Educational Approaches: Eagles vs. Pine Trees

For our blog post this week, we are looking at some different approaches to education. We were given the opportunity to bang around some websites such as Berea College (a college that focuses on work-study, each student is only required to pay what the family can afford), St. Johns (which focuses on a study of the great books), or the Experimental College of Haverford (student-taught classes for no credit, much like a college class cooperative).

Based on the websites we could explore, the educational philosophy that interested me the most was that of Evergreen State University(www.evergreen.edu). This college has several major differences from John Brown University. Ok, that may be an understatement. In fact, Evergreen is very, very different from JBU. “Imagine exploring psychology, environmental studies, math, history and economics and how they all interrelate,” said their website. This occurs because Evergreen students take one class or “program” at a time per quarter, collaboratively taught by two, three, or four professors. At the end of a program, the students don’t get a letter grade; they receive a narrative-style report or evaluation from their teacher, as well as writing a detailed evaluation of themselves and the professors.  The aim of Evergreen is still very much the same as JBU’s: to educate students. But the methods Evergreen uses to accomplish these goals are much different.

Although I have not been overly focused on grades throughout high school and my first dose of college, getting my mid-term and final grades and seeing if the desired combination of letters (preferably A’s!!) are present has been a significant part of my educational process up to this point. I wonder what school would be like without some sort of letter/number combination assigned to the work I completed? I’m not sure I would completely like it. But then again, it would provide so much freedom from basing my performance on those numbers and letters. I wouldn’t be able to focus on those things, which would automatically make it either so a) I don’t care or b) I would focus on actually learning not just on getting grades. I am sure the second is the goal Evergreen wants, but I see the possibility for the former to happen with some students.

 During high school, mom and I would meet at least once a week to look at the progress I had made towards accomplishing my academic work and record what actually got accomplished in the grade book. We also talked about the schedule for the week ahead and made any necessary changes. We called this process “Teacher Meetings.” Many times we also took time to laugh, cry, and debrief about the week during this our teacher meeting. Teacher meetings became a very important part of what ‘homeschooling’ was to me. In some ways, this concept is what Evergreen is striving for with their written evaluations .They are stressing the relationship between teacher and student (which I definitely had with my mom), as well as achieving overall learning objectives as opposed to earning a quantifiable grade. (…which also is what we ended up focusing on more in homeschooling. I wasn’t focused on getting a certain score; we spent time on the subject until I had mastered it and then moved on.)

A learning environment focused on learning seems like a novel idea right? If we focused on grades, such a place would be called a grading environment. So why do I, and many, many other students, focus so much on grades here at JBU??? More than any letter grade I’ve received, I really appreciate the verbal and written feedback I have gotten from people such as my Gateway professor or my honors mentor, Esther Carey, on assignments here at JBU. I love written comments so much! They have the ability to make my day 100 times better if they are positive, and to help me learn how to do things better if those comments are correctional. After all, college is supposed to be a place where we learn. In this sense, I really appreciate what Evergreen is doing. I think I would do well there as a student, because I do like to learn and the relational, collaborative learning would be effective for my learning styles and capabilities. I don’t think that JBU should become exactly like Evergreen. But Evergreen does have some interesting and revolutionary ideas (such as more written feedback/less emphasis on letter grades) that could be implemented with some success at JBU, to help students and teachers put the emphasis back on learning.

Take 4: Final Thoughts on 'A Million Miles in a Thousand Years'

Reading Donald Miller’s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, wasn’t something I really wanted to do. But like a good honors student, I did what I was told and read the book. (My professors are going to have to be careful. This honors student is beginning to like the idea of doing as I am told less and less. I am beginning to cultivate a rebellious streak. But that’s a different story… J)

 If you have read the book, you’ll know that it starts out kind of slowly. To me it seemed like it didn’t really have a point; the story wasn’t going anywhere. About  the time I reached chapter 18, it finally dawned on me what the book was about: looking for a story, seeking purpose and adventure, and learning to live life to the fullest. The reason the beginning was so slow was because at that point Miller’s life didn’t have a point. His story wasn’t going anywhere. The fact that I wasn’t engrossed in the first part of the book proves his point, because the pointlessness of his life was the point.

 But slowly things began to change. As his life changed, he became a more likeable and interesting character. By the end of the book I was cheering for Miller. I wanted him to succeed because his life was worth living.

Miller says, “It’s interesting that in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the only practical advice given about living a meaningful life is to find a job you like, enjoy your marriage, and obey God. It’s as though God is saying, Write a good story, take somebody with you, and let me help” (p. 246, emphasis his). I really like this quote because it summarizes what it means to live a good story, at least according to Miller. I want to live a good story. More than anything, I do want my life to be a meaningful one.

Once I let myself get into Miller’s book, I was really glad I did. It was an encouraging and spiritually-challenging read. Now I am able to think back to it and say, Because of Miller’s book, I have been reminded to use my college experience to ‘create a better story’ than I would have otherwise; to get off my bottom and live a life worth living. It reminded me that conflict and pain are OK, that they help us become stronger characters to which people better relate. And these are good things. Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to stop sitting here writing. I’m going to go and live my story. Would you care to join me?

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(My prompt told me I was also allowed to talk about what I disagreed with the most. I took exception to Miller’s overly cynical views of marketing.  Now, in some ways he is right, but at one point he actually said, “As near as I could tell from reading those [marketing how-to] books, marketing is a three-step process. The first step is to convince people they are miserable. The second step is to convince people they will be happy if they buy your product, and the third step is to include a half-naked woman in your pitch….” This really bugged me. So here’s what I’m going to do about it: I am going to keep studying marketing. I am going to keep learning how to market in a Godly way. I am going to make a difference. But I just had to say: THIS BUGGED ME SO MUCH!)   

