DOCENDO DISCIMUS

Moving Into Our New House(s)

(The following guest post is by Todd Wedel, Academic Dean and soon-to-be Upper School Principal at The Academy. You can follow his blog at Left Hand Blessings.)

During testing week this past April, we purposefully organized two activities for our Upper School students, something different and interesting, led not primarily by me but by our own 11^th-12^th graders. Each day, students worked, not by grade level, but divided into groups vertically instead of horizontally, comprised of students across the grade levels.

The Tuesday of testing week, each group worked to create a Veritas infomercial; the Thursday, they designed strange relays for our first Circus Minimus, in which they competed the following week. Our 11^th-12^th graders led the efforts, helping on Tuesday in designing and directing the infomercial and on Thursday in planning the relay stations.

These activities were fun and engaging, a chance to take a break from testing, work together, and accomplish something as a group beyond just a grade. And while these activities were designed to be enjoyable as isolated events, their deeper purpose was to introduce students to an exciting new element of our future Academy of Classical Christian Studies experience: a house system.

House systems have a long history in English schools, especially English boarding schools, but they have also come to be a common and central aspect of school culture in many classical and Christian schools, including Providence Hall. House systems organize students in the vertical integration our Upper School students experienced during testing week.

Without such integration, classes often develop their own identities, own cultures. While this is natural and good in many respects, the classes can develop cultures often different, distinct, and separate from other classes. These identities are driven not just by the personalities of those in the class but by the natural inclinations and aptitudes, both academic and moral, pertaining to ages and stages in development. 

Thus, while students bond together, they maintain a separation by age level, capitalizing on neither of two desired dynamics in any community. The first, a sense of natural leadership, service, encouragement, yes, even admonishment, from elder to younger. The second, a sense of natural reception of encouragement and service and a striving for emulation of those qualities of Christ-like leadership from younger to elder. 

The houses, then, function much as families within a larger church body. They are a place for specific, intentional relationships and activities, ranging from games and competitions, physical and academic, to service projects, to festivals and feasts. Those are the formal activities; the informal are more the goal, motivation, and end, to help foster a vibrant school community of mutual respect, service, and love. 

For the 2013-2014 year, we will implement the house system in our Upper School (grades 6-12), and are evaluating how best to extend it to our Grammar students. This is an exciting development in the life of our school, so look for continued announcements, updates, and clarifications as we prepare for next year.

(For more on Providence Hall's use of a house system, click to watch Providence Hall Head of School Nathan Carr describe their experience.)

Out of the Bag for the Good of Oklahoma City

This week is a significant one for classical Christian education in Oklahoma City.

Four months ago, Providence Hall Head of School Nathan Carr and I (on behalf of our boards) launched via video and website what were then the public beginnings (at least to our respective schools) of The Academy of Classical Christian Studies.

This week - tonight, actually - we announce the new school to the Oklahoma City metro via a three-minute news story on Fox 25's "Tell Me Something Good" feature with news anchor Mike Brooks. Here's the link.

But before we do that, today we'd like to roll out the brand new crest for our new school. Many thanks to Todd Milligan at Dust Bowl Artistry for helping create what we hope our families will embrace as a wonderful and symbolic visual that represents who we are as The Academy. (Note: For an excellent interpretation of our crest, read Nathan’s explanation of each of the elements.)

In addition to the new crest, we're also rolling out our new public Facebook page and Twitter feed for The Academy, so go like/follow us if you would. Finally, if you haven't already (or haven't in a while), be sure to visit the official website for The Academy, where we cast our vision and continue to detail the creation of our new school.

Overview of Classical Christian Education

It could use a better soundtrack and there's a terrible typo that ought to cost someone his or her job, but here's a good video on classical Christian education called "The New Old Way," produced by Veritas Press and the Association of Classical Christian Schools.

Introducing: The Academy

Excited for what's ahead in 2013...and, by God's grace, beyond. Watch, then go here.

Providence Hall's Dickens Symposium

Our friends at Providence Hall Classical Christian School have put together an exciting celebration of author Charles Dickens and "his inimitable legacy." Pick an event, mark your calendars next weekend, and enjoy!

Sacramental Science

Bill Fix is a retired science teacher who taught 26 years at Norman High. But it wasn't until he attended our Constructing the Vision banquet this past March that he finally had the language to name his classical education tendencies.

"A Veritas staff member invited me to attend the banquet and I was so glad I did," he recalls. "I was blown away listening to Susan Wise Bauer describe classical education's grammar, logic, and rhetoric progression, as it was exactly the way I always tried to think about and teach science. I was inspired."

So inspired, in fact, that he agreed to sit in with me (Craig) in the spring as I interviewed applicants for our vacant Upper School science positions. We also got together periodically during the summer to discuss longer-term plans for more solidly developing our entire school science curriculum in conjunction with Academic Dean Todd Wedel and our curriculum mapping team.

A member at Wildwood Community Church in Norman, Bill gets what we're trying to do through classical Christian education, and he has the expertise and experience to help us do it across the sciences.

"The way to learn science is to do science," says Bill. "The experiment is the focus at the beginning, not the tag-along at the end. If we're going to get students talking about science, they have to have content to talk about. The experiments are the database from which they can draw."

This lines up well with our desire at Veritas to do what one of our board members has called "sacramental science" - a hands-on approach to the study of the general, physical, and earth sciences, as well as to our biology, chemistry, and physics courses.

To that end, just yesterday Bill stopped by to drop off nine boxes - nine boxes! - of scientific instruments and glassware he had rounded up free of charge for Veritas. He also sat in on two of our science classes before joining our juniors and co-teaching Chemistry. I'm honestly not sure who had more fun - our Veritas students or Bill.

In a conversation about deeper goals for our Pre-K through 12th grade curriculum, I asked Bill for his perspective as to what a student and teacher of the sciences should look like. As he is wont to do, he paused before answering, then offered this:

"I want to see students learn and demonstrate good observational skills and ways of going about, sorting, and synthesizing data and systems. The science teacher's job is not to be the source of information, but the guide through the unknown."

Which is why I've asked Bill to serve as a mentor for us in the area of the sciences. I'm excited to see where he guides our students and teachers as they explore God's world.

Guest Post: Believing That We May Understand

(Veritas Classical Academy Upper School teacher Josh Spears is a trained philosopher and logician, adjunct professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, husband to Kirsten, and father to three boys. His guest post is a great example of how he helps his boys think critically about the supposed dichotomy between knowledge and faith.)

"Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God."
Jesus, Matthew 4:3

"I've seen it done, but I'd like to have a little more
scientific backing before I risk my own feet."
Grant Imahara, Mythbuster

Veritas is committed to helping students understand God’s world and His Word. This commitment to education involves affording opportunities to students for growth in knowledge, understanding and wisdom and faith, hope and love. 

This desire to combine faith and knowledge makes Veritas unique in a culture that attempts to drive a wedge between those two. Richard Dawkins, for example, carelessly defines faith as "believing what you know ain’t so." In a slight improvement, faith is sometimes taken to be what’s left over when knowledge goes as far as it can. Still another definition of faith takes it to be a blind leap in the dark.

In each of these definitions, faith and knowledge are taken to be distinct. So distinct, in fact, that having both at the same time is impossible. Thus, the believer faces a choice: it’s either knowledge or faith. Unfortunately, many Christians have accepted (and initiated) definitions of faith like those above. They have bought in to the false choice and opted to pit faith against knowledge. Christians, however, ought to reject this choice between faith and knowledge is a false one. We needn’t choose between having faith and having knowledge. In fact, true knowledge involves true faith, a point that came home on a recent foray into one of my family's favorite shows. 

My family and I often re-watch Mythbusters and we found in the "Fire Walking" episode a powerful example of true faith’s relation to true knowledge. If you’re unfamiliar with Mythbusters, it’s a Discovery Channel show that applies the scientific method to various myths in an attempt to determine whether the myth is true or false (I’ll flee the temptation to digress into a discussion of true nature of myth).

In this episode, three Mythbusters - Carie, Grant, and Tori - explore whether it takes being in a trance to master walking barefoot on hot coals heated to more than 1,000 degrees. To test the myth, the three travel to meet a fire walking guru who trains others to walk across glowing coals and, having spent time with him, they then spend an entire evening watching a dozen men and women make the walk unscathed. 

With the evidence of an authoritative instructor, the evidence of the testimony of the coal-walkers, and the evidence of senses, Grant has a fascinating reaction. Watch this two-minute summary to see what I mean:

Despite having that evidence, he won’t step out onto the coals.What more could he want? Grant says that he wants to see the science. He won’t believe until he sees. So, he and the others spend time making life-like feet out of rubber, running experiments on the physics of heat transfer, and covering all their scientific bases.

So, now Grant has the evidence of science to go with the previous evidence gained at the fire walking demonstration. But it’s here that things truly get interesting. It’s most interesting that even after he has the science, Grant still doesn’t have knowledge. Grant is looking for a certainty - a certainty that fire walking is safe. He looks for this certainty in science, or better, he thinks he’s looking for certainty in science.

