Education is Fundamentally Religious

The following is an excerpt from The Case for Classical Christian Education by Douglas Wilson, pages 21 and 22. 

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The NEA knows what it wants and is willing to dedicate its resources to get it. Sad to say, on the other hand, most Christian parents do not know what they want and are not willing to sacrifice anything. Many within the system still have a biblical view of morality, and so they want to work against this sinful agenda and try to restore "traditional" morality to American schools. 

On what moral basis shall the teacher who wholly suppresses all appeal to religion rest that authority which he must exercise in the classroom? He will find it necessary to say to the pupil, "Be diligent. Be obedient. Do not lie."  This must be done so the student may acquire his secular knowledge. But on who's authority? By what standard?*

Education is fundamentally religious. Consequently, there is no question about whether a morality will be imposed in that education, but rather which morality will be imposed. Christians and assorted traditionalists who want a secular school system to instill anything other than secular ethics are wanting something that has never happened and can never happen. 

Because all truths converge towards God, the teacher who cannot name God must have fragmented teaching. He can only construct a truncated figure. In history, ethics, philosophy, and jurisprudence, religious facts and propositions are absolutely inseparable from the subject at hand. The necessary discipline of a schoolroom and secular fidelity of teaching require religion.*

If they converge toward the Christian God, then He will be acknowledged, and His Word will be honored. If all "truths" converge on the Sinai of another God, then we will see his law/word imposed. And that "law" will in our day amount to some variation of catering to the powers that be.

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* These two quotes are from R.L. Dabney, On Secular Education (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 1989) pg 19,24 

Educational Overhaul Part 1 - Introduction

Preface

I have thoughts on education. I have these thoughts because I have been in the educational world for a majority of my life. Besides going to school myself, I have been a math teacher for 19 years, being a math department head at two different schools for some of that time. After a short stint as an instructional coach, I have been a disciplinary dean for the last 2 and a half years. Across this educational career, I have taught in both public and private schools in three different states. I am not, by any means, saying that my time in education has made me an expert, but it has left me with some thoughts on the issues facing education, and possible solutions to those problems. 

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.)

Introduction

Corn Fields in Illinois

I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

New Learning Course Update #4

As I've mentioned before, I'm taking a course this summer called New Learning through the University of Illinois. As a part of the course requirements, I must add 7 different updates related to the topics in the course.  This is update #4 on the topic of Authentic Pedagogy: More Recent Times.  The update ended with the prompt: Describe and analyze the features of an example of authentic pedagogy today. 

Here is my update:

New Learning Course Update #1

I am currently taking a Master's course through the University of Illinois. This is an online course, and the requirements of the course involve me contributing to the "discussion" through typing my own updates and adding them to the course's page. There are seven updates that I need to compose, and I have decided to cross post those updates on this blog.

Here is the first update, in response to the instructor's update, titled Being an Educator in Interesting Times.

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End of the Year Thoughts...

This is the 17th time I have ended a school year as a teacher. Actually it is my 18th, if you count my student teaching experience. I have spent nearly an equal amount of time teaching at public schools as I have private Christian schools, and there has been a wide variety of types of schools in each of those two categories. I think I may have learned some stuff about teaching, but I still feel like a rookie most of the time: like I still have a lot to learn.

As this year ends, I thought I would share a few thoughts from my years as a teacher (and specifically this last year):

It dawned on me today... I have two very difficult jobs.

It dawned on me today... I have two very difficult jobs.

Now, if you know me, and you know my two jobs... you are probably thinking... "duh."

For those of you who do not know me or do not know me that well, allow me a moment to tell you about my two jobs.

3/14/15 9:26 and 53 seconds

Pi Day... of the century!

pi = 3.141592653... 

today is 3/14/15 at this moment... 9:26 53 seconds

A Defense of Test-Heavy Weighted Grades

A few weeks ago my Principal asked me to write down some reasons why I weight my grades the way I do. This is most definitely a rough draft, but I think it is a good beginning for an explanation of my reasons.  Let me know what you think:

A Defense of Test-Heavy Weighted Grades

Feel free to leave your response/comments in the comments section of this post...

Classroom Teaching

It has begun again.

I have been back inside of those school walls again over the last two days. We won't have any students in our classrooms until Monday, but we are participating in our annual, obligatory institute days within the district. This is that time of year when all teachers find themselves sitting in meetings and sessions... attempting to learn how to accomplish all of the priorities that the government has sent down the proper pathways so that they can ensure that they have done everything they are supposed to do to turn teachers into good teachers... while simultaneously, these same teachers are attempting to create to-do lists of all the actual priorities that are immediately necessary for them to really be a good teacher. This can be exhausting.

