Grading System Exposed Assignment

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig wrote the following: "The brighter, more serious students were the least desirous of grades, possibly because they were more interested in the subject matter of the course, whereas the dull or lazy students were the most desirous of grades, possibly because grades told them if they were getting by."

The question is whether this is true, or whether the brighter students are more desirous of grades and the dull students are less so.  I think there is a bit of both, and it definitely can't be cut into two groups and expect one to be true of every person.  Bright students are more likely to pay attention in class, and thus will learn more, and even if they don't agree with the teacher, can pull off a good grade.  Dull students, on the other hand, do just enough, or not even that, and grades aren't their goal, or else they would try harder.

However, a bright student who simply wants to learn a subject would care less about grades, and students that care mostly about their grades are more likely to regurgitate bland facts and overused concepts.

I suppose making a distinction works better one way than the other.  Students that care about their grades are more likely to be dull or lazy, doing one of my favorite end-of-the-year activities: Figure out how many points you need on the last couple of assignments in order to get the grade you want!  This system seems more sure-fire than looking at all the bright students and assuming they don't care about their grades, or looking at dull ones, and assuming they do.  Perhaps this is because grades have told me I'm a bright student, and I would like to keep that reputation while still defending good grades.  But I've met plenty of dull students who definitely don't care about their grades, and plenty of brilliant students who want (and receive) good grades.

Despite all of this, I think that the grading system ought to be kept, but its importance should not be as stressed as it currently is.  Today, anywhere in the academic community (and some other places), bad grades stick to you like a piece of gum on your shoe; with each step you take, you are reminded of past failures, and it can slow you down a bit.  Grades are quite useful, for comparing and displaying progress, but a person ought to be able to shed them off after a month or so.

The Professor's Belief Assignment

Should a professor teach what he (or she) believes?  A professor should teach what is necessary to fulfill an education.  But what is education, and what is the aim of education?  I certainly don't claim to hold to answer to these puzzling issues that have stirred up controversy all over the place, but I'll give my own opinion on the matter.

An education is a formalized and planned method of learning, in my own definition, and the aim of education should be to prepare a person for a task.  This may be working at McDonald's, becoming a missionary, or acting as a productive member of society.  In order to give his students an education, the professor must figure out a way to present the information about how to do these tasks in a way that the students will understand.  This is the job of the professor.

But what information does the professor give the students, and where does it come from?  This information starts with "hard facts," which are the observable circumstances that many would consider to be reality.  Unfortunately, even at this relatively concrete level, there are discrepancies.  Some people do not believe that matter exists, but the only thing that exits is our consciousness.  But as the concrete 'reality' changes to abstract theory, the debates become more wild.

Still, the professor must find a way to present these items, and, considering that there are disagreements even at the seemingly concrete level, the professor must either take sides at some point, or present the perpetual list of viewpoints, or simply present the side that the majority of people agree with.  Considering the complete list of viewpoints would be without end, it would be impractical to insist that a professor present one to his students, so that option can be eliminated.  Obviously, the professor is likely to have taken sides (particularly on the 'concrete' matters), as these ideas have shaped his view of the world, and it is virtually impossible for a person to be without a worldview.  So we know that the professor has a viewpoint and that it would be best to either teach that perspective or teach what the majority believe.

At this point, I will say that I think the professor should teach what he believes.  This is because if the professor does not believe it, it would be very difficult for him to teach it properly.  If a professor truly believes what he says he does, he would find it impossible to present any other kind of reality to his students.  Also, conformity and scripts hardly encourage people to think.  Presenting what most people believe simply for the reason that most people believe it is not a very good reason to teach something, because it leaves no room for development, or questioning the system or turning the world of thought upside-down.  If the professor is able to present a viewpoint other than the one widely accepted, his students will benefit, even if they do not agree with him, because they would have to critically examine their own and learn not to just 'go with the flow,' but to develop their own beliefs.

That being said, it is VERY important that the professor not expect his students to agree with what he believes.  He must allow freedom of thought and let his students discuss their own worldviews.  Professors ought to teach what they believe in order to encourage the growth of learning.

