Learning for learning's sake - aka the sake of glorifying God

Alright, this blog post will be rather technical, as I have a complicated prompt to respond to.

I’ve been asked to look over some “alternative” methods of education from Evergreen State University (WA), Berea College (WA), Green College (VT), St. Johns (MD and NM), and Experimental College of Haverford (PA) and answer a few questions. I think it would be rather hard to answer for ALL of these, so I’ve chosedn to focus on two of my favorites: St. Johns and ExCo of Haverford.

How does the program or college differ from JBU?

St. Johns: There is one curriculum that all students take, not specific majors. Learning based on reading the classic literature of the western world in many liberal arts topics with no textbooks or lectures, just discussion of the texts themselves.

ExCo: Classes taught by anyone (from the university) willing to teach to anyone (from the university) willing to learn about any (legal) subject they want. No academic credit is given and teachers are not paid – focused on learning for learning’s sake, for those who are interested.

What's the aim of their education and how does it vary from JBU's aim?

St. Johns: To provide a wide spread education based on the liberal arts basec on self-education through reading and discussion. – A lot like JBU but with less textbooks and specified learning.

ExCo: To create a place for creative methods of learning to be tested and to allow people to come together in the joy of studying a topic that interests them and teaching others about it. – JBU is more about building the foundations for a strong career and adult life, providing college credit and more structured learning.

How would you do in this program? In other words, how would this system help you develop your gifts, passions, and calling?

St. Johns: This is actually a LOT like my high school. We did basically the same thing (except for math and science) by going through relatively chronologically and reading the primary texts of the ages and discussing them. I think I would really like St. Johns, but it DOES sound like a lot of work.

ExCo: I think I would absolutely love this, and I would not only attend many classes but try and teach my own once I got a good feel for them. Learning for learning’s sake and getting together to formally study things simply because you find them interesting sounds AMAZING.

Should we try to adopt the educational approaches here at JBU? Why or why not?

St. Johns: I like this school, but I also understand why John Brown does what it does. I think it would be very hard to integrate such ideas with what JBU already has without re-making everything. However, I think that discussion-based classes primarily taught by the reading of these classic texts would be GREAT. I don’t like textbooks and I love discussion.

ExCo: YES. This would be AWESOME if a student or anyone could just say “Hey, I want to teach a class on ______” and JBU say “Awesome! You go do that. We’ll help you find a room, you contact the other students.” I’m not sure how hard it would be to do at the moment, but if classes like this were the norm here at JBU I would be very VERY happy. I would love that.

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I myself often get quite fed-up with the typical traditional college education, as I feel they are often too focused on getting a major and getting a job, and not enough on LEARNING. I really love both St. John and ExCo’s emphasis on learning for the sake of learning, as I think it is very important. It glorifies God, for one, because it is a way in which we exemplify our being made in His image and exploring His world in the interests that He has given us... and it is FUN!

Questions: If you were to teach a class on ANY subject you wanted, would you? Why/Why not? What would it be on? Also (this is a reference more to my quick reading for the other schools I did not focus on) is the use of grading important? If not, why do we put so much emphasis on them? Is practical experience important?  if so, why do we not put  more emphasis on it? Is having a specific “major” or specified field of study important, or should we try even more to stress the importance of all subjects and a broad spectrum of learning?

Kel

Throughts from a very encouraging tree

Ok, so I didn’t want to start out every post by sharing my prompt, but this time I once again feel the need to do so, so that I may give proper commentary. Here it is (it’s long!):

Last time I had you go outside and be with yourself for a little while. Well, this time is going to require some action as well. This time I want you to go outside again (maybe you’re already outside...if that is the case..that’s great!); however, instead of spending time with yourself, I want you to spend time with others. Go to the quad and sit with a group of people you don’t know, or go to the park and talk to someone you don’t know. Maybe they’re playing volleyball––ask to join in. Maybe they’re playing basketball––ask to join in. Maybe there are kids playing with their imaginations––play with them, laugh with them. Take some time to be with other people. Allow your story to interact with theirs. Do this for as long as you want. I know it is uncomfortable, but life isn’t comfortable––good ole’ Donald says the same thing over and over again in the book. GO! and be with others. Listen to them, talk to them, see them, let them see you. It’s awkward, yes, but it is the story of humanity. I’m a very naturally shy person, honestly, but what is the worst that can happen to you? Someone says, “No, you can’t play with us.” That’s fine. Just say ok and go along your way. Someone looks at you and laughs at you––does that really define who you are? 

After doing that––I want you to write about it. What were your fears as you interacted with others? What were you thinking about? How did you listen? Write about being with other people––especially being with other people without an agenda. Just write at what your heart is telling you. Be honest, be raw. Be you and just write.

I’d like to start out by saying that I did NOT want to do this prompt. I began work by finishing my reading of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and to tell the truth I was rather depressed. Depressed because of the truth of Donald Miller’s commentary on our apathetic lives. Because I saw the “bad stories” he talked of in me, and even though I read his inspiring story of “writing a better story”, I couldn’t help think, “Well, that’s great for him, but not me…” and wondering if I could ever change.

