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!)