Transformation To Wisdom Assignment

One of the four dimensions of wisdom that Caroline Bassett outlined in "Emergent Wisdom" was Transformation.  This spoke of how part of wisdom is constantly adapting, and acquiring new knowledge.  It is not stagnant and set, but wisdom can always be improved and new lessons can always be learned.  This idea came up in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (by Robert Pirsig).  Phaedrus had sought understanding and deeper knowledge and the truth about reality.  Early on, he had been consumed with this search to know more.  He was willing to change his point of view and transform his thinking as he acquired wisdom.  He questioned everything, from sculptures to personalities to the success and failures of his students.  Eventually, though, he gave up and settled for an easy life, one which involved little thinking, and no all-out search for the truth.  This emphasizes that wisdom isn't found in a man in a hut somewhere in the obscure wilderness, or in those who are old and speak slowly and bend over with the weight of many years.  Instead, wisdom is found by those who receive God's truth and make continual efforts to see more of it and let life be presented in a new light.

Emergent Wisdom Assignment

This article by Caroline Bassett considered wisdom to have several dimensions, including discerning, respecting, engaging and transforming.  The key to discerning is seeing the underlying issues and being able to distinguish between two similar-appearing things.  Respecting is a bit along the lines of empathy.  It is thinking about how decisions will affect every person and what concerns and opinions specific people will have.  Engaging means that wise people do something with the knowledge they have and trying to make a change to make the world a better place, fighting for the common good.  Transforming goes along with this, meaning that the world and the Truth is terribly complex and rather impossible for one person to know, even after a lifetime, so a wise person will constantly be changing and perfecting his or her worldview, as the Truth is revealed.  Self-improvement and improvement of the world result from this dimension.

Although colleges could never really give wisdom to students, it is possible to teach how to recognize wisdom and provide an environment to practice wisdom.  Most colleges don't do this.  Some colleges may not have many wise instructors, and thus no examples for the students to observe.  But most of this issue stems from tradition and scripts.  Colleges that are too caught up in traditions do not care to foster wise students.  In discernment, these students might find something wrong with the long-held traditions.  In respecting, they would try to see not only why the college wants to keep the traditions, but also how the traditions affect each student and the members of the community.  Those who practice engaging and transforming would especially be a 'threat' to a college steeped in tradition, as they would make efforts to change the situation and present the Truth in a new way.

I really don't personally know any college that's this stuck on tradition, but it would be colleges of this sort, to varying degrees, that would not try and encourage wisdom from students.  Fortunately, I think the Honors Program here intends to teach wisdom.  This is not an easy task.  Indeed, I believe that it is a gift that only God can give.  It was something he bestowed generously on Solomon and as James 3:17 states (read verses 13-18 for a more full picture), "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."  True wisdom can only come from God and those who have it have the responsibility to practice it and allow it to grow.

Education for Homelessness or Homemaking? Assignment

This week's reading, by Steven Bouma-Predigre and Brian Walsh discussed the largely American problem of homelessness.  Although in some cases this did refer to literally being without a home, the passage used a more figurative sense of the word, describing the growing issue that many people are not investing in the places they live, but only wish to live in the places they do until they can move "up" in the world.  This search for success causes many to jump from place to place, and never have a place to call home.  In effect, they do not care about the land anywhere or the people anywhere.  The authors state that this explains why people do not care about the environment.  The goal is instead to go from one house to another, exploiting as much as possible on the way.  This all really makes sense to me, but I feel it has strong points on both sides, so while I agree with most of it, I believe I need to elaborate.

First, I don't really want to pursue the "upward mobility success ladder" and all, but I want to see new places and find one that fits me.  I think there is definitely a time in life where it is important to stretch out and see the world from another viewpoint, rather than a closed-up small-town ideology that can get stuck in traditions.
But I also believe there is a point when people need to settle down and invest themselves into a community.  A town is nothing more than buildings; a community is a group of people walking together in life.

