Friday, January 12, 2007

It's not what you know

So i think it is about time that the last of us holding on to the integrity of the educational system of the US give it up, or should i say the integrity of the Christian educational system. I'm not specifying the Christian educational system because i have some affinity for the public school system or because i have some unexplained dislike for Christian schools. I guess we just expect public school kids to know nothing. I personally went to public school and received a very good education, but most people see the poster children of public schools to be kids that don't care, raised by parents who don't care, and taught by teachers who don't care. The Christian school is different, or at least it should be. The Christian school should be a school that teaches and challenges children, so that Christians can excel and glorify Christ in any field they feel God is leading. I used to have this ideal view of a Christian utopia when i thought of a Christian school.

I guess i should explain what has finally moved me from indifference to action (or at least blogging) on this subject. This morning i attended my first Teaching Math class. The book is a 5th grade math level, but people in the class are freaking out because they don't think they can do it. I am a junior in college, and i personally think we should be able to handle 5th grade math. That still isn't even the reason for this blog. The reason is, i am an elementary education major, and im taking classes with other education majors, and if our future teachers haven't been taught how to do these things without looking in a reference book for the rest of their lives how do we expect our childen to know the subject? And it's not just math, but every methods class we have. In my Teaching history and Geography class last semester, most of my classmates couldn't label a map of the US.

I still don't think that would be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that i have been at a Bible college for almost three years, and i don't feel like i have learned anything in class that someone who grew up in church their whole life doesn't already know. I have memorized more outlines from commentaries than i have memorized Bible verses. I know more about the authors of various books than i do about the authors of the old and new testaments. I can't really think that a school that was Such and Such college of engineering would really learn as little about engineering as i have learned about the Bible at "such and such" college of the Bible. I am not saying this is entirely the fault of my teachers. They walk into a classroom of students who genuinely don't want to learn. I am just as guilty, when i hear that a teacher is actually challenging, my first thought isn't "yes, i am going to learn something, and actually make good use of the money i am spending." It is more like "Man, why does he have to be like that, doesn't he realize that we have other classes and jobs and social lives?? Can't he just lighten up?" O well, that is why we need to dig in and learn on our own. We have so much at our finger tips...all of man's knowledge is a click away, and yet we are the most intellectually lazy people in all of history.

**This doesn't reflect on my school specifically I know that the faculty and administration are working very hard to ensure that we know as much as possible about the Bible, but they really have to start at the basics for some ppl. I'm not "bashing" Crown, but this is a blog and as such i have the right to express my opinions as i see fit...so get over it.

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