We can all appreciate that homeostatic forces are powerful dynamics in systems, from family to governments. Homeostatic force has at least two characteristics: (1) its force comes as a multigenerational tidal wave, and therefore difficult to resist, and (2) like a tidal wave, it is an unthinking force. Meaning, you can’t reason with it.
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As I was throwing out some old files and materials (New Year’s Resolution no. 7, still working on it) I came across the results of a survey we conducted through Educational Consultants over a decade ago for a large local church. The comprehensive survey yielded a list of thirty-four distinct program “goals” educational leaders wanted to focus on. Needless to say, when you get that many distinct goals on a wish list it’s a sure sign of organizational fragmentation.
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Throwing out some old files and materials (New Year’s Resolution no. 7) I stumbled across an old final exam from a course I offered over two decades ago when I was teaching adjunctively. Reviewing the course material I was struck at how clunky the course was. Whoever let me loose on those poor graduate students during those years will be doing hard time in Purgatory. Being young and foolish is one thing; young, foolish, and passionate is a deadly combination. It seems I had yet a lot to learn about pedagogy and course design.
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Quick quiz: What philosopher said, “To think is easy, to act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult of all.”?
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A couple of days I received that phone call I enjoy so much. It goes like this:
Caller: “Hello, Dr. G? You probably don’t remember me, I was a student at the seminary a couple of years ago and never took a class with you. Now I’m in a church in an education staff position and . . . “
Me: “So, how’s that working out for you?”
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I’ve been reviewing video presentations for a project. Primarily I screen them for delivery rather than content. It’s amazing how many basic rules of good communication presenters break—consistently—even professional speakers and celebrated “master teachers.” The other side of the equation that puzzles me is the level of tolerance audiences seem to have for poor presentations. I wonder sometimes if we’ve seen so few well-delivered presentations that we’ve lowered our expectations, and therefore, demand so little of presenters. Most of the presentations I see are entertaining but not educational, even when they portend to be.
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Yesterday I heard President-elect Obama speak at a news conference where he introduced the new education secretary, Arne Duncan, head of the Chicago school system. One point Obama stressed was that we needed to increase our expectations about student performance. I agree wholeheartedly.
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It saddens me that with the passage of time the name Findley Edge is less known, much less his contribution to the crucial challenge of mobilizing “the laity” for active ministry. Edge was a theologian (and long time professor of practical theology) yet he could communicate so clearly and passionately to the person in the pew that he inspired thousands to find and pursue their personal ministries in the Kingdom.
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Some of us observe with amusement, and some impatience, the ongoing occasional conversations in theological education about the legitimacy, value, or congruence of online delivery for seminary education. At one time it was appropriate to include in that conversation talk about “emergent technologies,” but that epoch is past. Despite the track record of the effectiveness of online learning in just about every field of education, and the increasing number of schools, from kindergarten to graduate programs, that embrace online learning, theological education as a whole has been left in the dust.
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I’ll be teaching the educational philosophy course during J-term. It’s a course I enjoy teaching and one I think, when it connects with students, yields enduring understanding. Recently a former student wrote me to share his frustration at the lack of an educational philosophy at his church, and the effects it has on the practice of Christian education. It’s gratifying when we see evidence that students have cultivated discernment and understand the importance of educational foundations—theory and philosophy.
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