Second, I don't think loyalty is something that needs to be placed on anything in this earth.  You can be dependable and put a lot of effort into one thing, but any human institution can be corrupted, and fierce loyalty to a corrupted institution can lead people astray.  Instead of being proud of a place, one should be humble.  Instead of placing your faith in a place, you should place your faith in God.  Again, this is not to say you shouldn't invest yourself into people, places or organizations.  I merely mean that your main loyalty should be to God, then to people.  This is similar to the two greatest commandments: Love the Lord your God...and love your neighbor as yourself.

This article didn't really change any of my opinions on the matter of the purpose of education, since I have for quite some time been upset by the whole "success" language used to motivate students to be selfish and try to get on top, but it has given several great points and a new set of vocabulary for discussing the issue.

Why Learn? Assignment

This composition by John Tagg examined the difference between qualitative- and quantitative-oriented learning.  Quantitative-oriented learning basically means just going to class with the goal of getting a good grade to post on your transcript.  Thus, the student aims to please the teacher and store the information until the end of the semester, when the grades are due and the benefits or losses are calculated.  Qualitative-oriented learning, on the other hand, focuses on what is gained from the class.  It sees learning as an intrinsic value and the concepts that are carried out of the classroom are considered more important than grades, tuition costs or course credits.

I do love learning, so I think I understand its intrinsic value, but I do tend to place huge importance on my grades, and there have certainly been some classes that I was glad to see the end of, granted I had an 'A.'  I do not believe this was entirely my fault.  In the information age, statistics are extremely important and number crunching and quantitative data is considered almost priceless.  Our society stresses paperwork and how one person's numbers (grades in this case) compare to another's.  Success is measured in A's, and B's, and C's and F's are considered failures.  As a result, students often fail to apply the knowledge to their life.

My one problem with the qualitative-oriented learning concept is that it insinuates that every class ought to make you view your world in a new way.  I don't believe I could handle it if all seven of my courses turned my world-view upside-down.  I would feel a loss of identity end up feeling very sick and dizzy.  Tagg maybe didn't mean that every class ought to cause a total renewal of the mind, but I just wanted to clarify my opinion on the matter.

In my own education, I believe that quality is demonstrated by how much it provokes thought outside of the classroom (and homework).  When I begin having original thoughts about that subject and relating and applying the concepts learned to other aspects of life, then I know I have gained knowledge and have succeeded in a qualitative sense.  And while I don't believe all my classes will bring life-altering changes, as a whole, they can shape my world-view and make the little aspects of life more intriguing and the bigger aspects less confusing.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed Assignment

This week's prompt stemmed from the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paul Freire.  This proclaimed that the current style of education is not helping students learn.  In the second chapter, he divided education styles into two parts: banking concept and problem-posing.  The banking concept is where teaching are simply inserting their "higher understanding" into the passive students, who, if able to take in a lot of knowledge, are then considered to be good students.  Here the teacher is the authority, chooser, discipliner, and thinker.  The problem-posing style, on the other hand, encourages teachers to work with students and to learn with students.  The job of the teacher is to facilitate the discussion, and although still in charge of the classroom, the teacher doesn't rule over the students.

I do believe that it is very easy as a student to be passive and still considered a "good student."  I do enjoy learning and asking the bigger questions, but I can easily go weeks in a class without saying a word or giving input.  Instead, I can just sit there and let everyone else put information into me.  I have always found discussion-oriented classes to be more enjoyable, because I am able to hear ideas and opinions from people other than the teacher.  Many times, the discussions aren't done as well as they could be, though.  I believe teachers have to be careful in how they approach discussions, because since the education currently has many classrooms using the banking concept system, students will view whatever the teacher says as the "right answer."  Many students do not want to disagree with the teacher, because under the banking concept system, the teacher is seen as the authority and possessor of all knowledge.  I have been in several classrooms where the teachers were very controlling and, I believe, took their authority too far.  They were unwilling to listen to students' reasonings or opinions when they differ from their own.