Every once in awhile, during these institute days, there will be a presenter at one of these sessions who has been a teacher and remembers what it is like. Well, actually many of them have been teachers, but most only think they remember what it was like to be a teacher but they have forgotten, or quite possibly the reason why they "used to be teachers" is because they never should have been a teacher in the first place and they got out of it because they weren't very good at it, but now they are instructing other teachers how to be teachers. It's a mad, mad world.... Anyway... Every once in awhile there is a presenter who is actually a good teacher currently, and you can tell that he (or she) "gets it" ... not because they tell you such, but because they actually do "get it" and you can tell. Well, we had one of those presenters today. He presented information that we have heard before, but it made sense this time. He was interesting, he was enlightening, and most importantly for myself, he presented pertinent information.

During the presentation, he shared a quote from a guy named Lee Shulman, who is an educational psychologist. Here is the quote that he shared (I Googled it right after it was on the powerpoint):

Classroom teaching…is perhaps the most complex, most challenging, and most demanding, subtle, nuanced, and frightening activity that our species has ever invented….The only time a physician could possibly encounter a situation of comparable complexity would be in the emergency room of a hospital during a natural disaster.
~Lee Shulman, the Wisdom of Teaching

Now, obviously I don't think of teaching as something that we invented. Being a teacher is a characteristic of God that we might call communicable: It is an attribute that can also be applied to us. You could say that Classroom Teaching, as we know it, is an invention of people, but I believe that the good aspects of teaching can be traced back to the Great Teacher. But I am sharing this quote, not because I agree with the entire thing, but because much of what he says is quite accurate, especially in today's modern society. Teaching is challenging and complex, to say the least.

What always surprises me is how often one might encounter different people who love sharing a great quote about teaching or teachers... sort of like this quote or maybe even like that video where the guy talks about what teachers "make" ... but the ones who tend to talk in this positive, uplifting way are also the first in line to throw a teacher under the bus. Most specifically when their own children aren't performing well. Surely it was the teacher's fault! It is almost as if people love to glorify the occupation of teacher in a very general way, but with teachers that they actually know, they can only see their shortcomings and deficiencies. Besides... we all get the summer off every year anyway... right?!?

Well, I share this quote and my surrounding thoughts, not for my own sake, but for all of those teachers out there. It is a challenging occupation, more than most people will ever know, but it is also one of the most unappreciated jobs by those who are closest to a teacher.

Keep at it teachers!  You are giving the occupation a good name, whether those closest to you realize it or not.

Coalition for Community Involvement

On November 21st, at 7pm, in the Georgetown Ridge Farm High School Cafeteria, there will be the first meeting of the GRF Coalition for Community Involvement.  This event is open to anyone in the Georgetown Ridge Farm Community.

Tonight I will be sharing the vision of the Coalition, with a key aspect on emphasizing Open Doors.  Even though this is not geared toward Churches or Christian Organizations, it is an amazing opportunity for Pastors and other Church Members to get involved in kids lives.

If you know anyone in the Georgetown Ridge Farm Community, or just someone who cares about this community (they don't have to have children in the school or even live in this community) then please pass this along.  This includes Pastors, Church leaders, Church members, Business owners, Law Enforcement, City Leaders, Public officials, Family members, Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and any other Concerned citizens.

Please Pray that this meeting goes well and loads of people will show up.

"I'm just bad at math..." it's a myth!

When I first started teaching, I began to encounter the "I'm just bad at math..." comment from a variety of students. I didn't find it helpful to the situation, but what was I to do?  I wasn't in their head... maybe they really did have math deficit disorder, but it sure seemed like the large part of my students who would use this phrase, seemed to connect it with their inability to get their homework completed.

The longer I taught, the more I began to see a connection.  I even noticed that those students who were typically labeled the "math people" were also very diligent in their work.

Now, I know that we live in a society that isn't allowed to make a judgment call on anybody for any reason, so even talking this way tends to ruffle some feathers.  My response is that you should stop judging me by calling me judgmental!  But that is a different blog post, I just want to share an article about this myth of "bad at math" that is plaguing our nation.

The article is titled, The Myth of 'I'm Bad At Math' and it's subtitle is: Basic ability in the subject isn't the product of good genes, but hard work.

There is much in the article that I found to be worth reading, but I want to at least quote the final paragraph, because I believe that it holds a key thought that is impacting all of us.

Math education, we believe, is just the most glaring area of a slow and worrying shift. We see our country moving away from a culture of hard work toward a culture of belief in genetic determinism. In the debate between “nature vs. nurture,” a critical third element—personal perseverance and effort—seems to have been sidelined. We want to bring it back, and we think that math is the best place to start.

Let's not forget the key third element to our intellects.

education defined

education

EDUCA'TION, n. [L. educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

with proper citation this time...
"education." Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. 2013. http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/education (20 September 2013).