The trouble is that science cannot provide the certainty necessary to drive the wedge between knowledge and faith. Having the date is not the same thing as actually stepping out on the coals. It is not knowledge until feet touch heat. Grant must literally step out in faith. Science and senses, testimony and training can only go so far. In the end, it takes that first step and that first step is nothing less than faith. So, science and knowledge require action and acting requires faith. Grant lives by faith as much as any believer does.

What all this gives us is a beautiful picture of biblical faith. Faith is another way of knowing that which is built on solid evidence. God does not call us to follow him without knowledge; he doesn’t ask us to fling ourselves off a cliff in a desperate hope that something is there on the other side. Faith is essentially trust - trust that God will continue to keep his promises, trust that the promise-keeping God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be my promise-keeping God. I see and study his work in His world and Word and step out with him in trust on that basis. He’s given me all the reason I need to trust him, but until I actually live that out, I have neither faith nor knowledge. 

We must continue to combine faith and knowledge at Veritas and remain committed to training students to live out Augustine’s maxim, "I believe that I may understand." There need not be a dichotomy between knowledge and faith; God has provided each to lead to the other...and both to lead to Him.

Desiring the Kingdom (First Quarter Review)

A former teaching colleague (and current friend) of mine is using Desiring the Kingdom as a key text for his Christian educational ministries degree. He asked if he could send me a few questions detailing my experience with James K.A. Smith's book and its impact on our first quarter of school (to revisit my favorite quotations from each chapter of Desiring the Kingdom, visit one of these summer posts: Intro, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.). Here's what I wrote back:

Can you briefly explain the format that you went about discussing Desiring the Kingdom together?

We used Desiring the Kingdom as a framework to work through discussions on classical education in theory and practice, as well as across schools (i.e. Grammar and Upper). Through this lens, we processed together thoughts and perspectives from the ACCS conference in Dallas, updated and continued work on our Curriculum Mapping initiative, interacted over and continued working out our trans-denominational perspective, reviewed and renewed our commitment to each other through the relational covenant, implemented new and creative ways to blend our classical Christian model of education, engaged in planning first day habits and liturgies, learned about and practiced teaching to different learning styles, discussed important educational mechanics like workload evaluation, grading standards, lesson planning, and school systems, and helped prepare staff for their part of our WISE (Walking in Step Educationally) Parent Training Conferences in August.

After discussing DTK, what did you sense was the overall response of the faculty to what James K. A. Smith is proposing? What aspects of Smith’s argument were most popular with the faculty? What were the critiques and did you have any significant pushback?

Smith’s perspective on ritual and liturgy were huge for our staff, particularly for those who had not considered either as being more everyday than every week (i.e. Sunday at church). This emphasis and language was important for our school as it gave the teachers both rationale and words for why we try to do what we do, whether it be Grammar school students walking in lines or Upper school students sitting meditatively in RISE (our morning assembly).

The most significant pushback had more to do with staff (particularly in the Grammar school) feeling it was a tough read. Some of these same staff felt Smith negatively overreacted to the ideas of capitalism, patriotism, and our nation’s Christian heritage.

Smith’s writing is pretty philosophical, heady. How did you go about putting hands and feet on his proposals?

One key to this was the assembly of a study guide by our theology/philosophy teacher. Another was allotting plenty of time during orientation (and in more informal conversations) during which the book and its contents were the main topic of discussion. We spent a good amount of time in the book’s introduction (which is really sufficient in many ways as a summary of the book).

What parts of the book did you think spoke directly to the VCA community?

Again, the ritual and liturgy emphasis was important, as was the Smith’s succinct statement that true Christian education should be about shaping what students love more than what they know. Historically, this has been the desire of the board for the school, but I wouldn’t say the language for this was as clear in the minds and hearts of the staff as Smith’s brief statement; however, once unleashed, there seemed to be quite an “a-ha” moment across all grades as to what we were after (and what we weren’t).

Which parts were particularly meaningful or important for you as the Head of School?

For me, Smith’s book was a powerful validation of much of what I have always believed about Christian education (classical or otherwise), summarized with great depth. The fact that our theology/philosophy teacher recommended the book to me with the words, “I think you’ll like this because it’s what I hear you saying” meant a lot and unintentionally loaned me some borrowed credibility in the eyes of the staff. As a second-year Head of School, this has been immeasurably helpful in at least giving me confidence that, while I’m continuing to solidify my educational philosophies and perspective, I’m perhaps not just making this stuff up out of thin air.

In this first quarter of the school year, where have you seen evidence of your discussion bearing fruit in the lives/work of your faculty, parents, and students?

As we have a good amount of new staff (some brand new to teaching), I feel our time in Desiring the Kingdom has been particularly helpful in getting them off on the right foot. While the majority of our teachers (new or veteran) wrestle on a weekly basis with what classical Christian education looks like in their classes, I think we’re newly aware of what it doesn’t look like as a result of our reading the book.

This brings clarity to our efforts and bolsters confidence in our attempts to train parents and students in a more character-focused, virtues-driven education as opposed to one more competency-focused and values-driven. Reading the book through the summer, training through its presuppositions during staff orientation, and then implementing and applying these ideas face-to-face by utilizing our teachers as the main presenters at our two-day parent orientations got all of us off to as good a start as I would have hoped. Still, there’s plenty of opportunity to revisit and review Desiring the Kingdom, as old educational habits for all involved tend to die hard.

The Power of Observation

A few weeks ago, Megan and I played brunch hosts to a young woman from our church who is finishing up her education degree at a local university. She is six weeks into her student teaching at a local public high school and her experience has been anything but positive, not so much because of the students, but because she feels very, very alone. Her "mentor" teacher is anything but, and her education professor has basically stated that this loneliness is good training for what the "real world" of teaching is.

To make things worse, the principal at her school doesn't know her name, and she's not even sure he knows she's there. My heart broke for her. I really don't want this to be the case for our teachers - new or returning - at Veritas.

With this in mind (and as we do every year), Grammar School principals Ann Taylor, Todd Wedel and I have been investing the past few weeks in our Veritas classrooms. We started by observing our new teachers, and are now in the process of evaluating our returning teachers by way of a formal evaluation, during which we sit in on an entire class period to observe and take notes. We then write a 2-3 page narrative of each teacher's class and how he or she proceeded with students through the lesson for that day according to our vision, mission, and teacher job description. 

Following the observation (sometimes immediately after), we write up our thoughts and email them to the teacher. We then get together with the teacher at his or her earliest convenience to walk and talk through the narrative, share a few observations and process questions together. Then, if all seems good and right, we'll both sign the report, make the teacher a copy, and the original goes in the teacher's personnel file for reference. I'm happy to report (and as many of our parents keep telling me), we're blessed to have the teachers we do! 

We'll repeat a similar process more formally in the spring, with all three principals observing each teacher. For now, though, we're on track to finish our fall evaluations by Fall Break (which was our goal), and from here will continue to interact and process with teachers in conversation and as challenges and opportunities arise, as well as in our monthly staff meetings (one of which we had yesterday). It's always an enjoyable and important process. 

Note: Earlier this week and at my suggestion, the young woman I mentioned at the beginning of the story arranged for me to come observe her teaching a class at her public school. After writing her evaluation and processing through it with her afterward, I've got my eye on her as a possible future Veritas teacher!

What Are You Learning?

Yesterday, instead of the usual opening dialogue of "What's going well?" and "What's going wrong?" I asked our Admin Team a different question to kick off our weekly meeting: "What are you learning?" We took a few seconds to contemplate personally, then after a few semi-serious lessons shared, we got down to brass tacks. I won't speak for the team as to their insights, but I'm glad to let you in on what I shared.

Put simply, after what so many in our Veritas community (faculty, staff, parent, even student) have mentioned as being a very smooth start to our school year, I'm learning that, personally, I can run the risk of being too comfortable and content improving where we are rather than pushing us forward to where we want to go.

For instance, I really don't mind setting up chairs and tables each day when I know that doing so is part of a larger routine/system that will enable others to be able to do their jobs faithfully. And it's a joy checking the WISE Facebook page and quickly answering a question or providing an important link to our website that solves everything for a semi-desperate parent. And there are few greater thrills than just being available for a conversation with faculty and staff members about something they're trying to figure out and, after listening and trying to understand, asking a question or making a suggestion that seems to help.

I could do all of this all day long, but I'm learning that the good can quickly become the enemy of the best if I'm not careful. For me to plateau in chair-setting or Facebooking is not all that Veritas needs if we are to continue to move forward in our vision and mission. I need to be more focused on fundraising, more aggressive in finding new locations for more campuses, on the phone more with leaders in OKC getting the word out about our school, and more committed to spending time in prayer for the whole of our work.

Don't get me wrong: I'm grateful that I don't mind the ritual/liturgical aspects of my role, but while I don't mind them, I don't have the luxury of being able to default to them. I've asked our Admin Team to help me if/when they see me doing what's easy rather than what's necessary, as well as to say something when I'm doing too much of what others can or will do instead of what only I can do for the sake of our vision and mission.

