Random Thoughts on Theological Education

Seth Godin, an innovative thinker and marketeer gives a fresh perspective and reminds us what may be a problem with our pedagogy in Stop Stealing Dreams. He writes,

What is school for?

The economy has changed, probably forever.

School hasn't.

School was invented to create a constant stream of compliant factory workers to the growing businesses of the 1900s. It continues to do an excellent job at achieving this goal, but it's not a goal we need to achieve any longer.

In this 30,000 word manifesto, I imagine a different set of goals and start (I hope) a discussion about how we can reach them. One thing is certain: if we keep doing what we've been doing, we're going to keep getting what we've been getting.

Our kids are too important to sacrifice to the status quo.

Here, Godin questions the schooling instructional paradigm. It is interesting to note that while most disciplines (medicine, social sciences, humanities) have moved away from this paradigm whose main mode of pedagogy is the lecture, this seems to be the mainstay in theological education. There seems to be a lot of support for the lecture as the main mode of content transference. However there may be another agenda for the theological professors' support of lectures. Some professors have indicated in private discussions that their sole support for the lectures is that in preparing lectures help them in writing their books!

About the same time that Godin posted his 'manifesto', there is this interesting article in Christianity Today March 2012, The Missing Factor in Higher Education about whether 'secular universities' impart moral values. The implication by the author Perry L. Glanzer is that only evangelical Christian colleges do. While that is debatable as evangelical colleges become more and more like 'secular' colleges, Glanzer underscores his argument by stating:

Research shows that Christian, particularly evangelical, institutions demonstrate a marked moral difference in five areas: (1) faculty attitudes; (2) Bible, theology, and ethics in the curriculum; (3) measured or reported impact on character or moral attitudes; (4) students' moral reasoning; and (5) alumni views about moral education.

Is there a conflict in both views? If both authors are correct, then the implication to me is that theological education should be more than just the the pedagogy. Yes, I agree with Godin that the schooling paradigm as the main mode of pedagogy should be abandoned. But that is not the the whole answer to improving theological education. The key to theological education should not be only be content management but also role modeling by the teaching staff , the community ethos (culture) and relationships building in a Christian faith community.

.

How to Improve Pedagogy in Online Learning

This guest post is contributed by Paula Dierkins, who writes on the topic of PhD Degree Online . Paula can be reached at her email id: paula.dierkins@gmail.com

A good teacher can make all the difference between liking or hating a subject – there are times when you develop interest in a subject only because of the way it is taught just as there are times when you fare badly in another because it hasn’t been taught the way it should. Teachers influence us more than we realize, especially in our younger years. As we get older and become more independent, the ease with which we pick up a subject depends on how well it is explained or taught – some teachers are better at their job than others.
In the online learning environment, teachers are largely invisible. They are not physically present, just an almost anonymous entity behind the screen. This kind of pedagogical situation is challenging to say the least – you don’t know how well the information you’re passing on has been received and you cannot use facial expressions and gestures to convey your point or augment your words. Not many regular teachers opt for this kind of pedagogy because they’re not comfortable in this environment.

Teaching in the online environment involves more facilitation and guidance than actual teaching. The teacher is a resource whom the students use to understand their study material better and augment their existing knowledge. Pedagogy in online learning can be improved by:

•  Engaging student attention and interest through tasks and activities that enhance their learning and make it more effective
• Trying to make assignments and projects interesting and challenging by including practical application of theories learned – as opposed to rote memorization, this approach allows you to test how much students have understood from the material that is provided to them.
• Encouraging students to extend their sources of knowledge – for example, providing them access to informative and authentic websites could egg them on to supplement their knowledge and gain a better understanding of the subject.
• Allowing the learner to be more in control of the learning process.
• Designing courses that don’t just instruct but which also incite curiosity and a passion to discover more. 

Online learning is often perceived as less of teaching on the instructor’s part and more of self-learning on the student’s part, so any measure that allows the student to learn more capably will improve online pedagogy significantly.


picture source

Ken Robinson on Reimagining Education

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.


