The FIELD Spiritual Equipping Center embraces non-traditional educational approach and philosophy.

Differences between

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Traditional Education

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Non-traditional Education

1.

Awards degrees on the basis of time served and credit earned.

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1.

Awards degrees on the basis of competencies and performance skills.

2.

Bases degree requirements on the medieval formula of some generalized education and some specialized education.

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2.

Bases degree requirements on an agreement between the student and the faculty, aimed at helping the student achieve his or her career, personal, or professional goals.

3.

Awards the degree when the student meets certain numerical requirements.

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3.

Awards the degree when the student's actual work and learning reach agreed-upon levels.

4.

Considers the years from age 18 to 22 as the period when a first degree should be earned.

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4.

Assumes learning desirable at any age, and that degrees should be available to people of all ages.

5.

Considers the classroom as the primary source of information and the campus as the center of learning.

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5.

Sees any part of the world as appropriate for some learning.

6.

Believes in printed text materials as the principal learning resource.

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6.

Believes the range of learning resources is limitless, from the daily newspaper to personal interviews; from videocassettes to microcomputers to world travel.

7.

Faculty must have appropriate credentials and degrees.

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7.

Faculty are judged on competency and personal qualities, in addition to credentials and degrees (take note: a non-traditional faculty must still be academically qualified).

8.

Credits and degrees are based primarily on mastery of course content.

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8.

Credits and degrees also take into consideration learning how to learn and the integration of diverse fields of knowledge.

9.

Cultivates dependence on authority through prescribed curricula, required campus residence, and required classes.

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9.

Cultivates self-direction and independence through planned independent study, both on and off campus.

10.

Curricula are generally oriented toward traditional disciplines and well-established professions.

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10.

Curricula reflect the student's individual needs and goals and are likely to be problem-oriented, issue-oriented, and world-oriented.

11.

Aims at producing "finished products" - students who are done with their education and ready for the job market.

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11.

Aims at producing lifelong learners, capable of responding all through their lives to their own evolving needs and those of society.

12.

To adapt the old Chinese saying, gives you a fish and feeds you for a day.

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12.

Teaches you how to fish, and feeds you for life.

Rick L. Walston, Walston's Guide to Earning Religious Degrees Non-Traditionally (Longview, WA: Persuasion Press, 1997). pp 8,9