That's what I'm learning, and I wanted to share it with you if/as you pray for me.

What are you learning?

The WISE Parent Training Conferences

As a former conference director, I know firsthand the value of taking a day or two (or longer) to focus with likeminded others and attempt to learn, think, talk, feel, and do differently and (hopefully) better. The time can be challenging, but is almost always encouraging as well.

This past summer, through the generous contribution of our school community, 42 of our Veritas staff and parents experienced this challenge and camaraderie at the Association of Classical & Christian Schools conference in Dallas. Coming home, we all wanted our Veritas community to have the opportunity to participate in what we had experienced. Through a lot of hard work by so many, now they can.

I'm thrilled to have parents join us for our first ever WISE (Walking in Step Educationally) Parent Training Conference – a gathering we hope will become an annual event to help our families and our school continue to improve our unique blended model of classical Christian education. It’s important for us to be together for two reasons:

1. We all need renewed clarity (and help) regarding our roles in this partnership. As a school, we are “in loco parentis” – in the place of parents, but not in place of parents. We would be wrong to assume more responsibility than appropriate in teaching these kids, but this has implications for parents in our blended model that they not abdicate their responsibility either. We all have much to continue to learn about the big picture and details of a blended model of classical Christian education.
   
2. We all need the opportunity to renew our covenant with each other in our relationship. This is why we’ve asked our staff to join our parents in this time together to re-affirm (or affirm for the first time for all our new families and staff) our relational covenant with each other. To learn, think, talk, feel, or do any of this well, we need to be present together to do it – not just in the same location or in the same building, but in our hearts as well.

The WISE Conferences are our best shot at meeting both of these goals before school starts later this month. We hosted the first one at our North Campus last weekend, and this coming weekend is all about our Central Campus. My hope is that our steps both weekends will be only the first of many as we seek God along our classical Christian education journey.

Desiring the Kingdom by James K.A. Smith (6)

Quotes from chapter six, "A Christian University Is for Lovers":

"What is education for? And more specifically, what is a distinctly Christian education for? But since we first asked the question, I hope we've come to appreciate three things: First, we humans are liturgical animals, whose fundamental orientation to the world is governed not primarily by what we think but by what we love, what we desire...Second, some practices are 'thicker' than others - rituals of ultimate concern that are bent on shaping our most fundamental wants and desires, trying to make us the kind of people who desire a vision of the kingdom that is antithetical to the kingdom of God...Third, Christianity is not only (or even primarily) a set of cognitive, heady beliefs; Christianity not fundamentally a worldview; rather, Christian practices, and particularly the practices of Christian worship, are the matrix for what can be articulated as a 'Christian world.'" (p. 215-216)

"But what if that's not enough? Or worse, what if a Christian perspective turns out to be a way of domesticating the radicality of the gospel? What if the rather abstract formulas of a Christian worldview turn out to be a way to tame and blunt the radical call to be a disciple of the coming kingdom? Could it be the case that learning a Christian perspective doesn't actually touch my desire, and that while I might be able to think about the world from a Christian perspective, at the end of the day I love not the kingdom of God but rather the kingdom of the market?" (p. 218)

"In too many cases, a Christian perspective doesn't seem to challenge the very configuration of these careers and vocations. To be blunt, our Christian colleges and universities generate an army of alumni who look pretty much like all the rest of their suburban neighbors, except that our graduates drive SUVs, inhabit their executive homes, and pursue the frenetic life of the middle class and the corporate ladder 'from a Christian perspective'...Such an approach reduces Christianity to a denuded intellectual framework that has diminished bite because such an intellectualized rendition of the faith doesn't touch our core passions." (p. 219)

"The domestication of Christianity as a perspective does little to disturb or reorient our practices; rather, it too often becomes a way of affirming the configurations of culture that we find around us - we just do what everyone else does 'plus Jesus'...What's the alternative? If Christian education is not merely about acquiring a Christian perspective or a Christian worldview, what is its goal? Its goal, I'm suggesting, is the same as the goal of Christian worship: to form radical disciples of Jesus and citizens of the baptismal city who, communally, take up the creational task of being God's image bearers, unfolding the cultural possibilities latent in creation - but doing so as empowered by the Spirit, following the example of Jesus's cruciform cultural labor." (p. 220)

"If the Christian university's motto is, 'I believe in order to understand,' the ecclesial university's motto is, 'I worship in order to understand.'" (p. 223)

"One of the most crucial things to appreciate about Christian formation is that it happens over time...Christian education 'takes practice.'" (p. 226, 230)

Beating Busyness (Part 2)

“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise,
making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Ephesians 5:15-17

All of us are called to be good stewards of the time God has given us, but when we get down to it, our struggle tends to be not as much a matter of time management as it is of priority management. This sounds simple enough, but our culture does us a disservice by pluralizing the word “priority,” confusing us as to what our “priorities” are. When we talk about our “priorities,” we’re talking about something that doesn’t make sense—the nature of priority is singular. We are only able to have one priority.

Below are some of my personal time-tested applications of this idea, my own "stop doing" list, and my suggested reading list to help you focus more on this idea of priority management. I've also recommend this helpful worksheet from my friend, Adam Holz, to serve as a simple "assignment" if you'd like to more closely evaluate how you think about to whom/what you're giving yourself.

Craig's Applications
These are different things I've tried over time - not all at once, but usually more than one or two at a time. Figure out what works for you and make your own list.

1. Put together a time budget. Like money, do you even know where your time really goes?
   
2. Schedule and plan a personal retreat. Even if it's for just half a day, get some time away and make a plan.
   
3. Re-evaluate your commute and how you use it. Much time gets wasted in the car. Listen to audio books, review Scripture, pray, or try initiating actual meaningful conversation with your kids (you might be surprised what happens).
   
4. Read (and don’t feel guilty). There's nothing like reading to make you slow down because you can't really multi-task in doing it.
   
5. Make a “stop doing” list. Over time, tasks and responsibilities accumulate, and not always for the best reasons. What do you need to stop doing?
   
6. Plan blocks of time for projects. The alternative here is to figure out how to make those 5-15 minute windows of time work.
   
7. Delegate (but don’t abdicate) what you can. Maybe you need to ask/pay/beg someone for help. This is not a sign of weakness; nobody's omni-competent.
   
8. Get to a point of being able to declare to yourself (and others) how much time you actually have. It's a thought experiment - try it.
   
9. Be sure to match the reason to the season (and vice versa); that is, there is a time for everything (and this may not be it).
10. Make the word “priorities” singular again (“priority”) in your mind and vernacular. It can make a big difference in your thinking.
    

Craig's "Stop Doing" List
While this list is philosophical, I periodically make practical "stop doing" lists each year to help me discern if something I've been doing needs me to be the one doing it.

1. Stop whining about being so busy. No one wants to hear it, and it’s probably not that tremendously interesting to anyone but you.
2. Stop believing that you can have it all. You can’t, so you’ll have to choose what you want to have instead.
3. Stop ignoring the Fourth Commandment. True, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, but you’re not even close to violating that, so stop pretending.
4. Stop feeling guilty about not being able to help everyone for every reason. Jesus is the Savior; you are not.
5. Stop being so lazy. There’s very little on television or the Internet worth viewing, so why spend hours trying to find it?
6. Stop refusing to delegate to others. They may want (or need) to help.
7. Stop letting yourself get overburdened and overworked. Cars were made to be driven; you were not.
8. Stop believing the lie that you are important because of all you do; rather, learn to believe you are important because of all Jesus did.
9. Stop wearing a watch (at least not on your wrist). Make access to a timepiece just a little more complicated so you might stop reaching for it as much as you would otherwise.
10. Stop letting busy people speak into your life. Why let them make you into who they are?

Suggested Reading List
I've read all or most of each of these books and found them most helpful in considering priority in life and how it does (or doesn't) direct everything else. Good stuff.

