My son has been having some difficulty with math. Maybe I need to become a rapper in order to help him with it…
Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the things you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. It is the first lesson that ought to be learned.
Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
When I was doing corporate training it was common for us to keep a bag of candy close by to throw at trainees from time to time.
“Good answer. Have a Hershey’s Kiss.” Toss, catch, unwrap, eat. It broke any monotony and kept trainees on their toes.
I have been thinking about how I can implement a similar training/educational scenario for the students in the college classes I teach. My classes are rather large with 60-75 students so I think I am going to have to modify my approach. Rather than a sack of candy, I think I am going to invest in a paintball gun.
“Smith, John Q., what did Aristotle have to say about Plato’s metaphysical dualism?”
The room grows silent as student Smith, John Q. considers his response. His pause extends a little too long. It is apparent that he has not read pages 66-87 of A.H. Armstrong’s An Introduction To Ancient Philosophy. So, I deftly reach into my briefcase, pull my new 08 Spyder MR2 to my shoulder, and squeeze the trigger.
Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! Three paintballs slap into the chest of student Smith, John Q. The monotony is broken, and there is plenty of incentive for students to do their assigned reading prior to the next class session.
Pedagogy at its best!
I read with interest the Christianity Today interview with the new president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Dennis Hollinger. There was one particular response which caused me to raise my eyebrows. When asked about inerrancy at Gordon-Conwell, Hollinger completely avoided the question by talking about proper interpretive practice. When someone avoids a question such as this they need to be pressed on it further. There is no one of any theological stripe that would disagree with what Hollinger said about understanding the genre of revelation, so why say it? I have to wonder what he is hiding? I don’t want to be suspicious, but his answer with a non-answer approach makes me wonder.
Here is the question and answer. Am I reading too much into this?
As a pastor, as a seminary professor, as a leader in a variety of positions, I have tried to be transparent and honest about the doubts, questions and uncertainties which are part of my faith. Having spent decades living according to this philosophy of ministry, I am not sure that it is the best approach.
As I was teaching this semester there were three specific issues about which I pointed out the various positions that theologians take and admitted to being uncertain as to which was the correct position. The results were that one student accused me of being uninformed, one of being a postmodernist, and one of denying the sufficiency of Scripture. The truth of the matter is that I was much more informed than the authority quoted by the first student, that I am about as far from being a postmodernist as they come, and I am a champion of the belief in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.
Those are just three examples of many that I could offer in which I have observed how honesty and transparency has resulted in diminished ability to lead. It seems that parishioners and students want leaders with answers only, NOT QUESTIONS.
In the small booklet What Is Truth, Ravi Zacharias shares the following story;
I was at an airport looking for my departure gate, and I noticed that the flight listed was to another city. So I asked a passenger if that flight was headed to Atlanta or elsewhere. She promptly answered my question and told me the notation was wrong. As I thanked her and turned to find a seat, she said, “Are you Ravi Zacharias?” I answered yes. Then came this utterly surprising response: “I listen to you on the radio regularly. I didn’t know you had questions as well.” I laughed at her compliment and assured her that I had several questions, especially if I want to get to the right destination.
There are so many answers out there and a question to every answer. To ask them is to engage with information. To ask questions about life’s ultimate questions is to be in the pursuit of God.
I would be interested in hearing some of your stories in which you, like Paul, have been honest in presenting yourself as one who has not yet arrived, yet maintained your leadership influence. Anyone?
Charles Darwin evidently didn’t like the evolution of the book industry. It is said that when he acquired a book that he would rip the covers off and put the loose pages in a box, because the pages were easier to turn and access that way. Hmmm… he must have longed for the good ol’ days when writing was committed to scrolls.
I am confused. Should not the ideology behind liberalism promote free expression? Yet, it would seem that on most college campuses free expression of ideas is only free for those who agree with the dominant liberal culture. Whether in the area of poli-sci, the hard sciences, or journalism it is simply not acceptable to openly express conservative ideas.
In Letters To A Young Conservative
, Dinesh D’Souza shares what happened when he was invited to a university to speak. He arrived to find protesters with bullhorns and placards surrounding the auditorium making it impossible to enter without the assistance of security. The protesters then proceeded to follow him into the auditorium where they did everything possible to keep him from sharing his thoughts with those assembled.
Undoubtedly the high point of the evening occurred near the end of my talk when the large, disheveled woman came rolling up the aisle shouting, “We don’t need a debate! Stop this man from speaking! My usual strategy in such circumstances is to try to calm the protester down and engage in a discussion, but this time there was no point. Finally, the woman was dragged from the room by the campus police. On her way out she yelled, “I am being censored! I am being censored!
It is amazing to me that so many of those who invoke the first amendment to justify their own right to freedom of expression, are often the same people who will do everything possible to keep others from expressing ideas contrary to their own. Maybe what we need most on our college campuses are courses in critical thinking.
“Professors aren’t being fired because they support intelligent design, they are being fired for lots of other reasons and then they have to justify their firing to other people and say it was because they advocated ID, rather than admit they were in some other way inadequate.”
That is what I was recently told by a cheeky fellow who was trying to cast an aura of confidence and disdain.
I have never met Ralph Wood, but I would like to. He is Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University. Theology and Literature — having taught both of them myself I resonate a great deal with the essays, collections, and resources on his website.
I think that he and I would probably have some significant differences in theology, but I think that would make having tea with him just that much more interesting.
I plan on interacting with some of his ideas here on my blog in the near future, but for now I leave you with a point drawn from a presentation he made at Baylor University on March 27, 2003 at the Some Marks of Excellence in Teaching Leadership Development Seminar.
Why good teachers are gladly and deliberately confessional
a. Because all great texts and works and ideas are out to win us over, to convert us
b. Because of the Christian conviction that there is no full understanding without first believing: Credo ut intelligam: “I believe in order to understand” (St. Augustine, via Isaiah 7:9 Septuagint). Since all truth is rooted in the triune God, it is encountered only as God himself is encountered: in trust and obedience and reverence.
I believe in training. I should,– I have spent most of my life in some kind of training position. A decade as corporate trainer, teaching and mentoring in a variety of church positions, teaching in a university and in a couple of seminaries, and of course parenting. Training has been an integral part of my life. As a result, anything training related catches my attention.
Associated Training Services (ATS), America’s oldest and largest heavy equipment operator training school is now offering a free online training program. There is no obligation and no money required for you to participate in this online training program offered exclusively by ATS. FREE catches my attention even more quickly than does training.
If you have been thinking about training with one of the heavy equipment operator schools then you will want to take a look at this program. Did I mention it was FREE?
Backhoes, Wheel Loaders, Dump Trucks, Bulldozers, Scrapers, Excavators, Motor Graders — they are all covered in the free online training course. According to the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) there is going to be a growing need for skilled workers with training to operate heavy equipment. The national infrastructure is aging and America’s highways and bridges are going to demand updating. And, employment is expected to increase as population and business growth create a need for new houses, industrial facilities, schools, hospitals, offices, and other structures. If TRAINING or FREE catches your attention, then check out the Associated Training Services Network.