For more information on Sir Ken's work visit: http://www.sirkenrobinson.com

Also see my post here on a talk he gave for TEDS and my review on his book, The Element.

.

Book Review on The Element

This is an excellent 2009 book by Sir Ken Robinson on creativity, multiple intelligences and finding your passion which he defines as "the element". The element or our human potential is "where the things you love to do and the things you are good at come together (p.8). Based on numerous interviews conducted by Robinson and his co-author Lou Aronica, this book is both a collection of success stories of people who dropped out of the education system and made good, and a subtle critique of the inflexibility and ineffectiveness of the education system. However, the authors did not specific which education system as they drew examples from both side of the Pacific. They seem to be aiming at a generic education system. (see Sir Robinson's lecture in TEDS).

Similar in essence to Outliers: The Story of Success (2008) by Malcolm Gladwell, the authors however argue that a passion for success is a combination of being in the element; doing what you like to do in the area you are talented in. While this true in the people they have selected for interviews (usually those who were miserable in school and those who dropped out), there are however two other groups of people which was ignored in the book. The first other group is school dropouts who did not succeed as spectacularly as those mentioned. The implication is that they did not succeed because they did not find their elements. The second group is that those people who stuck through school, graduate, get a higher education and are now pillars of society (clerks, lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc). The implication is that these people have not found their elements and are now unhappy in their lives.

While I agree some of the principles of many of the things the authors espoused, I believed their arguments are too generalised and giving it a label (the Element) does not make it better. Like Gladwell did in Outliers, these specially chosen interview subjects are chosen specially to provide their theories. However, what was obvious from the people interviewed in both books are their determination and perseverance to achieve their dreams no matter the cost. The lesson I draw from them is the indomitable power of the human spirit.

.

Training of Generation Y

In an interesting article published in Medscape on Training the Physician and the Anesthesiologist of the Future by Alex Macario, MD, MBA the training program of anesthesiologists is presented.

Figure 1. Factors that influence the changing physician workforce.

However I am more interested in the way he discerns the different demographic of the various groups of people involved in the training. This has relevance not only in the training of physicians but also of other areas including theological education.

Figure 2. Recent generations by year of birth.

Alex Macario's study is focused on the United States but his characteristics of Generation Y is fascinating and will be useful for educators elsewhere in the world.

Table 1. Characteristics of the Millennial Generation

Largest generation of young people in the country's history, likely surpassing the aging baby boom generation (78 million)[3]

Economically, they may not be better off than their doting parents, especially after the 2008 worldwide financial crisis

The most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth in United States history: 60% (a record low) are white, 19% are Hispanic, 14% black, 4% Asian; and 3% are mixed race or other.[4] They are comfortable with heterogeneity in living arrangement or socioeconomic class

Team-oriented, banding together to socialize rather than pairing off, acting as each other's resources or peer mentors

Civic-minded with a desire to make a positive contribution to society and to the health of the planet[5]

Have been spurred to achievement and display a self-confidence that reflects their being raised in a child-centered world

Comfortable with Web communications, media, and digital technologies (eg, Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia)

Easier social communication through technology may explain the reputation of the millennial generation for being peer-oriented

Accelerating technologic change may create shorter generations, as young people just a few years apart have different experiences with technology[6]

Increased global exposure through the Web, leading students and residents in record numbers to seek international educational experiences

Many millennials (42% of women and 30% of men) talk to their parents every day and many are still financially dependent on their parents; this has led to a new acronym: KIPPERS (Kids in Parents' Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings).[7] As the skills required for certain jobs become more specialized, many young people return to school for professional degrees with the hope that this additional training will help them land a job. This creates more dependence on others, such as their parents, for financial support.

Education and training in the present have to be designed to factor in the demographic of the millennials if these programs are to be successful.

Worth thinking about.

.

Does Powerpoint have Power? A Response

My dear friend Rev Dr Tan Soo Inn recently asked this question in his weekly GRACEWORKSMAIL 29/10. Please read the whole ecommentary here. He mentions that he does not use powerpoint in his presentations but uses handouts. In support of his not using powerpoint, he mentions two heavy weights like Christopher Witt and John P. Kotter who allegedly do not use powerpoint and have their reasons for not doing so.

