Which Theological Ethics Should We to Teach: Indigenized or Recycled?

Some Reflections on an Inculturated Theological Ethical Education

Abstract

Recently I read an aphorism about the modern educational system in
the developing countries: A poor man collects aluminium beer cans
with his donkey cart to get some money from the modern recycling
factory. The powerful metaphor of this aphorism touches the core of
the educational system in the developing countries: the poor student,
with the help of his parents and sponsors, collects some knowledge
and carries it in his cart to the job market in order to survive.1 Often
what the student collects is itself already recycled. The central aim of
education remains to ensure the means of survival. Teaching and
learning is aimed largely at the job market for which the easiest and
most effective method seems to be recycling. This paradigm is justified
by the argument that the job market looks for a degree certificate and
that little else counts.