Does Production Match the Purpose? The Food and Education Industries

Too Close to See the Problem?

A person residing and working in a smog-filled city, probably doesn’t recognize the danger and harm being inhaled daily from his polluted surroundings. He is so deeply entrenched that there is no opportunity for perspective within the conditions. He doesn’t gain true reflection and perspective until he spends a long weekend at his countryside cottage amidst the pure, clean surroundings, infused with a natural floral fragrance.

After participating in parent-teacher conferences, contributing and listening to the concerns and priorities of all involved, I can’t help but think that the entire system is covered in pollution. We were obviously consumed by the educational smog as words like, "test scores, data, and common core standards" were repeatedly hacked from our mouths. The dialogue was clouded with the theme of WHAT students are thinking and learning. As we continue to sit in the fog we no longer notice the flaws in our purpose for teaching and learning.

Over at the countryside cottage, free from the suffocation, we consider the best methods for teaching children HOW to think and HOW to apply.

Education and Food: My two favorite things (when done right)!

I think there is a legitimate analogy to be made between our culture’s food industry and our process of education. (This idea has quite possibly resulted from me watching too many food documentaries).

            In both cases the healthy, organic alternative is an option, though this path is distant and often obstructed. While mass production and sheer numbers can be appropriate objectives, I’m not so sure we want that driving these vital areas of our lives.

In order to eat smart and healthy, a

consumer must be resourceful, committed and informed. I would say the same attributes are important when consuming an education. What do you value as an educational consumer? I’m concerned that our children are becoming obese on a hunger for extrinsic motivators, chasing a number, and competition.

Let me introduce you to an educator’s pesticides and hormones. Things like “data-driven instruction” and “adequate yearly progress” have disconnected the relationship between teacher and student,  just as the industrial farming processes are unnatural and inorganic.

We can earnestly evaluate food or education by asking the following questions:

Are these products being made in a selfish manner, or is the process pure, genuine and selfless? Does the producer cherish the wellness of the consumer?

God uses Paul and Jesus to express His strong feelings about selfish teachers. Paul in           1 Timothy 3-11, and Jesus in Matthew 23 both condemn these teachers that exert self-interest and base their instruction on measurable outcomes.

A School of Vitality: More than academics

Based on his Tedtalk, Andrew Solomon said “the opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and it was vitality that seemed to seep away from me in that moment.” Solomon also points out that depression is the world’s leading disability.

These points caused me to consider two main things:

1.                    To what degree can our schooling environment and experience impact a person’s mental/social/emotional state? Is it a positive or negative influence?

2.                    How is vitality defined? Can we create learning environments that boast this characteristic?

While my medical knowledge only goes as far as WebMD, I can tell by the statistics that we do not have depression figured out. So I think it’s fair to discuss and even speculate how school, just one facet of a child’s life, is influencing the well being of these children at their fragile age. Oh, by the way, I’m talking about “well being” beyond simply academics. School has become so much about scores and academic growth that arguably the most important component is being left outside the walls of these supposed “learning communities”.

John Dewey, known for his educational reforming mind, wrote that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. How disappointed would he be to know that the public school system has become so hungry for a higher numerical mark that strategies today could be described as a divide and conquer tactic to increase each individual score. While this may work for what is being measured, all of the isolation and testing is harmful to everything that isn’t being measured. Since we’re really only measuring one thing these days, that’s suggesting a lot of harm!

I guess what I need to know is, what does vitality look like? I can surely describe what it doesn’t look like: worksheets, rote memorization, rows of desks, silence, “don’t forget this is for a grade”, and the list goes on.

Vitality however carries a culture of complexity. Each child is considered valuable to the social, emotional, mental, and yes even academic progress of every member of the community. Students are intrinsically motivated because their time is spent on authentic projects that relate to their current life and the world around them. The relational interactions are supportive, encouraging and even fun because we need each other to become better. Development and growth are found here due to productive collaborations and luminous reflections. Each contributes to and benefits from the community. I must infer that vitality aligns with a healthy and safe culture as well. This prepares kids with tools for living their lives today, which naturally will provide skills for the future.

In contrast, the creative George Lucas noticed, “Traditional education can be extremely isolating…many schools operate as if they were separate from their communities.”  

Lastly, I have a hard time thinking of vitality without encountering the concept of purpose. Rick Warren, in The Purpose-Driven Life writes, “Without a clear purpose…you will tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and your mood at that moment. People who don’t know their purpose try to do too much – and that causes stress, fatigue, and conflict.” 

It’s alarming how perfectly Warren has described today’s mainstream education.