• New Way to Be Human by Charlie Peacock
• What Are People For? by Wendell Berry
• Bodies in Motion and at Rest by Thomas Lynch
• Traveling Light by Eugene Peterson
• Technics and Civilization by Lewis Mumford
• Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
• Boundaries by John Townsend
• How to Get Control of Your Time and Life by Alan Lakein
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective Leaders by Stephen Covey
• Getting Things Done by David Allen

Desiring the Kingdom by James K.A. Smith (4)

Quotes from chapter four, "From Worship to Worldview":

"It might be more helpful to talk about a Christian social imaginary than to focus on a Christian worldview, given that the latter seems tinged with a lingering cognitivism. By focusing on social imaginaries, the radar of cultural critique is calibrated to focus on exegeting practices, not just waiting for the blips of ideas to show up on the screen." (p. 133)

"What if we sought to discern not the essence of Christianity as a system of beliefs (or summarized in a worldview) but instead sought to discern the shape of Christian faith as a form of life?...This will require undoing some habits we've acquired in theology and philosoophy, as well as in discussions of Christian education and the formation of Christian worldview. In particular, it requires that we reconsider the relationship between practice and belief." (p. 134)

"Emphasizing the primary of worship practices to worldview formation both honors the fact that all humans are desiring animals while at the same time making sense of how Christian worship is developmentally significant for those who can participate in rituals but are unable to participate in theoretical reflection." (p. 138)

"Before Christians had systematic theologies and worldviews, they were singing hymns and psalms, saying prayers, celebrating the Eucharist, sharing their property, and becoming a people marked by a desire for God's coming kingdom - a desire that constituted them as a peculiar people in the present." (p. 139)

"If one temptation is to level the sacraments in the name of the sacramentality of the world, a second is the temptation to naturalize the liturgy as just an embodied practice like any other (another kind of leveling)...While worship is entirely embodied, it is not only material; and though worship is wholly natural, it is never only natural." (p. 149)

"Worship is not for me - it's not primarily meant to be an experience that 'meets my felt needs,' nor should we merely reduce it to a pedagogy of desire (which would be just a more sophisitcated pro me construal of worship); rather, worship is about and for God...We may have construed worship as a primarily didactic, cognitive affair and thus organized it around a message that fails to reach our embodied hearts, and thus fails to touch our desire." (p. 150)

Learning from Our Mistakes

Six month ago, I spoke with a very disheartened returning Veritas mom about her family's fall semester experience. She confessed that both she and her husband felt disorganized and lacked clear routines for their homedays, that their kids were unable to focus for any length of time alone, and that they wished they had taken more seriously the orientation help at the beginning of the year.

As we processed together, it was obvious they felt like failures. But it was also obvious we could do better helping them do better.

School starts in five-and-a-half weeks. Between now and then, all parents new to Veritas will take part in our new 2-day WISE Parent Conferences (North: August 10-11; Central, August 17-18) designed to orient them in the ways and nuances of Veritas.

But this orientation is not just for new families. Returning parents are required to join us for at least the second day of each conference, and will be welcomed (and encouraged) to join us for the whole time as well.

We've given great consideration to parent and staff suggestions, expanded the allotted time to interact with each other about intricacies of the blended model, and are confident that the conferences will be worth your time. (We wouldn't ask you to be a part if we weren't.)

If you're a new parent, you already know you're going. However, if you're a returning parent, we need you to RSVP and let us know how much of the conference you plan to attend (at minimum, the Saturday that goes with your respective campus...or more). We've made the process simple and quick.

Returning families, don't make the mistake in thinking you've "got" this. Every year is different, and the more we can prepare each other for this reality, the better off we're all sure to be. Learn more about the WISE Conferences. See you in August!

Encouragement by Association

I love association conferences. Back in the day, I cut my teeth on what were then the Christian Camping International (CCI) - now Christian Camp and Conference Association (3CA) - annual gatherings in cities like Seattle, Denver, St. Louis, San Diego. These past three days, I've been at the Association of Classical & Christian Schools conference in Dallas (I attended and wrote about last year's ACCS conference in Atlanta here), but this time I've brought 42 of our Veritas staff and parents to keep me company (34 of them are pictured below).

Annual association conferences are helpful for a variety of reasons, but here are some specific thoughts with regard to my role and context:

1) Coming on the heels of my first year at Veritas, the timing and location of this year's conference being in Dallas has been especially helpful. A year ago would have been too early, as I didn't know what I didn't know; next year would have been too late as I might have missed some urgency of key foundational aspects of my tenure as Head of School.

2) At every association conference - regardless of context - I'm always reminded of how much relational dysfunction can still exist within Christian organizations. Thankfully, in my years in Christian camping/conferencing and now in Christian schooling, I've been privileged to be at both a camp/conference center and school that, while not having yet arrived in terms of all the nuts and bolts of our work, were much further down the road in terms of interpersonal practice and relational maturity. This didn't/doesn't mean we didn't/don't have issues, but we did/do have processes to work through them.

3) Being an affirmation junkie, I'm always looking for encouragement that I/we just might be thinking about the right things and moving in the right directions, at least as far as more experienced and established leaders/schools are concerned. I haven't spent all my time comparing and constrasting every move we have or haven't made, but there have been occasions - many this week - when I've heard a story or point of fact and felt affirmed that we're really doing okay in more areas than I often let myself believe.

4) That said, I've experienced more than one paradigm nudge/shift as a result of being here. Douglas Wilson challenged me to avoid the extremes of both ends of the Founding Fathers' Christianity debate (complete and total Christians/complete and total Deists); Tom Garfield raised some flags on my idealism that we as a school can somehow make up for parents' lack of desire/diligence in carrying out their God-given responsibility to educate their kids; and our Veritas staff and parents inspired and convicted me that I want to work harder to become more of what they need as a clear-thinking, passionate-loving shepherd for them.

5) I'm also newly aware of just how far I have to go to be more classical and Christian in how I live and lead as a Head of School; neither comes naturally (the former due to a lack of experience; the latter due to a lack of sanctification), and it can be intimidating listening to Wilson and others, for whom both seem much more hand-in-glove. I'm humbled by the way God has gifted and blessed these men academically and theologically, and long to see Him do similarly in me.

It's been a good several days - made better (and only a little more complicated) by having Megan and the girls with me. Megan has attended and enjoyed the conference very much, while the girls have had the run of the InterContinental Hotel while we've been in meetings. We've had lunches together in our room and eaten out dinners before swimming in the hotel pool in the evenings. They've read some books, watched some cartoons, and seemed to have fun (most of the time) hanging out as sisters.

As Douglas Wilson reminded us, "The goal of a leader is to have thick skin and a tender heart, not tender skin and a thick heart." This year's conference has helped me with both, and I'm grateful to our Veritas community for their generosity in providing the funds for us to come, as well as to ACCS for providing something good to come to.

Desiring the Kingdom by James K.A. Smith (1.1)

Quotes from the first half of chapter 1, "Homo Liturgicus" :

"Behind every pedagogy is a philosophical anthropology; that is, implicit in every constellation of educational practices there is a set of assumptions about the nature of human persons." (p. 37)

"A dominant model, as old as Plato but rebirthed by Descartes and cultivated throughout modernity, sees the human person as fundamentally a thinking thing." (p. 39)

"Protestant Christianity (whether liberal or conservative) tends to operate with an overly cognitivist picture of the human person and thus tends to foster an overly intellectualist account of what it means to be or become a Christian...We could describe this as 'bobble head' Christianity, so fixated on the cognitive that it assumes a picture of human beings that look like bobble heads: mammoth heads that dwarf an almost nonexistent body." (pgs. 41-42)

"What defines us is not what we think - not the set of ideas we assent to - but rather what we believe, the commitments and trusts that orient our being-in-the-world. This moves the essence of the human person from the more abstract, disembodied world of ideas to a prerational level of commitments that are more ingrained in the human person. Before we are thinkers, we are believers." (p. 42)

"While it contests a narrow, naive focus on ideas, this model of the human person seems just to move the clash of ideas down a level to a clash of beliefs...The person-as-believer model still tends to operate with a very disembodied, individualistic picture of the human person...The believer feels like a chastened rationalist: beliefs still seem to be the sorts of things that are more commensurate with thinking." (p. 44-45)

"While the Reformed tradition of worldview-thinking generates a radical critique of rationalism and its attendant claims to objectivity and secularity, the critique still feels reductionistic insofar as it fails to accord a central role to embodiment and practice. Because of this blind spot, it continues to yield a quasi-rationalist pedagogy." (p. 45)

"The point is that the emphasis on belief does not go far enough...In contrast to both the person-as-thinker and the person-as-believer models, I want to articulate a more robustly Augustinian anthropology that sees humans as more fundamentally oriented and identified by love. Only such a robust anthropology - which accords a more central, formative place to embodiment - can yield a truly alternative understanding of pedagogy." (p. 46)

"If humans are conceived almost as beings without bodies, then they also are portrayed as creatures without histories, without any sense of unfolding and development over time...In contrast, we need a nonreductionistic understanding of human persons as embodied agents of desire or love." (pgs. 46-47)

"The point is to emphasize that the way we inhabit the world is not primarily as thinkers, or even believers, but as more affective, embodied creatures who make our way in the world more by feeling our way around it...The human person is the sort of creature who can never be captured in a snapshot; we need video in order to do justice to this dynamism." (p. 47)

"Our model of the person as lover begins from an affirmation of our intentional nature; further, with Heidegger, we would affirm that our most fundamental way of intending the world is not cognitive but noncognitive...Augustine would argue that the most fundamental way that we intend the world is love." (p. 50)

"This love or desire is a structural feature of being human. It is not just a characteristic of passionate people or romantic people or even specifically religious people. To be human is to be just such a lover - a creature whose orientation and form of life is most primordially shaped by what one loves as a ultimate, which constitutes an affective, gut-like orientation to the world that is prior to reflection and even eludes conceptual articulation. To say that humans are, at root, lovers is to emphasize that we are the sorts of animals for whom things matter in ways that we often don't (and can't) articulate." (p. 51)

