's thinking that morality is actualized. Morality can be actualized when people pursue the value of goodness and observe norms, centering on Heart (love).

Dewey did not recognize any purpose in education, but emphasized only growth and progress. Emphasis on growth and progress, however, without clarifying the purpose of human life, cannot solve human alienation and social problems. In fact, today, as science and civilization develop, many social ills have emerged in societies where Dewey's method of education has been practiced. Wholesome persons and societies cannot be formed through the method of practical technical education proposed by Dewey, unless such education is based on the Education of Heart and Education of Norm.

The view of capitalist education as "the bourgeoisie's tool for class rule" and the view of socialist education as "die proletariat's tool for dictatorship," both advocated in Marxism-Leninism, are aspects of a view of education from the perspective of regarding human society in terms of class struggle. As long as one regards materialist dialectic and the materialist conception of history as wrong, then one must say that this view of education is wrong as well.

Marxism-Leninism asserted that its aim was an "all-round, fully developed person," but this did not refer to the personality of an individual whose faculties of intellect, emotion, and will are developed in a well-balanced manner; rather it referred simply to the development of the skills of laborers, so that they can engage in any kind of labor. Moreover, Marxism-Leninism insisted on general technical education, but, since it placed emphasis on labor, this general technical education was no more than education in working skills. Also, collective education has come to oppress the dignity of human individuality and freedom.

Democratic education is based on the value and dignity of the individual. Yet, too much emphasis on the rights of the individual has given rise to a tendency toward individualism and egoism. Also, since it upholds human nature on the basis of humanism, its views on values have become relativistic. As a result, social disorder has become unavoidable. Only when Education of Heart and Education of Norm, based on God's absolute love, are provided, can the value and dignity of individuals be firmly established, and social harmony and order be maintained.

 


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