A Statement from the NEA (National Education Association)

“If the study of the Bible is to be excluded from all state schools; if the inculcation of the principles of Christianity is to have no place in the daily program; if the worship of God is to form no part of the general exercises of these public elementary schools; then the good of the state would be better served by restoring all schools to church control.” 

Oh... did I fail to mention that this statement was made in 1892?

Chromebooks For Our School

If you have been following me for any amount of time, then you know I am a huge Google fan.  Two years ago, any mocking for being a Google fanatic was quelled when I received in the mail a free Chromebook from Google.  I was part of their Pilot Program and received one in the mail. Since that time, I have grown to love my Chromebook.  I use it everyday.  After two years of non-stop use, it is still as fast as it was when I first got it.


A couple of days ago, I heard about a special offer from Google and DonorsChoose.org for $99 Samsung Series 5 Chromebooks for Public Schools.  This is an amazing deal!  The school where I teach in is high poverty, we are barely scraping by on one lab of old desktop computers.  We don't have ipads or even a mobile lab.  I quickly put my name in and was accepted before the time ran out.

I am writing this blog post to beg for money.  I only need to come up with about $2600 to get 22 Chromebooks for my classroom.  And... Every donation using the code INSPIRE will receive a matched donation for the next 7 days!  Please consider donating some small amount to our school for this amazing deal!

If you find it in your heart to donate a little toward a needy school, please visit this site and make a donation. (Don't forget to use the code INSPIRE to get the matching donation.)

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/chromebooks-for-our-school/934086/#materialsList


This is for a non-profit, so every donation is tax-deductible!

In the Catalog!

I made it into the Maranatha Baptist Bible College Catalog!

I am on page 95 of the catalog.  I am in the Math Education section.

I knew that they were thinking about putting me in there, but I hadn't heard whether or not they had actually done it.  I sent them my "teacher photo" from the school.

Click this picture to read my little write-up.  (Or you can click here to look at the education section of the school's catalog and scroll down to page 95.)

Anyone want to buy this book for me?

I don't normally like to beg, but this book really interests me.

I've been using the Khan Academy in my math classes for about 2 1/2 years.  I've seen it grow and change over that time, and it keeps getting better.  I would like to use it more, but trying to figure out how to incorporate it, isn't always as easy. (I have a Khan Academy setup page on our new School Staff page.  Click here.)

Most teachers have limited time with their students.  We are always wanting more time, especially in math.  We can't always depend on students doing homework at home, so I've relied more and more on class time to help my students get their needed practice with a new concept.  The Khan Academy has been great for reviewing those basic concepts, the ones I don't have time for in class because I need them to practice the new concepts, but I feel like I could incorporate it even more.

The Khan Academy even has several RTI (Response To Intervention) possibilities for our school.  I am going to be the RTI coach at the High School We are going to use AIMS web, but the Khan Academy provides a secondary point of data gathering in order to find those students who are most at risk in a certain topic of math.

Anyway, I don't like to beg, but we are a poor school district (partly because the State of Illinois doesn't make it's payments to our school), and I am a poor school teacher who can't justify a  book purchase of more than $0.99 right now.  So, even though I don't normally beg, I just thought there might be someone out there with a heart for Teachers, a heart for Education, or a heart for Georgetown, IL (or maybe even a heart for the Matt Harmlesses of the world) that might feel motivated to buy me a book!

No pressure.  I am mostly kidding.  But if someone bought me this book, I am not saying that wouldn't be awesome!

Building a Search Engine

I am going to learn how to build a search engine.

I just signed up for a free class through a site called Udacity.  On the about page on their site it says,

We believe university-level education can be both high quality and low cost. Using the economics of the Internet, we've connected some of the greatest teachers to hundreds of thousands of students in almost every country on Earth. Udacity was founded by three roboticists who believed much of the educational value of their university classes could be offered online for very low cost. A few weeks later, over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled in our first class, "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence." The class was twice profiled by the New York Times and also by other news media. Now we're a growing team of educators and engineers, on a mission to change the future of education

The class that I signed up for is CS101 (Computer Science 101).  It says that there is no previous programming experience required, but after 7 weeks, you will be able to create a search engine like Google or Yahoo.  Since one of the teachers is a Google Fellow, I'm guessing that this is fairly accurate.

I am requiring my Web Design and Interactive Media Class to sign up for this as well.  I am hoping that it goes well, and that I learn some stuff along the way.

Here is a video from the site where the teachers are talking about the idea of the class.

Martin Luther on Education

"I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt...I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth."

Martin Luther

The Khan Academy

Really, really getting closer to finding ways to incorporate the Khan Academy into my math curriculum.  There is so much to this site, that it is hard to explain.  So, instead of trying to explain it, I will let you watch a video of Salman Khan, the founder of the Khan Academy.