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Higher Education in Search of a Creative Alternative

Park Sang Jung

John 21:1-14

"After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tibe ‘iri-as; and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathana-el of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zeb'edee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, "We will go with you. " They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing.

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No". He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. "So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. That disciple, whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread, Jesus said to them, "bring some of the fish that you have just caught. "So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast. " Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. "

This story is a very familiar one and it is rather appropriate to think about the post resurrection encounter of Jesus with his disciples at the Sea of Galilee as we have just celebrated Easter last Sunday.

The disciples saw Jesus yet at first they did not recognize him. As professional fishermen in the twilight, trying all night to net some fish without success, they might have been in some sort of disgust and fury. They were in no mood to listen to any expert advice. In this situation of desperation Jesus meets his disciples in the place where the disciples met him first.

This was a dramatic encounter for the second time. But, the circumstance was very different. It was obviously not a sentimental reminiscing of all the wonderful experiences that they had shared together in the past. The disciples had left Jerusalem and in doing so they probably left Jesus also. The post resurrection encounter on the Galilean shore

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marks a new encounter. This was a new departure and a new history. It was on this particular frontier where they had met the first time, where they had begun to shape the movement of the people (minjung) and now the second encounter was a point of new departure for the movement as it went across Palestinian frontiers and penetrated into the rest of the world. In that sense the post resurrection story has important significance for the history of the movement of people who follow Jesus Christ.

We have gathered to critically evaluate the reality of Asian Universities and to share our common vision for the future of the University Community and also to understand the implications of these concerns for our Christian faith. So, let us make a humble attempt to listen to the story of the Galilean encounter and understand the relevance for our discussion.

Seeking An Alternative

From the text we can imagine that the disciples were carrying the net on the left side. Some may jump to the conclusion that the leftist approach is futile and the left orientation of the whole academic community in the '70s was an ideological disease which destroyed intellectual integrity and incurably infected the whole Student Christian Movement around the world. Those who advance such contention may have their own convincing reasons, however, it would be an overstatement to say that Jesus was a "rightist". Since the time of the second half of the medieval period, many traditionalist Christian churches have been instrumental in developing educational systems and institutions. We know of the outstanding contributions of the educational vocation of the practical pietism of "Brethren of Common Life", down through the time of the French Revolution.

There is no parallel in human history by any other community which has contributed so much to the development of education as the Christian Church. Take for example, the modern missionary movement. The Western missionary movement introduced so called "modern" education to the mission field. I had the privilege of being part of the centennial celebration of the Korean Methodist Church last week in Seoul On Sunday there was a special celebration of the arrival of Mr. Appenzeller, the first ordained Methodist missionary in Korea. The Chung Dong Methodist Church in Seoul is also one of the first Protestant congregations established in Korea. As I was listening to a lecture on the work and life of Appenzeller, I was quite struck by the fact that the early missionaries had to overcome considerable social taboos because of the restrictions imposed upon Western religious people to guard against this evangelistic (propagation) work.

For instance Apenzeller started a school with one young man

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and after a day or so the student disappeared. On the second attempt, he had two pupils and when he began to tell them about "new religion", one of the students ran away the same afternoon. The experience of the missionary movement in Korea in introducing the modern education was that of perseverance and persistence. The experiences in the countries which have been colonized by the Western powers may be somewat different, yet modern education in Asia owes a great deal to the missionary movement of the Western Churches. One of the most outstanding contributions in Korea was the breaking down of the social taboos against educating women. However, the educational system under the colonial regimes were eventually turned into a passifying and domesticating process of subjugating the people. Through this historical period neither the missionary movement nor the national churches critically analyzed the education system which was perpetuating the unjust system by producing colonized elites. This is not an occasion to reiterate the evils of colonialism or make salutory remarks about the incidental benefits, but it must be said that the worse consequences of colonialism were the "colonized mind" and the colonial educational system which was fostered and uncritically supported by the Christian churches.

Coming back to our main concern, we are obliged to amend the present state of the university in Asia today. We are gathered here together as students or as those who have gone through the system of being boxed into various academic disciplines and have become a part of modern Leviathan which seems to have lost its sense of direction. More than that, in the university, when the scope of learning and the specifics of knowledge were relatively limited, one could become an encyclopedia of knowledge and this was claimed to be an "enlightened" modern elite. Expansion of knowledge, an unlimited vista of scientific discoveries and experimentation and uncontrolled technological development created a situation in which the university has lost in some sense, its focus of self-identity. One asks, what is university? In our confusion, one could only say, I think I know but if you ask me I really don't know.