According to Witt, powerpoint is good in conveying information not in persuading, hog the audience's attention and takes time preparing. All these three reasons are true. But is that a strong enough defense against powerpoint usage? Preaching and teaching are forms of communication. In any form of communication, there must be some information exchange. Communication must engage the audience and the speaker's face (no matter how handsome) should not be limited to as the only area of focus, and while it is true that power point take time to prepare, it seems to me strange to be given as a reason against using it. In preparing a sermon or a talk, if we begrudge the amount of time preparing powerpoint compared to research and data collection, then we have missed the whole point of the process of successful communication.

Saying that, I agree with Soo Inn that it is the messenger, not the powerpoint. I will also hasten to add that it is also the message and the audience. Personally I do not differentiate Christian preaching and teaching into two categories. To me, all Christian preaching and teaching are evangelistic and for edification. There can be no separation between the two. It is the work of the communicator to distill the huge amount of raw data from his/her research to the core of the message to be delivered. Personally I have to rework all my sermons or teachings 3-4 times to par down the amount of information to the core or essential sermon or teaching statement I want to convey. Who I am, my communication skills and my powerpoint are the means to convey this core or essential statement.

As communicators, we need to study our audience. Gone are the days when they are able to sit through hours of sermons or lectures. It may still work with the older folks but the younger folks have a different way of communication, hence the new social media. In a post modern audience used to two seconds sound bites, visual and musical ques and multimedia presentations, instant response and feedback (via texting, twitter, MMS, mobile video), the challenge is for communicators to connect with them in an effective manner.

Thank you for this stimulating ecommentary. An addendum: as we learn homiletics to communicate, communicators especially Christian pastors must learn how to design appropriate and effective powerpoint slides!

picture source

Facebook as a Learning Management Tool

Technology is changing education. William Drummond explores using Facebook as a learning management tool and a panel explores the 21st century student. [12/2008]

Historical Perspective of Education in Malaysian Churches

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF EDUCATION IN CHURCHES IN MALAYSIA

General education in Malaysia is deeply influenced by the state schools system in Britain and the church Sunday school movement. The state schools in the British Isles, which adopted the schooling-instructional model, were developed in 1870s to efficiently train a workforce to be minimally literate for the industrial revolution. Australian educator Brian Hill calls this “schools for the industrial society” (1985, 42). The Sunday school movement was started earlier in the 1780s and was influential in teaching children how to read, write and numeracy skills as well as learning about the Christian faith. In the nineteenth century, after its formation the state schools began to take over the function of the Sunday schools in teaching the children in the 3 Rs (writing, reading, arithmetic). The Sunday schools gradually began to focus solely on religious education. However, following the state schools, they adopted the schooling model (Hill 1985, 46). During the nineteenth century, the schooling-instructional paradigm found its way into other formative areas of Christian faith communities and gradually became the mainstay of education in Christian faith communities.

read more

.

Ken Robinson on Schools kill Creativity

TEDTalk

Speakers Ken Robinson: Author/educator

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, a deep look at human creativity and education, was published in January 2009.

On Learning and the Rubbish Bin Test

Australian Educator Brian Hill writes,

Teachers spend much time measuring how much students have learnt, but that is probably the least important aspect. It is far more crucial how they learnt it, for this affects estimates of future potential for learning. Similarly why they learn it, what motivate them? This will affect their inclination to use this learning, and learn more, in the future. The rubbish bin test is relevant here. How many students consign their textbooks and projects to the bin as soon as they have taken their last exam on the subject?

.

Sharing Academic Knowledge Online

I am a firm believer that knowledge should be free. I am against the commercialization and institutionalization of knowledge and learning. And I believe that the Internet is the medium for sharing. Thus I am pleasantly surprised to read in TIME magazine, April 27, 2009 (Asia edition) about the steps taken by some people and institutions to share their knowledge free.

Logging On to the Ivy League

By Andrea Ford Thursday, Apr. 16, 2009

UC Berkeley biologist Marian Diamond, a legendary lecturer.

