The well-being, the happiness, of the religious life in the families with which they are connected, the prosperity and piety of the church of which they are members, are largely dependent upon the religious education that the youth have received in our schools.—Special Testimonies On Education, June 12, 1895. (FE 388.1) MC VC

The Lord expects our teachers to expel from our schools those books that teach sentiments which are not in accordance with His word, and to give place to those books that are of the highest value. The Lord designs that the teachers in our schools shall excel in wisdom the wisdom of the world, because they study His wisdom. God will be honored when the teachers in our schools, from the highest grades to the lowest, show to the world that a more than human wisdom is theirs, because the Master Teacher is standing at their head. (FE 517.1) MC VC

Our teachers need to be constant learners. All reformers need to place themselves under discipline to God. Their own lives need to be reformed, their own hearts subdued by the grace of Christ. Every worldly habit and idea that is not in harmony with the mind of God should be renounced. (FE 517.2) MC VC

When Nicodemus, a learned teacher in Israel, came to Jesus to inquire of Him, Christ laid before him the first principles. Nicodemus, though holding an honorable position in Israel, had not a true conception of what a teacher in Israel should be. He needed instruction in the very first principles of the divine life, for he had not learned the alphabet of true Christian experience. (FE 517.3) MC VC

In response to Christ’s instruction Nicodemus said, “How can these things be?” Christ answered, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?” The same question might be asked of many who are holding responsible positions as teachers, physicians, and ministers of the gospel, but who have neglected the most essential part of their education, that which would fit them to deal in a Christlike manner with human minds. (FE 517.4) MC VC