"What distinguishes us (as individuals, but also as 'peoples') is not whether we love, but what we love...Our love can be aimed at different ends or pointed in different directions, and these differences are what define us as individuals and as communities." (p. 52)

"Augustine would say that the effect of sin on our love is not that we stop loving but that our love becomes disordered. It gets aimed at the wrong ends and finds 'enjoyment' in what it chould merely be 'using.'" (p. 52)

"To say that we are dynamic, intentional creatues entails a second characteristic: we are telelogical creatures. We are the sorts of animals whose love is aimed at different ends or goals...In other words, what we love is a specific vision of the good life, an implicit picture of what we think human flourishing looks like." (p. 52)

"Our ultimate love is oriented by and to a picture of what we think it looks like for us to live well, and that picture then governs, shapes, and motivates our decisions and actions...A vision of the good life captures our hearts and imaginations not by providing a set of rules or ideas, but by painting a picture of what it looks like for us to flourish and live well. This is why such pictures are communicated most powerfully in stories, legends, myths, plays, novels, and films rather than dissertations, messages, and monographs." (p. 53)

"Our ultimate love moves and motivates us because we are lured by this picture of human flourishing. Rather than being pushed by beliefs, we are pulled by a telos that we desire...When our imagination is hooked, we're hooked (and sometimes our imaginations can be hooked by very different visions than what we're feeding into our minds)...To be human is to desire 'the kingdom,' some version of the kingdom, which is the aim of our quest." (p. 54)

"Our habits constitute the fulcrum of our desire: they are the hinge that 'turns' our heart, our love, such that it is predisposed to be aimed in certain directions...Because for the most part we are desiring, imaginative, noncognitive animals, our desire for the kingdom is inscribed in our dispostions and habits and functions quite apart from our conscious reflection." (p. 56)

To Whom Shall Educators Go?

Wednesday was a bad news day.

From the morning edition of The Oklahoman to that night's national and local newscasts, there was a lot I (Craig) found myself sighing over: a middle schooler in Enid gets beaten unconscious at school; a teacher aide (who actually worked with a friend of mine) at Southmoore high school is caught sexting photos of herself to sophomores.

To top it off, I got an email from a colleague at my former school telling me about a senior prank gone wrong. Apparently, the Head of School's email was hacked and the following message sent to the entire parent community:

"We would like to inform you of some small changes that will take place, this year, regarding Junior/Senior Banquet. As servants of God, we strive to protect our community. For this reason, we have arranged for condoms to be available at this event. Every male student attending will have the option of taking a complementary condom at the door. This is to encourage our students to practice safe sex. We hope that by doing this, we can set a positive example, so that other schools may recognize our efforts and take action against sexually transmitted diseases. Thank you, and have a blessed day."

Sometimes it's hard to see God at work, particularly in our schools and especially despite our human capability to really mess things up. And yet I read a quote on Wednesday from United Methodist Bishop Will Willimon that was particularly helpful in the midst of trying to do some good in the midst of that bad news day. Willimon wrote: "Scripture teaches that time and again, God refuses to be stumped by our inadequacies. Therein is our hope."

Indeed, therein is our hope. "Whom have I in heaven but you?," wrote the psalmist, "And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you" (Psalm 73:25). John records that, "Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).

With four weeks to go, I take comfort that any hope we have cannot be in ourselves - which of us this time of year has anything left to hope in? In the face of what's ahead, let's confess to God, each other, and ourselves where our true and only hope is: in Christ, his love, and his grace. Pray this for yourself, your students, and our families.

This is what I'm praying for all of us these next four weeks.

Good News on the Oklahoma Admissions Front

Back on Good Friday, The Oklahoman published this article on the University of Oklahoma's desire to revamp their admissions process and make it more holistic in its consideration of potential OU students.

This public announcement lines up with what OU Admissions Director Mark McMasters alluded to me (Craig) privately last fall - namely that OU was working on admission changes from which non-accredited schools like Veritas would benefit. Mark told me that OU measures success in terms of admitted students actually graduating, and colleges and universities can't deny the positive numbers when it comes to homeschool students who successfully start and finish their collegiate studies.

Seeing an opportunity to affirm what Mark and OU's Board of Regents are doing, I wrote a letter to The Oklahoman affirming OU's decision and urging the Oklahoma State Board of Regents to follow their lead. To my surprise, the paper published my Letter to the Editor in full earlier this week.

The Best Teachers are the Best Learners

These are just some of the people I get to work with each day at Veritas. So blessed.

Show Me the Money

Over the past several months, I (Craig) have had multiple meetings with my Administrative Team and our Veritas Board concerning income, expenses, and next year's tuition rates. I've also had a few parents ask me when we're going to post our rates for next year.

I've only got one answer: when we're sure they're right.

Back in October, as we began budgeting for next school year, I happened to mention via email our process to my former Head of School, Jim Marsh, at Westminster Christian Academy, a college prep Christian school of 900 students in St. Louis. A long-time administrator, Jim is both a hero and a mentor in my role as Head of School (because of our shared titles, he calls me his "peer," which is more than humorous - I'm no Jim Marsh). He wrote:

"The tuition/true cost of education issue is difficult to get one's head around. There are those (Bruce Lockerbie and Paideia and organizations like Independent School Management) who would say to determine what it costs to provide excellence in fulfilling your mission and set the tuition at that cost. Then, raise money to provide tuition relief for those who cannot afford the tuition.

However, the value proposition is of critical importance in an age when parents are asking the question: 'Is it worth it? Is it worth the financial sacrifice?' The brutal fact is that it costs money to provide an excellent Christian education, but establishing a tuition level at that per student cost might be more than the market will bear. So, we look around and assess the financial condition of our families and determine what the price point should be."

Jim's balanced perspective describes exactly where we are at Veritas Classical Academy. Over the past month-and-a-half, my Administrative Team (all of whom are Veritas parents) have tried to get a better handle on what it costs "to provide an exceptional classical Christian education to the Oklahoma City metro." It's been hard work, but I'm proud of the way our team has drilled down to depths of detail we've not operationally been at before.

At the same time (and with counsel from our Board, all of whom are also Veritas parents), we've wrestled with the realities of these costs and asked ourselves what seems reasonable to expect tuition to cover and what should we plan to cover through more intentional fundraising. In doing this, we're seeking God to lead us to the right numbers, and to provide for them as well.

We think we're almost there...but not yet. Rest assured, tuition rates are coming (and soon), but as Head of School, I want to make sure they're right (and not just out). We don't want to overcharge our families; at the same time, we don't want to be the best blended model school in Oklahoma to go out of business.

Survey Reminds Us That We're in This Together

Back in early September, our Parent Partnership Association conducted a short survey asking how our parents were feeling about the start of the year. Here are a few results from the 32 parents who answered the survey (a 20% response rate):

Please choose which description best encompasses your feelings about Home Days with your children these first two weeks?
Weeping and gnashing of teeth and about to give up	0%	0
Some tears, but I see glimmers of hope	15.6%	5
It's going okay, but not as well as I had hoped	12.5%	4
It's going well, although we have challenges	56.3%	18
Challenges? What challenges?	15.6%	5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What topic would be most helpful for additional parent training?
Schedule management with school work	24.1%	7
Schedule management with extra commitments	6.9%	2
Food and household management	13.8%	4
Parenting tips for character/discipline challenges	31%	9
Grade specific homework assistance	24.1%	7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One open-ended question we asked on the survey was, "How would you define Home Day success?" The answers varied:

• "If my student finishes homework by 1 or 2 p.m."
• "Every assignment completed."
• "Children connect with God in midst of their problems and enjoyable times."
• "Finishing our work with everyone happy and having good attitudes."
• "My student taking responsibility for knowing what needs to be accomplished and the best way to accomplish it with parental support."

In case you were wondering, we have good and bad days at the Dunham home. The blended model is work - for students, for parents, for the Head of School and his spouse.

Guest Post: Career vs. Vocation (Part 3)

(The following is the final in a three-part series on the question of career versus vocation - a key distinction parents need to help their students wrestle with as they consider future education and life goals. This series is authored by Todd J. Wedel, Veritas Classical Academy Grammar School principal and Rhetoric School teacher.)

Such an emphasis on the “weak things” may raise an objection, that to seek a position of prominence is what we should desire, the chance to influence civilization and culture. Indeed, those are noble and godly goals, but the means and mindset matter—a godly end if pursued for a selfish reason ceases to be a godly end.

If we are career-minded, we desire a position to institute change. Our thinking runs something such as, “If I were but to be in such a position, I would. . .” Inherent in this reasoning are two subtle dangers. The first is that I am inevitably judging the person who occupies the position I would attain. I desire his or her removal. And I believe that I can know what to do and what I would do without knowing all that that person endures, thinks of, processes, deals with, and is.