However, I believe there are some issues with the problem-posing system.  In order to have intelligent and productive discussions, there need to be facts, and if the students do not know the facts, it is the responsibility of the teacher (assuming he or she knows those facts) to present them to the students.  This presentation of facts, especially if done on a large scale, could easily turn into the banking concept system.  In addition, the discussion-based understanding of concepts takes time and has a tendency to deviate.  With the vast number of topics and concepts that a teacher needs to cover in a given year, it is very difficult to use this system to get concepts across to the students in a timely manner.

There is a need for children to take a more active role in their education, but unless the standards are changed, at this point, I believe a careful balance between banking concept and problem-posing ought to be sought by teachers,  who should also try to act as partners in the learning process and not tyrants.

Other Perspectives Assignment

I'll temporarily cease my determined search for a successful Spider Solitaire game to update this blog.  Recent posts have included insights in response to several personality surveys.  This week's assignment goes a bit further.  I asked several people what they believed I am passionate about, good at, and am likely to be doing ten years from now.

Here's the list of what they think I'm passionate about: singing, family, relationships, God's Word, performing arts, artwork, photography, pleasing God, and genealogy.  I'm a fairly mellow person, and to me, passion conveys enthusiasm and excessive energy around a particular subject, so I have a difficult time saying that I'm passionate about anything, but I will say that all these are things I either enjoy or care about, so I wouldn't really disagree with any of them.  And perhaps it sounds really "Christian," but I believe I would put pleasing God first on this list, followed by relationships, genealogy and the arts.

Now for what my dear friends, family and mentors consider me to be good at: Bible study, friendships, details, working menial tasks to completion, including others, insightful communication, listening, general intelligence, singing, photography, languages, art and planning.  What a list!  It certainly does something to inflate the ego.  Along the lines of personality, these responses center on details, determination and thoughtfulness, if I'm drawing the right conclusions.  I would tend to agree with this.  I spend a large portion of the day observing and speculating.  I am very detail-oriented and don't mind doing boring tasks, but am rather determined and don't like leaving tasks unfinished.  Along the lines of talent, it sticks to artsy type pastimes, all of which I enjoy, but haven't gotten used to the fact that some people get to make a living doing them.

And last is the list of possible careers, which, I will say seems to match my own feelings in the matter, because it covers a vast array of interests and is pretty long: Bible translator, greeting card designer, accountant, professional photographer, architect, psychologist, social worker, missionary, teacher, something international, designer, writer, artist, and writing/editing devotions or Christian literature.  Naturally, this doesn't do much in helping me decide a major, but it nice that others believe I could end up doing those things which are on my ginormous list of possible careers.  I'm not sure, though, whether these careers ended up on the list because of my friends' insights into my personality, or because they didn't necessarily disagree with what I have from time to time mentioned I might like to do in the future, and they simply remembered those careers and repeated them back to me.  Either way, it does help to see certain career interests being confirmed by those who know me well.

I'm not particularly concerned about what I'll be doing in the future, or even trying to narrow down this list too much.  God's calling for my life will be shown at some point, and perhaps only realized after I have completed it.  For now, I consider myself fortunate to have a future that is so full of possibilities that it could go in any direction and I might be able to do any number of jobs to serve God and further His kingdom.

Strengths and Spiritual Gifts Assignment

I think that a person's career should be able to combine their spiritual gifts, strengths and interests.  For now, I will compare my gifts and strengths.  (My interests would make it too complicated, because I they are so many.) My gifts are serving, teaching and showing mercy.  My strengths are context, responsibility, empathy, intellection and input.  Responsibility would certainly work well with all of the gifts.  Empathy and context would be especially helpful with teaching and showing mercy.  Input could fit well with teaching.  Intellection is the strength I feel most closely described my character.  It refers to the tendency to think, and in my case, somewhat excessively.  I wouldn't mind sitting alone in silence with nothing to do for half an hour (if I didn't have so many things to get done, that is).

Empathy with showing mercy is probably the most compatible pair.  It's a lot easier to show mercy when you understand where a person is coming from.  Many people guard their feelings very carefully and it can be difficult to know when they are needing help.  By being able to pick up on what others are feeling, I can more effectively show mercy to the people that I meet.