Take 3: Dreaming Beneath a Willow Tree

After surviving my first Old Testament Survey test this morning, I wandered down to the cafeteria with a group of friends. It’s always funny when I sit at a table with a group, because invariably the conversation will wander to a topic which I know less than nothing about. Sometimes my peers are kind enough to stop and try to educate me, but half the time they realize that they could spend all day trying to help me understand Harry Potter or a YouTube video and it wouldn’t do an ounce of good. I am clueless when it comes to these things. But oh well.

After lunch I wandered out onto the quad (a.k.a. the grassy space in the center of campus), and saw a friend I hadn’t seen in a few days. Now, the weather was so gorgeous that the last thing I desired was to go to my slightly messy, boring dorm room and work on homework. So what, you might ask, was my natural reaction? Simple. It was to seek out stimulating conversation instead. My friend on the quad began by asking me who I was dressed as for movie character dress-up day, and I answered that I was Kathleen Kelly from You’ve Got Mail. We bounced from the subject of You’ve Got Mail to Harry Potter magic to Lord of the Rings to Narnia and culminated with arguing about whether C.S. Lewis was actually a Christian or whether he was an evolution-supporting, purgatory-believing, confused old man. This was great fun. Unfortunately, our conversation was interrupted by the fact that my friend had a meeting. Time to go back to the dorm I guess.

Actually, I still didn’t want to go and do homework, so on my way back to Mayfield I stepped into Dr. Walenciak’s office to say hello. He insists that I stop by and pay him a visit once in a while, and it’d been several weeks since I’d last taken him up on his offer. (And talking with a professor is a great excuse not to do my Spanish homework….) We chatted for several minutes about school and his beloved Guatemala and how I was doing adjusting to college life.

After I left Dr. Walenciak’s office, I ran into a gentleman in the hallway, who seemed incredibly familiar. It turns out this was another professor, but I’d maybe met him once or twice and never really talked to him. So of course I had to fix that. Now I know that Dr. Kennelley teaches several quantitative classes in the business department and I’ll probably have him for Statistics soon.

I finally wandered back to my room and was ready to get down to business. I pulled out my key and tried the lock….no luck. My door was stuck!!! Amazingly, my friend Tracy, one of Mayfield’s cleaning ladies, was walking down the hall just then. I knew she had a master key, so I asked if she could get my door open. She couldn’t either, but she was able to call campus security and the man they sent was able to force the lock open.

I was finally back in my dorm, which I had secretly been avoiding for the last 45 minutes. The next thing on my list was to work on my blog post, which had a very interesting prompt this week:

Before you write your response, I want you to do something. I want you to go outside. I’m not going to say for how long, because this isn’t something to check-off your list. I want you to go outside and just be for a little while. Be. Listen. Be. For this activity, I don’t want you to be with anyone. Be by yourself for a little while. Really allow yourself to BE with yourself (this may sound odd..but seriously, I want you to do this). And as you sit with yourself, I want you to ask yourself this question:

What is my dream? What is that one thing that makes me feel most alive––the most alive that I have ever been?

Now, when I went outside this afternoon to sit, think, dream, and reflect about myself, this afternoon’s events had to make me laugh. Apparently, I love being here at school. Classes are so interesting and my friends in my residence hall and across campus are the best. When you ask me what makes me feel alive, a lot of it is these little interactions. I love the bright spots that people bring to my day. My friend Gabrielle complains about how long it takes me to get places. You see, the above paragraphs (don’t count, there are five) happened on my way back from lunch. But this is what I would describe as a wonderful afternoon. I enjoyed interacting with people that I otherwise may not have talked to today. I didn’t have any problem with the fact that it took me nearly 45 minutes to get back to my dorm from lunch. My conversations happened in many different places: the hallway, the quad, an office. But in each place, one thing was true: I felt ALIVE.

Sitting on that silly park bench this afternoon, listening to the wind rustle the willow branches and watching the limbs sway back and forth, at first my thoughts were going for a million miles at minute. But as I sat there and relaxed, I encouraged myself to think about what my dream was. Part of my dream I am already living: I am at a Christian college, surrounded by neat people and with unbounded opportunities to learn and develop in the next four years. I have a great roommate, who I get along with really well. My family is excited for me, prays for me, and loves to hear about what’s going on in my life. I have a wonderful boyfriend who cares about me. I am trying to serve the LORD with every area of my life. I feel like I am exactly where God wants me to be and He is helping me use my gifts and talents to be a servant for Him here at JBU.

The next part of my dream is what scares me. I don’t know the future. Really, who does? Ultimately all I really want is for my life to be lived for the glory of God. I want to do His work. To be where He wants me.  To be a person who lives up to the name Christian. To be a cherished daughter of God.

But what does that look like? Somewhere along the way, this young, sleep-deprived, photo-snapping, extroverted student is going to grow up into a woman. Eventually, I’d love to have a successful career, a handsome husband, a child or two………………. It all seems so far away at the moment, but at the same time, adulthood isn’t so far off. I’m 18 now. I’ll be able to vote in this next election. I can drive a car. I’m 14 hours away from home at college. This year has caused a lot of growing up, and because of that, the future seems closer to reality right now.

In my heart, I know that God has every part of this under control. Helping my mind understand this is sometimes more of a challenge. This struggle between faith and fear is frequent. But as our chapel speaker talked about this morning, if we can put our trust in an all-powerful, loving, amazing God, we are able to believe and know that he will catch us when he says ‘jump!’ Whether it feels like I’m walking happily beside my Savior, or as though I’m being asked to jump from the comfort of my own plans to the safety of His arms, I know and believe that I can trust Him. This doesn’t keep me from being scared, frustrated, or stressed out at times. But through Him, my dreams become reality. Through Him, my fears melt away. Through Him, I am alive.