The second is that I believe that it is through position that God changes the world. But get the right people in the right positions, and the world becomes what we would want it to be. We devise a formula for redemption and reconciliation, and, we maintain, if this formula is fulfilled, there is no need for God, for it is a matter of the great “I” doing what I would do that the world will be changed not a matter of the great “I AM” doing through me or through another what only He can do.

We forget that Paul reminds us that not many were called who were strong or wise or of measure in the world, though not  many does mean a few, but that it is those apparently weak and foolish and negligible whom God desires and uses, that it is He who calls into being what has not been; He has no need of us, but is pleased to use His people to participate in His work. And He can use men and women of mean position to accomplish high purposes.

It is instructive to ponder here two examples of men of great position, Joseph and Daniel. Their stories are greatly parallel—both taken from their homeland, both cast into darkness and dungeon, both rescued because of gifts given and opportunities created by God, both raised to positions of power and authority, both used for the good of God’s people. Both are certainly gifted, but it is not their gifts that gain power and authority. Had not pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar both had dreams from God, both would have languished in prisons, Joseph at least possibly slain. 

Or the greatest example of power and authority, Christ who attains His throne by means of the cross. He cannot be raised if He is not slain. He ministers to the sick and the lame and raises the dead, all of whom will fall prey to the curses of the Fall again in time. He teaches and instructs multitudes, many of whom will soon cry out for his crucifixion. He includes within His closest disciples the son of perdition who will betray Him to His death. And what of those works returned to Him void? Not one, for God promises that His word never returns to Him void; it accomplishes that for which He sends it. God’s Word accomplished all, not just at the cross but in those three years, and in the years previous of which we have little knowledge, all that He was to do. 

If our vocation is to be the offering our life and service to God, then should we not see that the tendency of our vocations should always be the cross? As a teacher, how do I know that I have done enough? As Matt Whitling has said, when I have sacrificed myself for my students. As a teacher, what do I desire for my students? That they, too, sacrifice themselves for others. Learning is sacrifice if seen as vocation. If seen with career in mind, it is selfish and self-centered.

As a teacher, if I see teaching as a career, my students either aid my ends or inhibit them. I am pleased when they perform as I wish and grow angered when they do not. They are pleased with me when they perform as they believe they should or at least receive the recognition they believe they deserve and grow embittered when they do not. Both they and I cease to relate, cease to love, and instead bite and devour one another in the pursuit of what ends in death. And if so taught, will this not be the pattern of our lives?

What then of this distinction?  What of the choice between career and vocation? How can we know? The question is the motive; the significance is the heart. 

This must be our view for our students; to demand a path of success and attainment is to commit and demand commitment where God simply calls for submission. But this “simple” submission is the way of the cross, the way of Christ, the only way that leads to where all learning and all endeavors must have their end, in the joy of the presence of the pleasure of God.

Guest Post: Career vs. Vocation (Part 2)

(The following is the second in a three-part series on the question of career versus vocation - a key distinction parents need to help their students wrestle with as they consider future education and life goals. This series is authored by Todd J. Wedel, Veritas Classical Academy Grammar School principal and Rhetoric School teacher.)

The “good” career mind is more insidious than obvious. At OU, I taught many students in the HR department who desired, from what I could tell, to earnestly earn degrees and move into fields that would serve others and forward positive change in the world, changes I could assent to—aiding those in poverty, seeking racial reconciliation, working for peace. At surface, they appeared to be seeking a vocation, a calling, for were they not desiring an end to serve others?

Yet for so many, their education, if not something that suited their vision of the end, was an impediment. I was an obstacle. The material was a burden. The skills were irrelevant. You see, they had subtly brought a career mind—what suited their ends, even their view of service, was valuable; what did not suit those ends was not.

Now, lest I sound too judgmental, I am not saying that these may not have brought real change and service; what I am saying is that if this was their attitude towards education, would it not be their attitude in their profession? Those they served could so easily become objectified, becoming objects to be served instead of people to serve. Those they would seek to aid would be seen as worthy of aid if they fit the paradigm, fit the program, fit the model. Only what suits the end is valuable; what does not is negligible.

Once we find ourselves in this mindset, it is we, not those we serve, who become the determinants of value and need. Why learn about someone if they will not be served? Why seek to work with an individual or group if they will not change? We become, at heart, great pragmatists, of the worst sort, for our ends seem noble and generous, good and righteous, but in the name of helping humanity, we ignore people. You see, how they, as students, saw learning, so they would see people. 

In contrast, our submission to a vocation means that we do, in fact, seek excellence, but our desire for excellence is for faithfulness. We see our call to be excellent whether advancement or acclaim come or go; we may, indeed, apply for promotions, seek greater responsibility, greater positions of authority, but we seek these patiently and waiting. It is God who justifies and approves, and if it is His approval to give advancement, then that is His will; if not, His will again. 

Or perhaps it is better to say we do not, ever, seek advancement. What we seek are simply greater avenues for service. Unlike the career, in which greater position means greater responsibility to the job and perhaps over people, the vocation sees greater position as greater responsibility to God and always in service to people. A career mindset will always seem others as a means or an impediment; a vocation mindset will always see others first, self and position last.

So our doctor and our hairdresser may each seek career as described or they may seek vocation. They may seek service. It is easy to conceive of the doctor in this way, and I am sure we all know many of whom this could be said. But what of the hairdresser? In what way can she or he serve? I will but note that such a position, as radical as this may sound, may participate in the redemption of the world. If beauty is valuable, then the hairdresser can participate in that work. However, such an endeavor must take thought and care to not simply perpetuate our culture’s obsession with surface things and cheap obsessions. Or in a much more basic, and perhaps therefore more radical measure, he could simply love the people whom he serves.

Our culture is one of overwhelming interaction but little sense of investment or community. It is often people in such positions that can be the most basic of all elements of redemption—valuing the individual before them, listening, engaging, expressing interest and concern. These things, these apparently base and common actions, are the “weak things” of the world that God can use to confound the strong.

(To be continued)

Guest Post: Career vs. Vocation (Part 1)

(The following is the first in a three-part series on the question of career versus vocation - a key distinction parents need to help their students wrestle with as they consider future education and life goals. This series is authored by Todd J. Wedel, Veritas Classical Academy Grammar School principal and Rhetoric School teacher.)

I have a friend who is in a relationship. He is in love; she is not. In one conversation, she used the somewhat overused expression that she was “focused on her career.” I have always detested that phrase, seeing it as simply another expression of self-focus, but in conversing with my friend, a distinction crystalized that I had not apprehended before.

The problem is not, as I had before believed, that one was committed to the career instead of something else, but that a person always had a career. The example always in my mind was that a husband should always put his family first, his career latter. I came to see, though, that the distinction is not between a focus on career and the pursuit of a career in another manner, but a much more radical division, a distinction between a career and a vocation.

I am not quibbling over vocabulary; the distinction is real and matters foundationally to what we desire and live for. It affects our motivations and goals and our relationships, especially in such a money- and position-driven time and place as modern America.

The distinction is stark and speaks to the heartward direction of our lives: we commit to a career; we submit to a vocation. The career becomes that end towards which all our endeavors and all our desires for whatever it is we are doing tend. The vocation is not its own end; all our endeavors and all our desires are for God; the vocation a means.

Nor must we misname “career” as “profession” and “vocation” as “job.” The division is not between the doctor and the hairdresser. Each may pursue his or her chosen path for career or vocation. To see the heart, though, all one must do is look to the means. A career-minded doctor will talk or think of getting through college and med school, not going through. In the latter, learning is a part of the process, valuable not just as a means to the end but as a part of the end; in the former, learning is a necessary evil.

I saw this once very clearly defined in a conversation with a friend who had gone through med school. We were discussing current medical costs, the health care system, and all the related issues. It came out in the conversation that a part of the reason my friend saw justification for healthcare workers to charge whatever they wanted and whatever they could was that they had to “endure” residency. The pain and suffering they experienced (and it is a rigorous and grueling time) had to be paid back by someone, here, the patients. Such a mindset reveals that the doctor who would claim to be working in service of his patients sees them, at least partially, as a means to gain back what he has lost. He “deserves” whatever he can demand because he has endured what they have not.

The same could be said of the hairdresser. While perhaps the training is less grueling, the attitude could be the same. Let me seek my “vocation” so that I may somehow earn what “I deserve.” Or, as is so often said, “I have paid my dues.” Such an attitude is a mind fixed upon exchange.  I exchange an endurance of toil and stress so that I may be owed a certain type of life, of acclaim, of direction and purpose and end.

Thus, practically, our commitment to a career means that we do, in fact, seek excellence, but our desire for excellence is for advancement. We see advancement as dependent upon us, upon our performance, and we strive for it to advance that which we do and what we desire to be. Or, even if we desire to but remain where we are, in some respect, we desire acclaim and acknowledgement of our excellence. Our excellence is but another means to the end of our career.

