ECCLESIASTICAL VOICE

Old School: Lessons for the New School (I)

By Revd. Dr. Idowu Ibitoye
Introduction
Old school simply refer to any group of people who are traditionalist, who usually do things the way it was done in the past. It is simply old fashioned acts, which are not modern. Old school individuals usually adhere to original styles and values. New school are of a new style, new way of thinking with new methods for accomplishing tasks that are typically of the modern era, as it is opposed to former eras. Of recent, I have been hearing from different quarters statements referring to some people as “old school”, sometimes when people state their opinions such may be referred to as primitive or old school. There is no doubt that we are in a new dispensation. What comes to mind is that, are there lessons for new school proponents to learn from old school, for the betterment of our modern society? Absolutely there are lessons. This and many more, this write up tries to holistically address.
Biblical Foundations for Old and New School ideas
Solomon built a magnificent temple for the Lord and when it was being dedicated the glory of God came down and God appeared to Solomon (II Chron. 6 & 7). The temple because a pride for the dignity of the nation of Israel, which served as a symbol of God’s presence. However, Solomon’ temple was destroyed and was burnt down when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Jerusalem, and all valuables were taken away to Babylon (Jer. 52). When the exile returned, the temple was to be rebuilt and on the day the foundation of the new temple was laid, “When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord… with praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord, He is good, His love towards Israel endures forever and all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests, Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many shouted for joy” Ezra. 3:10-12. The old temple could be referred to as Old school, while the new foundation for another temple could be referred to as the New school. The older generation who witnessed the glory of the former temple were crying profusely, while the younger ones were shouting for joy. This is exactly what is happening in our contemporary times, where those who witnessed the great revival of 1960s, 70s and early 80s are crying today of seeing all the evil going on in the Holy altar of God.
Another typical example of both old and new schools in the Bible is found in King Rehoboam the son of Solomon, who succeeded his father on the throne. The older people came and advised him how he could rule the nation and he rejected the elderly counsel, while he contacted the younger generation who were his contemporary, “he followed the advised of the young men and said my father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions…” I King 12:10-14. The King who should have followed the advice of the older school chose otherwise, this later led to chaos and pandemonium in Israel, “When all Israel saw that the King refused to listen to them, they answered the King, what share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, oh Israel, look after your own house, David…” I King 12:16. This singular act led to the division of Israel and the nation later disintegrated. We must realize that there is wisdom in old school’ philosophy that the new school can learn from in order to govern the present day society appropriately.
Old School: Lessons for the New School
Though the Bible affirmed that “what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again, there is nothing new what has been done will be done again, there is nothing new under the sun” Eccl. 1:9. This simply means that there is nothing new under the sun, and that whatever we see as new today has been in existence or the idea has been in the mind of people of Old.
Although things look primitive in Old school, yet they get solutions to their problems through local technology. For example; ox, donkey and camels were used as means of transportation sometimes ago, while some of these animals were converted to chariots and used a more faster means of transportation cf. Gen. 41:29; 50:9; II Sam. 15:1; Acts. 8:28.There are lots of lessons for new school to derive from the old, these include:
1. During old school era, there was proper parental training – During the old school era, parents had enough time in training up their children in the way of the Lord (Prov. 22:6). Old school parents offered the best training to their children, and they give adequate discipline, they never compromised good parental training of their children. In contemporary days of new school; parents do not have time for proper parental care, everyone is busy looking for money, while this is having negative effects on the larger society. There is a lot to learn from old school parental training.
2. There was fear of God – Another important lesson from the old school era is that there was fear of God in everyone, crime rate was minimal because everyone had the understanding that God is watching. We were told that during the era, if you had any commodity for sale, all you need to do is to put the item at a road side and put a sign signifying the price beside the commodity, passers-by who want to buy shall pick the goods and drop the money inside a prepared container, and the commodity with the money is there until the last item is bought and money dropped. The owner will come in the evening to check the items; all he needed was to take his/her money and to deposit another commodity the following day. Can we do this today? The answer is capital No. Today, when bank accounts are being hacked and money deducted by fraudsters and impersonators. Old school proponents believe in absolute truthfulness and righteous living, this is a great lesson for every-one in the contemporary time.
3. Old school folks were dedicated to duties and dutiful – Assignments or duties given to individuals in the old school era, were carried out with commitment and dedication. Everyone was dedicated to his/her duty, this is evident in the lives of our teachers in those days, tutors in both primary and secondary schools, usually come to class on time, finished the syllabus at the given time and their pupils/students were exceptionally brilliant. Today, we can see the rots in public institutions. No wonder everyone now take their children to private schools, because commitment and dedication is lacking in public schools. For our society to be great again, new school must be dedicated to duties.

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