Kathrin Miller for TIME

Diamond is an esteemed neuroanatomist and one of the most admired professors at the University of California, Berkeley. It would be a privilege for anyone to sit in on her lectures. And, in fact, anyone can. Videos of her popular course are available free online, part of a growing movement by academic institutions worldwide to open their once exclusive halls to all who want to peek inside.

read more

Check out some of the resources here
YouTube EDU, Academic Earth , Free Online Courses from Great Universities, TED, Fora.tv, and iTunes University.

Random Musings on Teaching in Higher Education (3)

Team-Based Learning

A concept I picked up recently is Team-Based Learning (TBL). Though the facilitator mentioned it only once, I was so intrigued by the word that I ‘googled’ it. The results opened up a new dimension of the learning process to me. Team-based learning is different from small group learning, Problem-based learning (or its modified Patient-based learning), cooperative learning, and collaborative learning. Mooted by an idea by Larry Michaelsen, team-based learning has been picked up by many medical schools all over the world which includes the newly formed NUS-Duke Graduate Medical School in Singapore.

This is from the website, Team-Based Learning Collaborative

Team learning or team-based learning (TBL) is a well-defined instructional strategy developed by Dr. Larry K. Michaelsen that is now being used successfully in medical education.

The TBL method allows a single instructor to teach through conducting multiple small groups simultaneously in the same classroom.

Learners must actively participate in and out of class through preparation and group discussion. Class time is shifted away from learning facts and toward application and integration of information. The instructor retains control of content, and acts as both facilitator and content expert. The team learning method affords the opportunity for assessment of both individual and team performance.

As an instructional method, team learning consists of repeating sequences of 3 phases:

• In Phase 1, learners study independently outside of class to master identified objectives.
• In Phase 2, individual learners complete a multiple-choice exam to assure their readiness to apply Phase 1 knowledge. Groups of 6-7 learners then re-take this exam and turn in their consensus answers for immediate scoring and posting.
• In Phase 3, which may last several class periods, groups complete in-class assignments that promote collaboration, use of Phase 1 and 2 knowledge, and identification of learning deficiencies. At designated times, all groups simultaneously share their groups' answers with the entire class for easy comparison and immediate feedback. This stimulates an energetic total-class discussion with groups defending their answers and the teacher helping to consolidate learning.

TBL stresses the importance of a priori, out-of-class learning based on clear learning objectives. It emphasizes the importance of holding learners accountable for attending class prepared to participate, and provides guidelines for designing group learning tasks to maximize participation.

TBL emphasizes three keys to effective active learning:

1. Individual and group accountability
2. Need and opportunity for group interaction
3. Motivation to engage in give-and-take discussion. In medical education, team learning has been successfully used in preclinical, clinical, residency, fellowship, and CME venues and in interdisciplinary settings.
   

Resources About Team Learning

• Three Keys to Using Learning Groups Effectively
• Team Learning: Putting sTEAM into Learning Groups

• University of Oklahoma Team-Based Learning Website (link)
  This is the original site developed by Dr. Larry K. Michaelsen who developed team learning. The site is intended for educators in any grade level or settings. It includes a e-discussion board with many useful pointers submitted by faculty from their experiences with team learning.

This is another pedagogical tool for effective learning. I wonder whether it can be used for theological education?

Random Musings on Teaching In Higher Education (2)

Teaching Values in Higher Education

Recently I received an email about medicine with this equation

E² - evidence + experience = good medicine

I beg to differ from my learned colleague whom I respect very much. While the practice of medicine has improved with the introduction of evidence-based medicine, it is important to realize that evidence based-medicine is not the holy grail of medical standards. Even the highest level of meta-analysis has its limitation. It is just a statistical program which analyses data fed into it. It is important not to forget the old axiom: GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). Also not everything that is done in the practice of medicine is available in the evidence-based medicine databases.