I think the passage that got me the most was this: “I didn’t want to get well, because if I got well, nobody would come and save me anymore.” I think that this is an amazing truth. The whole world is looking for a savior; as Miller says, “It’s written in the fabric of our DNA that life used to be beautiful and now it isn’t, and if only we had this and if only that, it would be beautiful again.” Even as Christians, we look for saviors, and in some way forget the fact that we are ALREADY saved. But I digress…

Like I said, I did NOT want to do this prompt. Miller’s book may have been meant to encourage people into action, but for me it literally made me want to cry. Because I’m not like him. I couldn’t do that. And to tell the truth, 90% of my being doesn’t even want to try. Most of me wants to be lazy old me, who sits around and does nothing in particular, and is self-centered and absent-minded; who claims to want adventure, yet never goes looking for it. The girl who cries herself to sleep wondering if God Himself could ever change stubborn-hearted, sadly-indifferent, hypocritical me. Because it’s one thing to hear about great stories: I hear about so many great stories, about normal people doing great things for God. But those stories aren’t about ME, and I feel like I could never in my wildest dreams, never in a million billion lifetimes, live up to anything like that. Because if I ever got the chance, I wouldn’t take it. And if I did, I would fail. Sometimes I feel like the wimpiest person on the planet: I live SUCH a blessed life, yet all I do is complain and pity myself. I’m not sure this springs from a lack of faith in God, but a lack of faith in me. Or at least that’s what I tell myself…

Anyway, to cut this long ramble short, I realized the point of this prompt was exactly what I was feeling: I felt that I never did anything active in my life, so this prompt was telling me to do so. So, very reluctantly, I did. Here’s the story:

I left Walker dorm as the sun was just beginning to set and walked towards the quad. There was a group sitting by the trees who I pointed myself towards, but before I got there I heard laugher. What was strange about the laughter was that it was not coming from the same level I was on – in fact it was soon clear that the laughter was coming from a nearby tree. So I turned from by intended path and went to the base of the tree. I asked if I might join them and the two people I saw near the top waved down and bid me come up. I knew both of them vaguely, I had at least talked to them once or twice as a friend-of-a-friend.  I then heard a “Hi!” From a more familiar voice the very top of the tree. Apparently our mutual friend had climbed to the absolute highest point of the tree, and the others were laughing and telling him to get down before he fell down. Anyway, I began my ascent with some trouble, as I had worn my smooth shoes, which provided no traction to speak of. After a few tried and much encouragement, I hoisted myself up onto the lowest branch and began my climb.

I must say now that I am not at all confident in trees. Nor am I very comfortable with heights. I’d like to be good at it, but instead I normally just get nervous and sweaty-palmed and shaky. Nevertheless, I climbed higher and higher until I was near the top with them. I expressed my doubts about my climbing ability and my shoes, and they said I was a fine climber, and that they were all barefoot for the same reasons. I took off my shoes and socks with one hand and tossed them to the ground far below. And we sat climbing and monkeying and maneuvering around the branches of this wonderful and tall tree, and watching the sun set beautifully above the Library building – which we could see over the top of.

I felt somehow accomplished, yet at the same time like nothing special. It was that sort of subtle accomplishment when you are proud of yourself for living up to what you knew you could do, and what so many others had done easily. I didn’t feel uncomfortable in that tree at all, perhaps because of my company, for they were all agile and very encouraging.

In a little while another friend of theirs came and we encouraged her to join us. She was very hesitant and quite frightened to be in the tree but me and one of the guys there encouraged her and helped her get around. It felt good to be the encourager, not just the encouraged – the helper, and not just the one that needed helping. I told her that I myself was quite scared of heights and trees, but that I was fine, and she would be too. After helping her get around a bit, we all decided that it was dinner time and went to eat together. I met a few more of their friends and we talked for a while before getting ice cream and parting company.

I may not have fulfilled this prompt perfectly, as several of the people I went and found were people I at leads vaguely knew – one of them a friend from before JBU. But the point is I went out and found them. I did something. Which is more than I can normally say.

I ‘m not sure if this calms any of my self-doubts or makes me think that I’m on the way to change, but all the same, I am very happy I followed through with this prompt, no matter how much I didn’t want to.

I apologize for the incohesiveness of this post and the long and cumbersome story I just related. But my basic conclusion is this: It’s not as hard as I think it is to go out and DO things. Not only that, but I CAN do it. And I know that sounds like the wimpiest conclusion you’ve ever heard, but to tell the truth it’s something I needed to be reminded of.

If I may turn back to Miller’s book now: I like what he said about living more active and meaningful stories, but to tell the truth, I still think he may have the wrong emphasis. It is much more important, I think, to live a GOOD life, according to God’s morals, that it is to live an active one. I think God wants us to be active, but we must be sure that it is the right kind of action. Nevertheless, it was a great reminder that God does not call us to apathy – something I often fall into in favor of my merely theoretical and philosophical focus.

In short: I hope to be climbing trees and watching sunsets and meeting friends a lot more often that I have. I hope you do too!

