Educational Thoughts
Faith, Rigour, and Readiness: My Journey through MCS
One significant aspect of MCS' preparation is academic. I struggle to overstate how rigorous the Cambridge curriculum is. I'm in my last year of a BA and still have not experienced a workload comparable to IGCSE or AS examinations. Cambridge taught me to plod, to slowly persevere through the voluminous syllabi.
I learned to slowly parse through each learning objective, comprehend the various points, and test my knowledge through past papers. I learned not only the content of the syllabi but also how to learn, prioritise time, and so on; invaluable skills regardless of future vocation. Cambridge wonderfully and painstakingly hones these skills. My GPA currently is around A+, and I'm sure it would be further down the alphabet if I hadn't experienced the difficulties of the Cambridge curriculum.
To provide an understatement, the teachers greatly helped us in our studies. I cannot recall any teacher belittling a student. They gave hard and realistic, but always gracious, advice. The teachers were never prideful and always open to correction, though they hardly needed it. They would go through past papers with us, explaining answers at length, and exceeded expectations to ensure that we could succeed. Throughout the onslaught of exams, the students knew that the teachers wanted only the best for us.
Another significant aspect of MCS' preparation was spiritual. One key concept here was worldviews. We learned that all people possess worldviews, a system of assumptions through which one looks at the world. The liberal advocating for abortion because the fetus is not a person assumes a worldview devoid of a Creator who endows us, from conception to death, with intrinsic value and purpose.
This concept has infinite applications in university life. I know that specific claims are not isolated but are inevitably tied to a worldview. And, worldviews devoid of Christ are inevitably and sometimes literally barren. Because of MCS' teaching around worldviews, I have learned to hold fast to the Christian worldview where Christ is King and demands our time, our minds, and, indeed, our all.
Another part of spiritual preparation was general theological training. There is a great dearth of theological training, especially among youth. Instead of omitting serious, difficult theological topics and leaving lunatic theology or other false ideologies from whatever social media platform to influence students, MCS has encouraged deep, prayerful thinking about the Scriptures.
Ethan Aloiai, teaching Bible in the high school, is remarkably gifted in teaching theology. He taught me to respond to cults and false world religions, articulate the doctrine of the Trinity, think about election, and many other topics. Ethan has also excelled in instilling a thirst for knowledge in this area. Whether in interacting with other Christians on secondary issues (Calvinism, credobaptism or paedobaptism, and so on) or cults (which are prevalent on university campuses and even shopping malls) on primary issues, I was taught to think deeply on matters of theology, for which I am profoundly thankful.
In conclusion, the two factors of academic and spiritual training have prepared me for university study. I would wholeheartedly commend MCS to any parents considering enrolling children and encourage any parents of enrolled students or the students themselves that the often rigorous work at MCS is worth it and will reap many benefits. I have seen God repeatedly send out theologically equipped and culturally aware students – including many of my friends – from MCS to universities or workplaces. I truly think that He will continue to bless MCS and its families as MCS remains faithful to Him.