Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Passing Grade or Actual Mastery?
It's that time of year again - students are starting classes, most have been there for a week or two and the great drop/add is on-going. I am always amazed at that phenomena - students radically changing class schedules just after they get the syllabus. Though often not spoken, the reason is usually, "Woah, that's a bit more than I bargained for."
I find there are two kinds of students in the world, those that seek to get through a class, and school, and those that actually seek to master the material. The former is quite common and the later exceedingly rare. Sometimes I wonder if that is what Jesus was talking about in that parable He finished with
In the academic world, particularly in smaller schools there is a way to tenure besides "publish or perish" - it's have popular classes, and popular classes are usually easy classes. How fondly I remember my college Russian - "If you get A'ssss in 'pyochemistry' how can I give you less that 'Bp' in Rrrrussian?" (Sorry, that's as close as I can approximate the Estonian accent in writing.) I answered half the final in German and along came the B. My prof figured out how to keep his teaching gig - there was a language requirement and he designed his class to appeal to those of us that really hate languages, but still need to fulfill the requirement without mortal harm to the ol' GPA.
I wonder if we don't do that with church. We become so concerned about trying to get everbody to fulfill the "requirement" that we neglect making sure "the students" actually learn anything. But worse, given the scriptural quotes above, I wonder if the consequences of that are not a bit more extreme than the crib course in college. I wonder if those "B's" we pass out really will be interprested as passing grades. Worse, I wonder if we'll get to keep our jobs in light of that fact?
Another utterance of Christ comes to mind
Related Tags: mastery, passing grade, teaching, depth, Christianity, church, faith
I find there are two kinds of students in the world, those that seek to get through a class, and school, and those that actually seek to master the material. The former is quite common and the later exceedingly rare. Sometimes I wonder if that is what Jesus was talking about in that parable He finished with
Matt 22:14 - "For many are called, but few are chosen."This sort of self-sorting process has been the case with education and with the church for a long time. After all, Jesus also said
Matt 7:21 - Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.I am not prepared to decide who is who, but I do wonder if that does not say something about how we are supposed to do church.
In the academic world, particularly in smaller schools there is a way to tenure besides "publish or perish" - it's have popular classes, and popular classes are usually easy classes. How fondly I remember my college Russian - "If you get A'ssss in 'pyochemistry' how can I give you less that 'Bp' in Rrrrussian?" (Sorry, that's as close as I can approximate the Estonian accent in writing.) I answered half the final in German and along came the B. My prof figured out how to keep his teaching gig - there was a language requirement and he designed his class to appeal to those of us that really hate languages, but still need to fulfill the requirement without mortal harm to the ol' GPA.
I wonder if we don't do that with church. We become so concerned about trying to get everbody to fulfill the "requirement" that we neglect making sure "the students" actually learn anything. But worse, given the scriptural quotes above, I wonder if the consequences of that are not a bit more extreme than the crib course in college. I wonder if those "B's" we pass out really will be interprested as passing grades. Worse, I wonder if we'll get to keep our jobs in light of that fact?
Another utterance of Christ comes to mind
Luke 9:23 - And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.That sounds to me like we have to master the subject, not just get a passing grade. Maybe it's time to buckle down a bit.
Related Tags: mastery, passing grade, teaching, depth, Christianity, church, faith