Experience is a good teacher but repetition is not a proof of expertise or even of competence. A doctor may be repeating the same mistake repeatedly. However, not repeating mistakes and increased competence may be achieved by combining evidence with experience. I believe that there is still another component to the equation. This component is good character. Thus I will suggest that the equation should be

E²GC- evidence + experience + good character = good medicine

I believed that good medicine can only be practiced by a doctor with good character. I have seen surgeons who have excellent surgical skills who could not bother with whom they operated upon. “The operation was successful but the patient died” was their creed. I have seen doctors who treat their patients as objects- some problems to be solved and then move on. True care, concern and compassion can only come out of good character. Good characters are formed by good beliefs.

It is a fallacy in many institutions of higher learning that knowing will automatically lead to believing. For example, if we teach our students to be compassionate to their patients, they will automatically be compassionate because of their knowledge. Unfortunately this is not true.

Educator Emeritus Professor Brian Hill of Murdock University identifies in How Learners Respond to the Teaching of Beliefs and Values the three dimensions in how students respond to the teaching of values. These dimensions are the psychological dimensions of the cognitive, the emotional, and the volitional. While writing about teaching in schools, I believe his findings have implications in centers of higher learning. The possible response of a student to the teaching of a value X may be:

Cognitive

(1) I don’t get it. What do you mean by X?

2) Ah, I understand what you mean by X.

(3) I understand what you mean by X, but I don’t believe X is true.

(4) I accept your claim that X is true.

Emotional

1) Knowing X makes no difference to me.

(2) I have a bad feeling about X.

(3) I don’t feel I can leave up to X

(4) I have a good feel about X.

Volitional

(1) I’m not willing to attach value to X in my life-priorities.

(2) I’m willing, so far as I can, to attach value to X in my life-priorities.

(3) I’m prepared to prioritise X in my own life, but I don’t regard it as something everyone else should necessarily prioritise.

4) I’m prepared to prioritise X in my own life and, whenever appropriate, will commend its priority to others.

According to Hill, the cognitive plays a small role in the learning of values. The emotional dimension is more important and it is that dimension that influences the volitional in prioritizing its values. In the teaching of values, I agree with Hill that teachers have a tendency to use conditioning, coercion, indoctrination and persuasion as possible pedagogies.

Instead he suggests the following:

(1) I will model X in my own behaviour before students.

2) I will, where necessary for the common good, require students to behave in the classroom in a manner consistent with X.

(3) I will encourage maturing students to engage in critical examination of the grounds for and against prioritizing X in their lives.

4) I will represent to students that X, in my opinion, points to a defensible value by which to live, but I will respect and not penalize dissent.

Hill highlights that in the teaching of values, we need to be aware of the cognitive, emotional and volitional dimensions of learning. Our pedagogy must be based on these dimensions and should involve modeling, reflection and respect.

Reference:

Hill, Brian V., How Learners Respond to the Teaching of Beliefs and Values, Journal of Education and Christian Beliefs, 12:2 (2008) 101-113

Open Courseware Links

I love people who share their resources online FREE. Here is a wonderful list by Christian Colleges.


Top 100 Open Coursware Links on Theology and Philosophy

You don’t have to be enrolled in a college program to study theology, religious history and philosophy. Whether you want to learn more about your culture or understand how different religions and societies have evolved, this list of 100 open courseware links will help you consider theology and philosophy in a completely new way. For lectures and study materials on Darwin, Catholicism, Judaism, the Enlightenment and more, read more

.

Non-Western Educational Traditions

Timothy Reagan (2005), Non-Western Educational Traditions: Indigenous Approaches to Educational Thought and Practice, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc (3rd Edition)

An excellent book on non-Western educational philosophy and practice by Timothy Reagan of Roger Williams University, USA. There are not many books by a single author which deals with such a variety of educational traditions. The traditions dealt with includes (these are also chapter titles):

• "A wise child is talked to in proverbs": African
  
• " Training "Face and Heart": Aztec
• "Finding the True Meaning of Life": Indigenous Americans
• "Developing the Chun-tzu": Confucius and the Chinese
• "A intelligent man attends on a wise person" India
• "Familiar strangers": Rom (gypsies)
  
• "No gift is better than education" Islamic

Reagan writes well and it is an easy to read book. From his researches, Reagan has uncovered the rich non-Western educational heritage that is only recently being appreciated. Along with colonialism, Western educational philosophy especially the instructional-schooling paradigm has become the meta-narrative of the educational tradition, often destroying and replacing the indigenous traditions.