Before I plunge into endless debate, let me first simply say that our perception on university is in a deep crisis. It is in crisis because of a number of reasons and let me give some salient points'

First, there is a decline of critical spirit. University education and the life experience in that community must nurture the critical spirit wherein to rationally evaluate and analyze the historical reality. It should challenge the participants to envision a new value system. When the university abandons this responsibility it degenerates into conformity to the status quo and acquiesces to the popular value system.

The second point may be the absence of tolerance. The university is no longer a community rather it has become an institution which cares more about its hierarchy and bureaucratic management. University

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administration is merely management which has to align itself with power structure for its survival. Positon in the university use to be honor but now it is a symbol of status and power. Academic achievement and intellectual quality are more or less secondary and public relations has become the important tool in the process of advancement in the hierarchy of the university. Just to illustrate the point, we might dc well to tabulate the list of names to whom Asian universities have granted degrees of honoris causa. We have revealed the points of shameful degradation in so many cases. #

Thirdly, the university has abandoned its intrinsic virtue and moral responsibility for the formation of people with a critical and creative sense of history. The university has become a collection of various centers which organize their own professional training and this is being viewed as the social contribution of the university. If professionalism becomes the ultimate goal of education, then university education will have no means to impart the sense of justice towards the unjust reality of Asian reality.

Fourthly, the present reality lacks a clear sense of autonomy. One of the consequences of modern science and technology advancement is the control of unprecedented power by the State. One of the tragic realities is the loss of autonomy by the university and its submission to State control. In some countries in Asia, appointments at universities are subject to government approval. In some countries university professors are as a particular group, among those who enjoy a very comfortable status which is far better than what many people in the country hold. This again may be a deliberate policy on the part of the State to domesticate the university by politically manipulating the situation in such a way that the academicians buy into their economic comfort at the price of betraying a basic sense of truth and freedom.

These are only a few examples which we can illustrate and they are in fact well known to most of us. Having recognized the crisis of university education, the relevance of the post resurrection experiences of Jesus with his disciples reminds us that we are summoned to a serious search of a new alternative. A radical turning of direction and a fundamental re-orientation of university education must be our common agenda.

Quality Rather Than Quantity

They caught many fish — one hundred and fifty-three big fish and they were too heavy to carry. We are so caught up with the quantitative syndrome of modern development; the more, the bigger, and the faster are the slogans. Even university development has been influenced by this syndrome and in some cases it has turned out to be a big enterprise; big university, big endowment, more buildings, brighter students, and more Nobel prize winning professors if possible.

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We need to pause and reflect on what “big fish” and one hundred and fifty-three of them actually mean. An orthodox theory once suggested, that mystical number of one hundred and could have meant all the species of fish known to the Mediterranean world. If this is so, the numbers and quantity described in this text may be understood not in terms of how many but rather in terms of totality. The university therefore should not be evaluated by its size and its proximity to the power structure, instead it must be evaluated by the quality of the total perception and perspective on what we call higher education.

We noted that the university should be a community where people get nurtured in critical value judgement and a comprehensive perception of the historical reality of the world in general, Asian struggles in particular. If the institution's trend of producing only professional technocrats continues without fostering the critical spirit which inspires an imagination for the alternative future of the Asian people, higher education will become a totally irrelevant, fossilized elitism.

Is our University Education in Asia in any way evident of the deep aspirations of the Asian people for historical transformation? Do we hear the cries of the people for:

- a just social order

- establishment of a truly democratic political system

- self-determination of the oppressed minority people

- for life rather than their slow death?

Have the churches in Asia theologically articulated the demand of the Gospel for University education so that it may become more relevant in light of the Christian understanding of Kingdom of God which is the promise to us through faith in Jesus Christ?

The last reflection is on the fact of the unbroken net. In Jesus Christ all things are held together. This was the promise of creation and it is the message of reconciliation through Jesus Christ. Unity in Jesus Christ suggests that all intellectual pursuits will ultimately lead to universal experiences of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is the promise of Shalom. This is the challenge for us today, to move from multiversity to university. University must stand for Shalom and all the disciplines must be judged by this claim for universal Shalom; in the vision for unity of humankind, in everything sustained for life which is promised by His peace.

Now is the time for the Asian churches to stop lamenting over losing their sacred turf of the educational enterprise through the secularization of the once mission or church controlled institutions and re-orient their theological thinking to challenging the whole aspect of higher education in Asia, and to strategize effective authentic Christian presence in the University versus sectarian control.