We can probably apply this depression-vitality spectrum to many facets of our lives.

Let’s increase our vitality by making genuine connections for an appropriate purpose! I would also include the Author of Life as an essential for consistent vitality.

Joy in the journey.

The School and the Student: Who's Serving Whom?

The apostle Paul tells of his approach to ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. The Message translation describes it as, “I kept my bearings in Christ – but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life.”

In order to communicate with and develop individual lives in a variety of cultures and communities, Paul went into their world and acted as a servant. What if our schools embodied these same attributes? Who is serving whom here? The schools today have not taken the time to experience the educational system through the eyes of the children. No set of standards or boxed curriculum can produce the learning that meets the needs of the kids’ futures. Especially when they are driven by uniform tests. It’s not productive to only know the needs, concerns, and interests of the students. We must come along side and live through their passions with them.

Not only do we need to implement this approach but we need to detox students from the definition of “learning” that school has branded them with. One of my fellow teachers, who is actively giving his students the opportunity to explore their interests and talents, tweeted this; “Freedom is the hardest part for the students to grasp.” Of course this generation of students lack a motivation and passion for learning because we’ve pushed our flawed structure of teaching on them. Marketing experts will tell you that if you have to continually push the product on the consumer then the product is broken. Federal and state legislatures continue to push a design of college readiness and rigor. Don’t get me wrong, these have their place, but above all, the child must feel that we (teachers, parents, and peers) are learning right beside them due to the genuine care and love we have for them.

Despite major contradictions between my philosophy of teaching and learning and those of the traditional school, I’m hopeful for an opportunity for educational reform.

A friend recently asked, where I was with my blogging and my search for ideal education.  I think the following works as an evaluation tool of my progress.

Seth Godin has said that a successful leader (and I think educators) can be compared to a good hockey player. They both require three main qualities: They must know what to do, have the resources to do it, and care enough to get hit.

At this point I feel comfortable saying that I possess two of these.

1.     I definitely care enough to get hit!

2.      I know what to do. (How humble of me)

-        Thanks to God’s guidance and the research of many smarter than me, I think I have an understanding of the critical components needed for an ideal place of learning.

I’m always searching for resources to make this happen. That means taking in everything fellow educators, parents, experienced administrators, and most importantly children can offer.

Joy in serving students.

An Answer in the Form of Questions (a lot of them)

As I am attempting to maintain alignment with God’s will and now asking Him to help me overcome my unbelief, I’ve discovered the most unique answer to my requests.

God has flooded my thoughts with curiosity and questions. Specific questions like…How can a school balance both developing children in living holy lives and also provide real opportunities to be salt and light? Could a school that is just grades K-6 or K-8 manage that balance? Will I be able to visit Anastasis Academy (www.anastasisacademy.com) in Colorado, to gain understanding of all of the logisitics? How can a school with a small student to teacher ratio still provide teachers with plenty of planning time to collaborate and create dynamic learning opportunities? I could go on to fill pages with the detailed inquiries that have been placed on my heart.

You may be thinking, “How is this an answer to prayer?”

Amidst all of these questions, I have an unexplainable confidence in knowing these are God’s directed concerns. I’m pretty sure God welcomes my curiosity because it is no longer doused with doubt, but it is filled with fascination. As I looked at the many examples of faithful servants in Hebrews 11, I couldn’t help but assume that they were filled with questions as well. I’m grateful that questions do not have to equal doubt. As my fascination and contentment with God’s holiness increases, so too does my faith. It seems wherever I read about faith, there is a result of righteousness. Now there is a characteristic to work towards.

In Genesis 22:1-19, God tests Abraham’s faith. The only way Abraham could have been willing to follow God’s command to sacrifice his own son Isaac, was through a pure trust in the Lord’s holiness (completely OTHER and HIGHER than anything in this world). When we face tests of faith, God’s holiness is waiting on the other side, affording us a glimpse of his heavenly goodness. I wish the bible told us what Abraham was thinking as he led his son up the mountain to the altar. I’d like to think that his mind was filled with questions driven by wonder and reverence, with an absence of doubt. Ultimately, Abraham named that mountain Jehovah-jireh, meaning “The Lord Will Provide”.

As teachers and parents, our most promising learners are the ones who inquire with fascination and wonder. It is the ones that dismiss and/or mistrust our guidance that we really need to encourage and support. I would challenge you to reflect on where you might fall on this spectrum of faith.

I would anticipate that being a fascinated inquirer of a Holy God, is a very exciting lifestyle. May my faith increase to the point where I can refer to this journey as "The Lord Will Provide".

Joy in the limitless possibilities!