We in the non-Western world needs to recover our heritage or lose it forever.

.

Tapscott: Grown Up Digital

Don Tapscott (2009) Grown Up Digital : How the Net Generation is Changing Your World, (New York, NY: McGraw Hill)

This is a much anticipated book and I have been looking forward to reading it. Don Tapscott is Chairman of nGenera Innovation Network which is a research company and adjunct professor of management at the Joseph L. Rahman School of Management, University of Toronto. Tapscott is well respected for insightful comments in his books which include Wikinomics, Paradigm Shift, The Digital Economy and Growing Up Digital.

Grown Up Digital is a followup on Tapscott’s earlier 1997 work, Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation in which he clarified how different the present generation is from the previous ones because of the improvement in communication technology especially the Internet. Now a decade later, there are enough data to confirm his hypothesis.

This present book is based on the findings of a $4 million research project, “The Net Generation: A Strategic Investigation.” More than 10,000 people were interviewed in 2007 and at least 40 reports have been generated. From his findings a clearer picture of this Net generation is emerging.

Where there are many areas of interest touched upon in this book, almost all are based on the eight “norms’ characteristics of the Net generation. These may be summarised as:

1. They want freedom in everything they do, from freedom of choice to freedom of expression
2. They love to customize, personalize
3. They are the new scrutinizers
4. They look for corporate integrity and openness when deciding what to buy and where to work
5. They wants entertainment and play in their work, education, and social life
6. They are collaboration and relationship generation
7. The Net Gen has a need for speed
8. They are the innovators

Using these descriptive behavioural norms, Tapscott seeks to explain their effect on culture, work attitudes, markets, family, learning and education. The section on the need to adapt learning and education to these norms are especially helpful.

While Tappscott paints an overall positive picture of the Net Gen, it must be pointed out that he is dealing with a particular narrow segment of the North American privileged group of young people (and he seems to model heavily on his own children). It will be interesting to know about the characteristics of the Asian Net Gen or South American Net Gen. One also needs to take into account the digital divide in the Net Gen itself.

Together with the launch of the book, Tappscott has created a website, Grown Up Digital in which a new initiative Net Gen Educator Challenge was also launched. To visit the site, click here.

This is a good book to read about the younger generation and indispensible for educators. Highly recommended.

Endnote:

Four Generations: From 1946 to Present

1. The Baby Boom generation: January 1946 to December 1964 – 19 years

2. Generation X January 1965 to December 1976 – 12 years

3. The Net Generation: January 1977 to December 1997 – 21 years

4. Generation Next: January 1998 to present

Do You Have the Courage to Teach?

Home > Faith in the Workplace > Interviews

I have been personally touched by Parker Palmer's book, The Courage to Teach and, his other books and especially by his lecture, The Violence of Our Knowledge which challenged me to think about the way we teach and learn.

Interview with Parker Palmer, Part 1
Do You Have the Courage to Teach?
by Marcus Goodyear


Ten years after its first release, Parker Palmer is republishing his book of encouragement for teachers called The Courage to Teach. The book helped countless teachers and other professionals to recover meaning in their work lives, in the midst of troubled, sometimes toxic systems. Recently, TheHighCalling.org spoke to Mr. Palmer about helping teachers and other professionals reconnect with their vocations and reclaim their passion for work.

What advice do you have for public school educators who are trying to serve God in their daily work?