Kel

Amazed by Amazement and In Search of a Dream

I have to begin this post by telling you all my prompt, as some comments I am going to make address it particularly. It’s rather long, but here it is:

Before you write your response, I want you to do something. I want you to go outside. I’m not going to say for how long, because this isn’t something to check-off your list. I want you to go outside and just be for a little while. Be. Listen. Be. For this activity, I don’t want you to be with anyone. Be by yourself for a little while. Really allow yourself to BE with yourself (this may sound odd..but seriously, I want you to do this). And as you sit with yourself, I want you to ask yourself this question:

What is my dream? What is that one thing that makes me feel most alive––the most alive that I have ever been?

And I want you to be real honest with yourself. Don’t listen to the voices in your head..don’t listen to the pressure you feel from either yourself, your parents, your friends, or any other source. I want you to listen to your heart. To truly listen to your heart. And then after you have spent time with yourself...I want you to go back inside and write. Write about it. Write about your dreams, your fears. Write about whatever tugs at your heartstrings. Just write.

Alright, I fist must bring a small complaint: I really hate the phrase “Listen to your heart”. I like where this prompt is coming from, but really, shouldn’t we re-phrase this a little? In spending time “by yourself” are you not spending time alone in the company of God? In “listening to your heart” wouldn’t you be better off listening to the God of the universe, as opposed to this sick, mortal, “Deceitful and desperately wicked” organ of human flesh? Alright, complaint over. Now on to the soul-searching that this post calls for.

I loved the main question of this: What is your dream? What is one thing that makes you feel most alive – the most alive you have ever been? What a brilliant question. It is all at once the hardest and easiest query one will ever encounter; the question that everyone spends their entire life searching to answer, yet when they discover it, it is the most natural of replies, and we realize that it could never be any other answer than the one we’ve found.

All the same, I’m only 18 years into this journey of a lifetime, and though I hope and know that there is one sure answer that I shall one day find, I am hesitant to answer for fear that my answer will fall short or change. However answer I must, and not only because it’s my prompt: Because it is a question worth answering, and one that indeed needs to be answered, the sooner the better. So let’s get on with it. What makes me feel alive?

After thinking on this for some time, I’ve come to a few conclusions: the first is simple: Being amazed.  I know it is probably a universal aspect of human nature, but that makes it no less valid. I feel the most alive when I stand amazed at the realization of God’s truth. I love searching out the deepest implications of His truth, and simply standing amazed at His incomprehensible nature and character and creation. I also really love sharing this amazement with others. I love saying “Have you ever wondered…?” “Have you ever noticed…?” “Isn’t is amazing that…?” I just love it. I love learning about things I love, and I lover pondering deep questions and their implications. In particular, I love discovering the implications of the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of the relationship between God and man. Man is such an amazing creature, and I find one of his most amazing aspects is his ability to be amazed. Above all this aspect proclaims God’s greatness and how amazing HE is! I love it. God didn’t have to make us this way, but He chose to. The whole world is like that. Every time I learn something new or am amazed by something I remember that God did not have to make the world as He did, but He chose to, and He called it “very good”. I think when we get to heaven, we will live in a constant state of amazement, in the best way possible. The kind of amazement that, instead of making us incapable of responding, makes us incapable of doing anything else. The kind that makes us more alive than we have ever been.

My other conclusion is more puzzling and is in response to the first question: What is your dream? The answer, in short, is “I don’t know.” And in length is “I don’t know if I know.” You see, as I said before, I am rather hesitant to claim any one dream in this moment, as I don’t want to shut any doors that may look more to my liking later (In other words: I am the most indecisive person on the planet. My family can testify to this). I don’t know that I have a dream right now. My dream is to continue my college education, and to discover what God wants me to do both in that and afterwards. Perhaps this is just me being scared of commitment or just scared of life in general. I can admit to that. But right now, I don’t know what the practical form of what makes me feel alive would be. I’ve told you what I like, I need someone to tell me how to use it.

These questions made me think up a few more to follow them. First, as opposed to your dream: What is your fear? In other words: What is stopping you? In what way can you entrust this to God and live by faith in Him? And other question that pertains more to what I have already said here: As opposed to listening to our hearts, how can we know God’s voice when He speaks? How do we know what our dream is or should be? What if we don’t have one? Are we not listening to God when He speaks, or has He simply told us to wait a while, and He will show us in due course? How can we know?

Kel

P.S. Some of these questions may not have straight answers, but a lot of the best questions end up being frustrating like that. Here is one universal answer to finish on: Prayer. In response to my latter question, personal time spent with God in prayer and in His word may be our best help to finding answers. As to my former set of questions, I’d like to share a prayer that you may have heard before, but it’s worth repeating. I had heard this some time ago, but was reminded of it the other day by one of the amazing professors here at JBU, and I have been reading it in the morning before I go off to my workstudy (and today before my Old Testament Survey exam!). Perhaps you can think on it as you go out and "be" with yourself and with God, as I encourage everyone to. It's a beautiful day, for it is one that the Lord has made and granted that we might live to see it. It's a beautiful world, for it is one that the Lord has made and granted that we might live in it. Go enjoy the time and place you've been given! And think on this prayer:

The Prayer of Saint Patrick:

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.
May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.
May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen