Category: Education

Categories
Education

If we are just animals . . .

The public education school system has promoted a naturalistic worldview for the past fifty years. If humans are merely byproducts of evolution, if our wills have been stripped of morals, and we are just animals, should a school shooting such as seen in Santa Fe, TX this past weekend really catch us off guard? What are the implications for thousands of students who truly believe what they are being taught? After all, wasn’t this latest shooting incident just another example of an animal pulling a trigger on other animals? For a person who believes there is no God, that we are cosmic accidents, that there is no right or wrong, in his or her own demented mind sees nothing wrong with killing dozens of innocent people.

If we Christians are honest with ourselves, as fallen creatures, we need to admit we all have mental health issues. No one thinks perfectly because no one, except for One, was born perfect. However, there is a big difference between us Christians and the shooter. We who are following Christ may have issues, but we don’t go places killing people because we have Jesus, the living hope, living inside of us. We believe in an afterworld and that our earthly actions have eternal consequences. What the shooter needed was this same hope, this Jesus. What happened this weekend was not the problem. It was the symptom. We don’t need stricter gun control or school security, though both would help at this present time. We need more Jesus! Jesus is still the answer! The gun didn’t fire on its own. Education alone wouldn’t have stopped this young man in his tracks. The person who planned out this massive evil ordeal needed someone to wrap their arms around him and tell him that Jesus loves him. He needed a man, a father, to provide him with life direction.

Quite honestly, I’m surprised we have not had hundreds of other school shootings. It’s been the prayers of many people and God’s grace that has prevented more bloodshed. The thing is none of this violence has to happen. The Perfect One has already shed his blood for our sin problem. Jesus has already died so we can be spared.

If we think the secular agenda is going to stop now that our students are being shot up, we need to think again. Greg Burt wrote an article last year detailing how new California curriculum seeks to transform how children view gender and their sexual identity. The transgender agenda is alive and well. This ideology is now being taught to students from California to Minnesota to D.C., while parents in California are not allowed to opt their kindergartener out of the indoctrination. I guess the inevitable educational outcomes will be manly animals who look like women eventually shooting up she-animals that look like men.

We need a moral compass. We need God and His Word to guide us. Why? One reason is so that we can stay alive, if that means anything to you. God gives us meaning in a world that promotes meaningless. C.S. Lewis was right when he talked about men without chests in The Abolition of Men. Without a true north, men begin to look like women or whatever else they desire to look like. My next article along these lines would have to be titled . . . “if we are just transgender animals . . .” After all, the monkey in the above pic is wearing a pink shirt and I’m not sure whether it is a boy or girl monkey.

If you give a boy a doll, he will treat it like a soldier. If you give a girl a toy truck, she’ll start to decorate it.  This type of normal gender behavior is being re-engineered by our educators into something entirely different? It is a crying shame those who want to send their children to Christian schools have to pay for it. These same parents who make sacrifices in order for their child to get a Christian education at the same time have to pay their tax dollars to support public education that goes against their family values. It is time for some legislation that would allow individuals’ tax dollars to go to their school of choice.

Categories
Communication Education

It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

Is it official? Have we finally turned the corner? Has the tipping point been reached? What pray tell am I talking about, you may ask? I am talking about the day our culture uses images more to communicate than it does words. What sign do I have that this day may be upon us? Today is the opening day of the highly anticipated (okay, maybe not – just look at the ratings/reviews) The Emoji Movie.

It’s not enough already that we have to string together images to text/talk with one another. Now, we have to watch these images come to life and motion in the bustling city of Textopolis. In case you are wondering, I won’t be watching the movie. But what is inescapable is the fact that using images is vital for effective communication with the next generation.

It used to be that people were illiterate in our country because of a lack of resources (books, etc.), qualified teachers, or an educational system in whole. Now, we have all the resources we could ever imagine at our disposal to cure this remedy. However, for a play on words, we have figuratively disposed of our means while the ends of being illiterate remain.

We really have come full circle, but my fear is that we are going around in the same circle without getting anywhere. In past ages, people were illiterate because they didn’t have a choice. Today, people are illiterate because they have too many choices. One didn’t choose to be illiterate and one did, but both back then and today, illiteracy remains.

When common people were illiterate (go back to the middle ages), arts ruled the day. In other words, people were dominated more by right-brained thinking (feelings visualization, imagination, intuition, rhythm, holistic thinking, nonverbal cues, daydreaming, arts). As civilization advanced (the printing press came out, etc.), people began to be dominated by left-brain thought (thinking in words, sequencing, linear thinking, mathematics, facts, logic). It’s the old analytical/methodical (left-brain) vs. creative/artistic (right-brain) debate. Left-brain people are better at things like reading, writing, and computations.[1] Right-brain people would prefer to draw or paint and thus express themselves.

Where are we at now? We’re in the middle of transitioning once again to right-brained thinking being the dominant hemisphere of use. How do I know? That’s easy—Just ask yourself this question—How many hours a day is the average person in front of a screen? Yes, there will always be nerds like me who like to read a lot, but the average person prefers to sit in front of a screen and be saturated with pictures or visual stimuli. People defer to read or write because let’s be honest, watching is easier. I don’t think the potato couch lifestyle is good for nurturing healthy growth and development, but the younger generation came out of the womb with a phone in their hand (and can’t imagine anything different). We must not degrade the younger generation for this. They couldn’t help that they came out not in a baby boom like the 1950’s, but a technological boom or information explosion of the likes we have never seen before. We must capitalize on their likes and preferences. We must use images to communicate with them. If we don’t, we might not only lose them, but get lost ourselves.

Like them, love them, or hate them, emojis are here to stay. Why? Because they are emotive expressions that say much more than words say themselves. People string emojis together to say something that might take a whole paragraph to write. If you didn’t like shorthand texts, you will probably hate emojis. But if you hate emojis, will you be able to relate to the next generation? Here is some advice. You don’t have to like emojis and you can even hate The Emoji Movie, but it might do you well to see what emojis are out there. And if Jesus were literally walking the earth today, I know he would use an emoji as the perfect object lesson! 😊

[1] “Left Brain vs. Right Brain: What Does This Mean for Me?” by Ann Pietrangelo, found at www.healthline.com

Categories
Education

Educating the Next Generation

thanksgiving

For those of you who read my blog and have never met me, you are probably not aware that I am a school teacher. I do serve the next generation in church ministry but I also teach the next generation in school. I enjoy working with the next generation in a variety of forms as it allows me to stay connected to their world, which I might remind you is ours.

Where is the field of education going in the 21st century? Are we moving beyond a brick and mortar schoolhouse with traditional teachers who instruct in one specialized subject area? Will there be more distance learning, online education, hybrid classes, and facilitators who oversee multiple subject areas? What are the long-term effects of dual-enrollment for high school students?   And what is going to happen with the movements created and sustained by homeschool co-op’s, homeschool associations, and private or Christian schools? There are many questions and there are many answers in the field of education.

Rather than answering general questions related to the field education, I would prefer to answer specific questions as they pertain to educating the next generation.

There are many realms to be explored, but having taught PE for a number of years, I will start with the physical dimension. The information I share with you today will come from Generation iY by Tim Elmore and from my own personal reflection and thoughts. You may be shocked to hear that Generation Z views “outside sports as a health tool, not as something you do for play.” Older generations grew up playing baseball, football, and basketball after school. Though this current generation seems to enjoy playing the game of soccer more than some of the traditional sports, “more of them are inside, not outside, and they are multi-tasking on five screens.”

Diane Chandler notes that as students (screenagers) spend lengthy periods of time behind the computer, television, tablet, theater and mobile phone screens, the sedentary lifestyle is increasing on a national scale. While students have been playing video games and appeasing other media appetites, “teen obesity has tripled since 1970.” Chandler states that physical inactivity has led the American College of Sports Medicine to develop a national campaign and website titled “Exercise is Medicine.” The US Center for Disease and Prevention reports that one-third of all US children and adolescents are considered overweight or obese. Whereas “obesity is a growing problem” for Generation Y and iY (1983-2000), obesity will be a “gigantic problem” for Generation Z (2001-2018). Don’t be surprised to see video game scholarships offered to Generation Z and don’t be surprised when you see schools using video games to teach. Tim Elmore says, “the written word is losing authority” and that “images are the language of connection in the 21st century.”

In his classic book about Christian education, Will Our Children Have Faith?, John Westerhoff writes prophetically to our day and time by saying that students need to be “enculturated” in an environment where “interaction” becomes the norm. Learning is discovering for oneself and teachers are to become coaches who help students discover through experience. Let students participate in activity and allow students to see what you are teaching (remember, students “think in images”). Hearing alone will never suffice. Rather than doing something for the student or teaching something to students, teachers should do something with students to the point where students can actively do something for or even by themselves. When students become self-learners and self-feeders who can self-discover, be assured that something great is in store for their future!

Teach to the whole child using the child’s whole senses. Teach to “involve both sides of the brain.” Use music, art, drama, and movement to retain knowledge. The media uses this technique and this is why the media often educates students more effectively than schools. Students are using technology to stream their life and to express themselves. This direct involvement of every sense captures a student’s full attention. And you wonder why you cannot unglue your student’s face from his or her screen? “Enable them to use their portable device (phone or tablet) to search and learn about things that interest them.” Don’t fight against technology, but learn how to work with it.

Provide Generation Z with a challenge and a cause and then sit back and watch them change the world. In our digital age, which reminds me of virtual reality, many of us will end up working for innovators found in Gen Z. We are all pilgrims on a journey, thus it remains vital that generations collaborate and learn together. The next generation needs the life skills, wisdom, and mentoring which older generations can provide, while older generations need to understand how to navigate the new world they find themselves living in.