School educators are the subjects of intense public, media, and political criticism. They are often misunderstood, berated by larger society. Public education is hard-pressed by "No Child Left Behind." The motives behind the bill were to hold public education accountable to results, and to make sure all schools measured up, no matter how many disadvantaged children they serve. Unfortunately its major impact has been to get children to pass standardized tests. Teachers find themselves having to "teach to the test," which is very different than trying to educate the whole child to become a whole adult. Kids get factoids, rather than dealing with deeper educational tasks, with values, with relationships, with questions of character, ethics, and one's own vision for one's life. Education is in a world of trouble. Teachers need help to sustain their vocation. The Courage to Teach is aimed at nurturing the teacher's heart. If they bring their truest, best self, or as we Quakers say, "that of God and every person" to their work as educators, they will find courage to resist those things that deform education and ill-serve our children.

You have said, "Good teachers join self, subject and students in the fabric of life." How does a Christian do this in public schools without indirectly imposing their faith on their students?

In the early years of the American experiment, Quakers were persecuted, even hanged, on Boston Common by other Christians who were threatened by their beliefs.

So I don't have any romanticism for the good ol' days when someone's religious beliefs could dominate our public processes and public institutions. But I also have very little patience with a system of education that ignores the questions of meaning, purpose, and value. I don't want to go back to Boston Common, but at the same time I want to open public education to the profound questions of meaning that young people have in our times. I think in a public school classroom, it's possible to help young people with questions, meaning, purpose, who they are and why they are here on earth without ever sending a child home saying to Jewish parents, or Muslim parents, or atheist parents, "Mom and Dad, this teacher is trying to turn me into something else." We owe children a gracious, open exploration of these questions, and adult companionship, without trying to engage in the sort of proselytizing that crosses the church/state barrier in inappropriate and destructive ways.

What is dangerous about proselytizing?

As a Christian, who grew up Methodist, I was deeply influenced by the scripture in 2 Corinthians that says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us." I think those earthen vessels include our language, and theological formulations. I think the mystery of God, and the mystery of God in Christ is so vast. It's idolatrous to claim that my church is the one who has been able to boil that down into a right set of words that everyone must agree with.

You've said, "The sense of self is very closely tied to what people do." How does one bring identity into a profession, without losing oneself to that profession?

You're asking, "How do we live open-heartedly in the world without having our hearts broken?" At 68, I have come to a simple conclusion: I have a choice to make.

Either I live with my heart open, investing in my work and taking the risks that come when the expression of my own truth might get me crosswise with people. Or I exist in my work and in the world in a closed-hearted way. To me this choice is a no brainer, because to be in the world in a closed-hearted way is to risk a kind of spiritual death, a death of integrity really. As Thomas Merton said, most of us live lives of self-impersonation. To be in the world as an impersonator of yourself, when selfhood is your birthright gift from God, is an insult to your Creator and certainly a diminishment of yourself. I have learned to choose to be in the world in an open-hearted way, because pain itself is a sign that I'm alive. Being open-hearted is my only chance at the joy that life can bring.

So why is living with integrity so difficult for us?

Our work institutions compromise the integrity of their mission. Public schools try to win favor under "No Child Left Behind." Some HMOs and even hospitals are more interested in the bottom line, rather than the well-being of the patient. In these examples, the personal integrity of teachers or physicians become threatening to the institutions in which they work. When personal integrity threatens institutions, the Jesus story happens all over again. He was crucified, because his integrity got him crosswise with the major institutions of his time, with the arrangements of power. The Christian story has moments that contain a penetrating, sad, and sometimes depressing description of reality. But ultimately, the Christian story is hopeful. We can stand in the midst of a death dealing reality, open-hearted, bringing new life, taking the risk of threatening the hard-heartedness of institutions.

In this new life that comes from being open-hearted, what is the relationship between renewal and courage?

A powerful book in my life is by a Guatemalan poet named Julia Esquivel. A political refugee in Guatemala, she was forced into exile. For simply trying to help her grade school students survive, she got on the wrong side of an oppressive regime. Esquivel wrote a book of poetry, Threatened with Resurrection. When I first saw that title, it just turned me upside down. I was raised in a church that said, "Death was the big threat and resurrection was the great hope." But here was a woman of great courage and integrity saying, "Sometimes a living death is more comfortable than being truly resurrected, which is a threat." She means if you can tamp down your feelings, get your heart in a box, and not get crosswise with anything that's wrong around you, maybe they will not see you. Maybe they will ignore you and let you live your little private life. But if you embrace resurrection and new life, God knows what you might be called to. The teachers who suddenly understand their calling is not to satisfy the people who make the tests but to serve the children, these teachers need resurrection or renewal. They need the courage to act on what their hearts say. The doctors who remember they have taken a hippocratic oath and say to themselves, as one physician said to me a while back, "You know I work in an HMO, which has me right on the edge of violating my hippocratic oath three or four times a week." That's a person who will need courage to act on his renewal of heart.