I think being aware of my gifts and strengths is really helpful.  It can help me understand why I do some of the things that I do, like lie awake for hours as thoughts shoot around in my tired head.  It can help me realize when I'm doing too much of one strength, such as taking on too many responsibilities.  And, it can bring me one step closer to understanding what God's purpose is for my life, something I'm very eager to discover.

Spiritual Gifts Analysis Assignment

I am the type of person who is slow to making decisions.  I am always asking other people's opinions, not entirely because I'm interested in their point of view, but because I don't want to make the decision on my own.  I rarely have a ready answer for those questions like "where should we eat today," or "what do you want to watch?"  I resolve to a quick "I don't know," and hope that the decision-making responsibility will be passed onto someone else.  Slow decision-making isn't a bad thing, until it changes from a careful thought-process to plain indecisiveness, resulting from the fear of commitment.  I once took several days deciding whether I wanted to do a job, and once I had decided for it, the job had been taken.  I didn't decide which college to attend until the last week of April my Senior year and I am currently undeclared in my major.

But the academic school-year has begun and brought with it an onslaught of surveys.  I have appreciated the insight that the personal surveys can give as to who I really am and what my gifts are.  So I appreciated the chance to see what another survey, the Spiritual Gifts Analysis, had to say about me, but even more so, I was hoping for the opportunity to be given a magic test that might tell me what my destiny is.  I wanted to let these test become the decision-maker, as it showed me what spiritual gifts God has given me, the strengths I have (as reported by StrengthsQuest), and the hobbies and that God has given me a talent for (this comes from simple personal insight).  In the end, I just wanted it to declare my major for me.

I was thoroughly disappointed.

Okay, maybe not thoroughly...I really should not have expected a spiritual gifts survey to give me career advice.  The top three gifts it showed were Serving, Teaching and Showing Mercy.  I believe these all fit me fairly well, particularly serving.  I am really a behind-the-scenes kind of person.  I love doing service projects, and always work until the last second, because I receive a lot of joy knowing that I am serving God and fulfilling His Will.  With the teaching aspect, I agreed that I like to read Scripture and discover new things from it, but I felt that teaching a group is not my sort of thing.  I'm more of the one-on-one type person and I'm thinking as far as teaching goes, I'm probably more on the writing end of things than verbal instruction.  As for showing mercy, I agree with that this is one of my gifts, but I haven't had as much experience using this gift as I would like to.

I am glad though, that spiritual gifts don't require a decision.  They are instilled in us when we accept Jesus in our hearts and can show up in the things we do, bringing glory to God and joy to our own lives.  So I am not overly concerned with declaring a major right now.  As with my college decision, the answer will come and God will work marvelous things through it.  For now, as I wait for this mysterious and elusive answer to appear, I will continue serving God by serving others, studying God's Word and teaching it to others, and showing others the mercy that God has shown me.

New Beginnings

As with all things human, there is a beginning.  This post is the beginning of my blog.  This month has been the beginning of my college days.  College marks the beginning of living independently in the real world.

Many of these things will also come to an end.  I will probably get tired of blogging someday.  I will hopefully graduate from college someday.  And even though I intend to be able to live life without other people guiding my steps or making my decisions, I may well reach a day when that is my situation.

But there is one thing with no beginning and a very few things that have beginnings, and no end.  The first, with no beginning (or end) is God.  The second, (created by God, yet destined to last for eternity) are the souls of men (and perhaps a few other things).  My own relationship with Christ Jesus began sometime when I was four years old and I was baptized when I was twelve.  Throughout my lifetime, I intend to get to know more about Christ and the way God works as I trust in Him to lead me down the path of righteousness.

I hope to use this blog (partially for my Honors class) to record what I discover about God on my trail through new beginnings and perhaps include a bit about the other things that I enjoy doing, including painting, hiking, taking pictures, singing, writing, and languages.  I look forward to sharing my opinions and thoughts and creations with any who will receive them with open minds.