(To be continued)

Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference

I (Craig) just finished Mark Edmundson's book, Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference, a rambling yet rousing tribute to his high school teacher, Franklin Lears. While Edmundson's memoir takes place in his Massachussetts public school, he writes as someone more than familiar with classical philosophy, literature, and even some pedagogy. Some quotes:

"There is something archetypal about the world of high school, something allegoric. The kids have formalized roles. The teachers have nicknames that fix their place in the meager cosmos. Even the building is full of highly charged locales - the place where this or that clique hangs out, the corridor where the fight took place, the detention room where Big Fran, the submaster, had to call the police. There is something eternally burning about this world; it lives in the mind ten, twenty, thirty years after the fact, as though it had been concocted and instilled by a small-time Dante, who had himself once been injured by it and wanted it preserved eternally as a reminder." (35)

"In every early encounter between a teacher and a student there are multiple beings present, multiple ghosts, many of them not beneficient. Great teachers react differently to this fact of pedagogical life. Some of them never show their hand. They always turn the question back on the student. They never declare themselves. This is the way of Socrates, as it is of the expert therapist (Socrates is, among many other things, the first deep analyst of the psyche, the spirit), who functions as a mirror, always showing the patient her own reflection back.

But there is another way of proceeding too, and it can be no less transforming. That is to expose oneself fully as a teacher, to be receptive to everything, every resentment, fantasy, affection, and hatred the student brings forward. And once those passions are alive, once they are in play, then let the student use them as energy for intellectual inquiry and thence for change. Such teachers are human incadescences - they have ideas, then the ideas have them; they promulgate theories, they burn brilliantly with them, and they are always, always right. They create disciples, smaller versions of themselve. They found schools. Freud was such a teacher. So was Plato. So, in his way, was Jesus." (78-79)

"In general, teachers do not want to be 'responsible' for students' screwing up their lives because they give themselves over uninhibitedly to Whitman and try to live as the old queer anarch would, or to Dickinson, who created her own God and her own cosmology and lived with them. Many teachers, I suspect, don't trust kids to sift these matters for themselves. Nor do they even really trust other adults to do it. The idea of a society full of people running amok, using the poets and artists to remake their own minds, individually and with only their own judgments and disasters and disappointments as inhibiting walls, can make teachers crazy." (239)

"It was words instead of body blows that [Lears] traded in. The powers that he had by virtue of knowing how to talk and write, commanding irony when he needed it, being able, when pushed, to impale an adversary on the point of a phrase - this power became manifest to me. And I thought back through some of the worst moments of my life, and I began to see how differently a few of them might have turned out if I could only have spoken half well rather than pitched a fit or thrown punches. Even in the face of violence, a sure mind, I began to believe, might bring you through." (250-251)

"Good teachers have many motivations, but I suspect that loneliness if often one of them. You need a small group, a circle, to talk to; unable to find it in a larger world, you try to create it in the smaller sphere of a classroom." (266)

An interesting read that got better as it went along (give it at least 50 pages to appreciate Edmundson's writing style), Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference makes for a nice wind-down at the end of the day.

And Now a Word from Ms. Sayers

Here at Docendo Discimus, it's time for Craig to begin a new topic on classical Christian education. However, as he's currently on an airplane headed to Virgina to partner with Michael Card on another Biblical Imagination conference, it seems fitting to leave you with this point to ponder from Dorothy Sayers. We'll see you on Tuesday.

For we let our young men and women go out unarmed in a day when armor was never so necessary. By teaching them to read, we have left them at the mercy of the printed word. By the invention of the film and the radio, we have made certain that no aversion to reading shall secure them from the incessant battery of words, words, words. They do not know what the words mean; they do not know how to ward them off or blunt their edge or fling them back; they are a prey to words in their emotions instead of being the masters of them in their intellects... We have lost the tools of learning, and in their absence can only make a botched and piecemeal job of it.

~Dorothy L. Sayers, "The Lost Tools of Learning"

Christian Education: A Summary and a Visual

As we finish up this series (and look forward to Megan starting a new and different one next week), here's a summary of our brief study from the life and book of Daniel on God as Master Teacher:

“And as for these four youth...” (student)

• Who are our students as people and as products of their culture(s)?
• Where are our students in terms of historical and cultural contexts - geographical, economical, political, technological?
• When are our students - mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, spiritually - with regard to developmental theory?

“...God gave them...” (teacher)

• Who is God as Master Teacher, and who does He call us to be as teachers?

“...learning and skill...” (pedagogy)

• How does God’s initiation and generosity come into play through cognitive (learning) and experiential (skill) means?
• How has God already gifted learning aptitude, facilities, and styles through Scripture, Spirit, and Community?

 “...in all literature and wisdom...” (curriculum)

• What is God’s program of study and how do we use the Scriptures to discern culture’s truth, lies, and consequences?

 “...and Daniel had understanding...” (assessment)

• How and when will we assess our students’ comprehension?

 “...in all visions and dreams.” (purpose)

• Why will our students prayerfully consider and pursue God’s purposes, ideas, and goals on behalf of creation, culture, and the Kingdom?
• How can our students benefit from our examples of prayerfully considering and pursuing the same purposes?

Daniel 1:17 and the River Life: A Metaphor
Having walked through a brief biblical exposition and summary of our application, perhaps a visual interpretation of the text would be beneficial. Let's use the metaphor of a river – what we'll call the River Life – as an illustration of our humanity.

Like human nature, the nature of a river is not stagnant; its waters move, change, and blend. Again like human nature, a river is not dichotomized; no divisions separate it into parts. In sum, our lives are neither static nor partitioned, but dynamic and fluid – shaped by the banks of culture even as we, at particular times and by God’s grace, shape them.

As alluded in Daniel’s story, God enables us in our educational capacities; He gives us learning and skill in initially understanding the how of the what. He does this through his Scripture, his Spirit, and his community (the Church), all of which create their own “ripple effect” within the waters of our fallenness, educating and enabling us to affirm what is good, to challenge what is not, but never to withdraw from the river altogether.

At the same time, as a result of his Creator image within us, humanity creates a variety of “literature and wisdom” flowing from our collective experience. However, whereas everything God creates is good (1 Timothy 4:4), our works are blemished because of our sin and are manifest in the world as “truth, lies, and consequences.” The “ripple effect” of all our created works is not without negative taint, but by God’s common grace, neither is it all without beauty or value.

God directs the River Life to flow through the banks of culture, shaping them as it goes. Because God calls us to think Christianly and care about His world, He drops stones of learning and skill and literature and wisdom as means to teach us when, where, how, and why, and to help us understand “visions and dreams” - the ones He gives to us as His children - for the good of creation, culture, and Kingdom.

Christian education, then, as outlined in Daniel 1:17, is given by God, engages the world, and applies redemption to it – all while redeeming His chosen agents of redemption as well. This is our understanding from the Scriptures, and this is the worldview that both drives and powers our classical education methodology.

Christian Education: God's Pedagogy (Part 3)

5) “…and Daniel had understanding…”
Here the writer assesses Daniel’s grasp of the reality of his learning. Indeed, there is output from Daniel’s life because of God’s input into it; there is recognition of harvest coming from sown seed, a frequent theme and concept throughout Scripture, as God is not one to waste effort (educational or otherwise). This mention of measure is important, as its inclusion in the text signifies the writer’s (and presumably God’s) concern with honest assessment of learning.

As a teacher or as a parent – regardless of intellectual discipline – change in students is what we long to see: change in thinking; change in convictions; change in behavior; change in results. As educators, we cannot merely hope that understanding is happening without measuring for change, for if there is no way to measure for change, there is no way to measure for understanding.

Biblically speaking, assessment is not a dirty word. Paul implies as much in Romans 12:3 when he says, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” As Christian parents and teachers, we are to evaluate our students and ourselves as we journey together the road of teaching and learning.

While there are many means (tests, quizzes, presentations, papers, projects, discussions, etc.) to this end, perhaps frequency of assessment is as or more important than its form, as frequency focuses on the process of evaluation, whereas variety focuses on its event. The “teaching to the test” critique of recent years is precisely what we are trying to address here: if our mentality of assessment is more form- than frequency-based, then we will find ourselves teaching to the test rather than teaching to the student.

Without end-of-class “what did you learn today?” questions, between-class “what did you think of class today?” interactions, and outside-of-class “what are you thinking about from class today?” conversations, we have little comprehension of how our students may actually do on the test, quiz, or project until after it’s given, a practice that encourages students to master the assessment mechanism instead of the material over which they are being assessed.

6) “…in all visions and dreams.”
Here we begin to understand the ultimate why of God giving Daniel gifts. Simply put, everything God gives to Daniel has much to do with what the second half of his book records – specifically its prophetic revelations and Daniel’s ability to interpret visions and dreams concerning Israel’s future. Ultimately, we could say God’s goals for His pupil bring purpose to His pedagogy.

Our hopes for our students must be rooted in God’s goals for them; thus, our pedagogy must be formed not only by what and how to teach, but by why to teach as well. We are called to teach not because we are teachers, but because God is the teacher – One who teaches not just for the sake of comprehension but also for the sake of change in His students and within His created world. Because of this truth, we do not have the luxury of saying we teach subjects; no, we teach students, for subjects matter when God enables students to learn them and change as a result.