When we start connecting and bringing our identity to work, suddenly there's a tremendous pressure to avoid failure, because our egos may be tied to our performance. How do we reconcile that?

I think ego is strongest when we are not in touch with our own identity as children of God. My ego, or false identity, is the piece that tells me that I'm something special, that I'm not anybody's child, that I'm the leader of the pack. That's the piece of me that doesn't want to fail. The failures I've experienced and the pain brought as a result were because I was working heavily out of ego. When one works out of ego, the aim is not to serve your patients or your children. Instead it becomes about winning, looking good, and not being deprived of one's perks. Identity and integrity rightly understood are the antidote to ego.

It's baffling and troubling to me that there is this Christian cult of success that I actually think is very ego driven. So many Christians have embraced this cult of success.

So by contemporary standards, you're saying that resurrection isn't a success story?

If you read it as a success story by contemporary standards, you're distorting the fact that Jesus did none of the things that contemporary success cult members tell us that we can do by believing in him. Jesus opened himself to shared suffering with the poorest and the most oppressed. The right belief will not make my bank account bigger, my reputation brighter, and all things well.

Inner and spiritual renewal doesn't reduce our stress or get us comfy with life.

For me, the most powerful meaning of the cross and of Jesus' life is God's willingness to suffer with us, to bring redemption and meaning out of that suffering, with a sense of purpose.

Are we called to suffer or to be renewed?

We Quakers have a saying that renewal is about getting in touch with "that of God within me." When people do this, they hear more clearly their calling. And they recognize their need for courage to walk this path to which they've been called.

read more

© 2001 - 2008 H. E. Butt Foundation. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Laity Lodge and TheHighCalling.org.

The Future of Education

The excellent report THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION by Thomas Frey is the result of a study done by the DaVinci Institute.

The pace of change mandates that we produce a faster, smarter, better grade of human being. Current systems are preventing that from happening. Future education systems will be unleashed with the advent of a standardized rapid courseware-builder and a single-point global distribution system.

Information is growing at exponential rates, and our ability to convert that information into useful knowledge and skills is being hampered by the lack of courseware. We refer to this phenomenon as a courseware vacuum. The primary reason we lack courseware is because we haven’t developed a quick and easy system for creating it.

Once a rapid courseware-builder has been created, and the general marketplace has put its stamp of approval on it, a series of standards will be developed.

With tools for producing courseware becoming widely available, people around the world will begin creating it, and we will see a courseware explosion similar to the dramatic rise of content on YouTube and iTunes.

As part of the rapidly developing courseware movement we will see education transition from:

• Teacher-centric to learning-centric
• Classroom-based teaching to anyplace, anytime learning
• Mandated courses to hyper-individualized learning
• A general population of consumers to a growing population of producers

Learning will become hyper-individualized with students learning what they want to learn, when they want to learn it. Most of today’s existing learning impediments will eventually go away.

As a result of this shift we will begin to see dramatic changes in society. The speed of learning will increase tenfold because of a combination of the following factors:

• Confidence-based learning will significantly increase learning speed and comprehension
• Learning what we want, when we want - shifting away from a prescribed course agenda to one that is hyper-individualized, self-selected, and scheduled whenever a student wishes to take it will dramatically change levels of motivation
• Technology improvements over time will continually improve the speed and comprehension of learning

The speed of learning will increase tenfold, and it is possible that the equivalent of our current K-12 education system will be compressed into as little as one year’s worth of learning.

In the future, we predict students entering the workforce will be ten times smarter than they are today.

read about THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION