I've been thinking about a few things lately, and helping my brother in law Tyler study last night really set me off.
He is in middle school science, which granted cannot be the deepest and in depth study, but there is nothing meaningful being taught. We were going through flash cards to study information about the Periodic Table, and with a little help Tyler knew all of the answers. However I know somethings about the Periodic Table and decided to test the waters about the cohesiveness and real understanding of what the table really tells someone.
Ok so you know how there are so called energy levels outside the nucleus of an atom.... and each layer can only hold a certain amount of electrons, right? That is 2, 6, 10, 14....... (2n^2). Now I don't expect Tyler to know the equation, but he did know the total if each layer was filled to max; 2, 8, 18.... So I asked the question, "If an electron layer is not filled to capacity, what then does the nucleus, the protons and neutrons, seeks to do to become stable?" Tyler immediately shouted, "that's not on the test!"
Ok, so the next logical progression for his science class is going towards compounds, and combining elements together. Maybe they just haven't gotten as far as studying the meaning of how many electrons each atom has yet, but what concerns me most is Tyler's answer to my question. "That's not on the test!" Only shows me that the teacher, or the student, or the school, or the whole system itself doesn't care what we actually know cohesively. My guess, educated guess, is that the whole system doesn't care what we know cohesively, it only cares that we can memorize and repeat facts when it comes time to test. Which then makes schools not care, teachers not care, and then ultimately students not care.
Ok, now the implications and connections I can make from this are vast and can be spun off into any area of our society, but for the sake of our time here let's take it to the education of the Church. (You all know that when I talk about the Church I am talking about all of us collective followers of Christ, right?)
Ok so let's say the same situation happens, except the class is Sunday school or Sunday service itself for adults, and the flash cards are questions about the Bible. Let's say someone knows all the answers that they have memorized from reading and learning about the Bible. However, if I were to ask a question that digs deeper than the content at hand by asking a question like:
"so taking the situations and interaction between God and man in that story, and the circumstance we are in now, what implications can we implement into our theology and lifestyle today?",
Would we be able to discern real meaning from the collective stories in the Bible, or can we just shoot out verse after verse of "useless information"? We also learn all the routines and traditions of our particular congregation, if were thrown out of our element and another diaspora happened, would we understand the real purpose of these things and continue on with our journey with God even without those routines and traditions?
Or are we a group that sticks to the flash cards..... not really worrying about the relationship we have with our God? Do we only care about the grade we get on the test, or even just passing the test, as opposed to not caring about the grade, or reward, or recognition we may get, and only caring about our relationships with God? Isn't that the point of it all? Isn't that why we study the flash cards, to get the real cohesive picture to influence the meaningful and influential part of our walk?
He is in middle school science, which granted cannot be the deepest and in depth study, but there is nothing meaningful being taught. We were going through flash cards to study information about the Periodic Table, and with a little help Tyler knew all of the answers. However I know somethings about the Periodic Table and decided to test the waters about the cohesiveness and real understanding of what the table really tells someone.
Ok so you know how there are so called energy levels outside the nucleus of an atom.... and each layer can only hold a certain amount of electrons, right? That is 2, 6, 10, 14....... (2n^2). Now I don't expect Tyler to know the equation, but he did know the total if each layer was filled to max; 2, 8, 18.... So I asked the question, "If an electron layer is not filled to capacity, what then does the nucleus, the protons and neutrons, seeks to do to become stable?" Tyler immediately shouted, "that's not on the test!"
Ok, so the next logical progression for his science class is going towards compounds, and combining elements together. Maybe they just haven't gotten as far as studying the meaning of how many electrons each atom has yet, but what concerns me most is Tyler's answer to my question. "That's not on the test!" Only shows me that the teacher, or the student, or the school, or the whole system itself doesn't care what we actually know cohesively. My guess, educated guess, is that the whole system doesn't care what we know cohesively, it only cares that we can memorize and repeat facts when it comes time to test. Which then makes schools not care, teachers not care, and then ultimately students not care.
Ok, now the implications and connections I can make from this are vast and can be spun off into any area of our society, but for the sake of our time here let's take it to the education of the Church. (You all know that when I talk about the Church I am talking about all of us collective followers of Christ, right?)
Ok so let's say the same situation happens, except the class is Sunday school or Sunday service itself for adults, and the flash cards are questions about the Bible. Let's say someone knows all the answers that they have memorized from reading and learning about the Bible. However, if I were to ask a question that digs deeper than the content at hand by asking a question like:
"so taking the situations and interaction between God and man in that story, and the circumstance we are in now, what implications can we implement into our theology and lifestyle today?",
Would we be able to discern real meaning from the collective stories in the Bible, or can we just shoot out verse after verse of "useless information"? We also learn all the routines and traditions of our particular congregation, if were thrown out of our element and another diaspora happened, would we understand the real purpose of these things and continue on with our journey with God even without those routines and traditions?
Or are we a group that sticks to the flash cards..... not really worrying about the relationship we have with our God? Do we only care about the grade we get on the test, or even just passing the test, as opposed to not caring about the grade, or reward, or recognition we may get, and only caring about our relationships with God? Isn't that the point of it all? Isn't that why we study the flash cards, to get the real cohesive picture to influence the meaningful and influential part of our walk?
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Not only do your postulations appear true for American Christianity, but I would contend it is that way intentionally. If people began to teach for the sake of knowledge, and for the sake of understanding ideas as they relate to each other, then people would begin thinking more for themselves.
ReplyDeletePlease don't view this as an Anarchist statement, but many would contend it is not safe for Christians to try to come to their own conclusions about God and their relationships with a higher being. It is actually heretical to try to think through these things if one arrives at a different conclusion.
I'm not suggesting that if one thought through these things and really learned for oneself in the manner you present that people will stop believing in God. I believe that certain truths would probably remain consistent (divinity and humanity of Christ, desire for relationship, etc.), but what if a member of your church beings to question the exclusion of gays? Do many pastors want their congregants asking questions about political agendas embedded in sermons?
Teach to the test and you get the answers you are looking for. Teach Christianity to "the test" and you get the followers you are looking for.
Hooray Bob!!! I do believe you get the implications of this issue!! The idea of God spewing those that are not hot or cold out of his mouth comes to mind..... how can you be either hot or cold when those that are leading you may purposefully (maybe with no purposefulness of their own, if you understand that!!!) be holding you on the fence between the two, for comforts sake!!..... Thanks Bob awesome input!
ReplyDeleteThis really has nothing to do with the overall point of this post, however, I would disagree slightly with your statement that Tyler is not being taught anything meaningful. I'm sure that in class he is being taught many great things, but he is not being tested on those things in a way that requires him to remember more than just the facts that are taught. He is being tested on his knowledge, but not on comprehension, application, or evaluation. This is poor testing, but not necessarily poor teaching although the two go hand in hand.
ReplyDelete