This mentality manifests itself (or should) in daily prayer – for God’s will to be done in the world, in the lives of our students, and in us as their parents and teachers. Our students need to see in us hearts for God through our own relationship with Him, that we might model dependence upon God as part of our gifting to help students interpret visions and dreams He gives to them.

Painting: Daniel Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's First Dream, Mattia Preti (undated).

Christian Education: God's Pedagogy (Part 1)

God's Pedagogy in Daniel 1:17
More than a decade before I (Craig) had any formal educational aspirations, I remember reading Daniel 1:17 and marveling at what I perceived to be a rubric for the way God teaches.

While I had little formal language (and even less formal training) at the time to put into words my intuition, the passage stuck with me through the years, becoming more and more important as my desire to pursue the calling and vocation of teaching grew.

Finally, after five years of seminary training in theology and education, my instincts found support biblically and pedagogically. What I had known instinctively I now began to understand pedagogically: as God did with Daniel, so we must also begin with the student in mind.

1) “And as for these four youth…”
We’ve already discussed to a degree who Daniel and his companions were as people, but who were they as products of their dual cultures (Israelite and Babylonian)? Any consideration of education has to begin with the consideration of those we may be trying to educate. Who are our students as people and as products of their culture(s) – familial, church, community, national? Where are they in terms of historical and cultural contexts – geographical, economical, political, technological? And when are they – mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, spiritually – with regard to developmental theory and their own growth?[1] Questions like these have to be asked and answered to only begin to understand those we teach.

In the school context, the entire process of getting to know my students begins with learning their names, asking questions (both formally and informally) about their lives, and learning family backgrounds and education history. It’s connecting with other teachers who may have taught them in the past as to what they said or believed at the time. It’s meeting and talking with their support systems – parents, pastors, and counselors – about the issues and ideas that are unresolved. It’s identifying peer group associations and keeping loose track of whom they hang out with, for upper schoolers – as are all of us – are defined by our communities and what they believe.

In addition to the personal exegetical work, cultural exegesis with regard to the social environments in which students live and have grown up is crucial to understanding them. Familiarizing ourselves with media referents and memorable touchstones of their lives is key to earning their trust, not to mention understanding shifts across and within their generation. Entering into their spheres of existence – especially the digital one – in a natural way is an important avenue for learning about those we hope to teach.

2) “…God gave them…”
The second aspect of God’s educational pedagogy that we see in Daniel 1:17 has to do with the Teacher and the Teacher’s character[2] – one that is expressly initiating and generous. As previously discussed in Daniel 1:4, God has already been at work in the lives of Daniel and his friends, gifting them with the basic capacities they will need to handle the capabilities He will later develop in them.

This generous initiation, of course, has much to do with God and both His omniscience and sovereignty. While we possess neither of these two qualities, we as parents and teachers have been gifted with the capacity and capability to model God’s initiation and generosity with our students in other ways, namely by actively seeking to know them and generously granting them access to get to know us as well. Though we are not God, we have the ability and the authority as their parents and teachers to initiate and generously provide the structure, support, and challenge they need to learn about themselves and us…but we must make the first (and often risky) move.

Whether at home or in the classroom, this involves sharing our own stories – the successes and failures – rather than defaulting to more generic and nameless examples to illustrate key points and ideas. It’s bringing our own creativity in the form of an original song or poem, taking a risk by putting it out there for those we parent and teach to consider, evaluate, and (gulp) pass judgment on, all while resisting the temptation to endlessly qualify or defend our attempts at doing so. It’s letting our students see our heart for them not only as their parents and teachers, but also as friends and fans. Granted, this potentially compromises a degree of authority in the adult-child relationship, but the risk is worth taking because of what it may yield in true respect.

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[1] See “Life Span Development” by Ellery Pullman, pages 63-72; “Moral Development Through Christian Education” by James Riley Estep Jr. and Alvin W. Kuest, pages 73-82; “Faith Development” by Dennis Dirks, pages 83-90; and “Spiritual Formation: Nurturing Spiritual Vitality” by Nick Taylor, pages 91-98 in Christian Education, edited by Michael J. Anthony. Also, see “Patterns of Growth: The Structural Dimension,” pages 65-83; and “Patterns of Growth: The Functional Dimension,” pages 84-99 in Teaching for Reconciliation by Ronald T. Habermas.

[2] See “God for Us: The Trinity and Teaching,” pages 15-36; “God With Us: Jesus, the Master Teacher,” pages 59-86; and “God in Us: The Holy Spirit and Teaching,” pages 87-112 in God Our Teacher by Robert W. Pazmino.

Painting: Ignatian Pedagogy and The Ratio Studiorum, the original set of guidelines for those directing Jesuit educational institutions in Europe (1599).

Christian Education: God as Master Teacher

Above: Daniel and Cyrus Before the Idol Bel, Rembrandt (1633).

A Brief Theological Exposition of Daniel 1:17
In the Old Testament book named after him, we have the story of Daniel, an Israelite captured and living in exile in the ancient city of Babylon from 605 B.C. (Daniel 1:1) until the third year of King Cyrus (536 B.C.; Daniel 10:1).[1] The first chapter of Daniel tells us much about who he is as one included in King Nebuchadnezzar’s initial decree,

“to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans… They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.”[2]

As we continue to read the story, our tendency is often to focus on what Daniel does in order “not to defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.”[3] We read about how Daniel and his friends ask to be tested for ten days of non-Babylonian food, letting their appearance be compared to those eating the king’s food, for most certainly his breaks Old Testament food laws (among other reasons[4]). We also read how, “At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the kings food.”[5] Truly, Daniel and his friends are role models of faith for us now.

But then we come to Daniel 1:17, in which the writer records that, “As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” Remembering Daniel 1:4, we recall that Daniel and his friends are already listed as “youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace.” Why the double inclusion of this information in verses 4 and 17? What does it tell us about Daniel? What does it tell us about God?

The double inclusion is important in that it reveals to us that God has already given Daniel and his friends great learning capacity (1:4) in anticipation of their ultimate capability three years later (1:17). Keil and Delitzsch, in their Commentary on the Old Testament, write:

“Skillful, intelligent in all wisdom, i.e. in the subjects of Chaldean wisdom, is to be understood of the ability to apply themselves to the study of wisdom. In like manner, the other mental requisites here mentioned are to be understood, having knowledge, showing understanding, possessing a faculty for knowledge, a strength of judgment, in whom was strength, i.e., who had the fitness in bodily and mental endowments appropriately to stand in the palace of the king, and as servants to attend to his commands.”[6] (emphases ours)

The youths’ dramatic didactic development seems to have much to do with their obedient response to God’s gifts. Again, from Keil and Delitzsch:

“As God blessed the resolution of Daniel and his three friends that they would not defile themselves by the food, He also blessed the education which they received in the literature and wisdom of the Chaldeans, so that the whole four made remarkable progress therein.”[7]

Daniel’s story illustrates the fact that our progress depends on God’s process – one He has initiated, planned for, and provided structure, support, and challenge for to serve and educate as His creation’s Master Teacher.

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[1] ESV Study Bible, notes.
[2] Daniel 1:3b-4.
[3] Daniel 1:8.
[4] “It is unlikely that the king’s food would have been prepared in accordance with the standards of the Mosaic law. It is also possible that it would have been previously offered to Babylonian gods in a pagan temple.” (Handbook on the Prophets, 295).
[5] Daniel 1:15
[6] Keil & Delitzsch, p. 535.
[7] Keil & Delitzsch, p. 541.

Christian Education: An Introduction

“As for these four youths, God gave them
learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel
had understanding in all visions and dreams.”
Daniel 1:17 (ESV)

“To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner.
I am not a teacher, only a fellow student.”
Soren Kierkegaard

Several years ago, a friend had his second grader enrolled in a local Christian school. All seemed well. By the end of the school year, however, news broke that the second grade teacher had failed to teach any form of language arts to her students; as a result, our friend’s daughter expressed no vision, passion, or experience in language arts.

Throughout the school year, neither she nor her classmates knew what they were missing: none of them were wearing sensors that went off when their language arts tanks got low; no “check child” light came on mid-year to alert administrators and parents as to any malfunction.

For understandable reasons, the teacher was fired. But what really happened here? Perhaps the teacher was never properly trained in rationale and methods for teaching grammar and writing skills to children; maybe she didn’t have or use proper resources when faced with the unrelenting challenges of teaching young students day in and day out; possibly there was little structure in place to support her when she needed it.

What we do know is that the fired teacher was hired by another school (and fired later for the same reasons), while our friend’s daughter and classmates have been playing language arts catch up ever since.

When parents and teachers do not learn to teach, students are not taught to learn. What we hope to provide in this first series at Docendo Discimus is a philosophy of Christian education to overcome such realities and to guide our classical methodology.