Effective Education

    As I was reading chapter two from The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paul Freire, my mind kept wandering to a novel that I read during my senior year of high school: 1984, by George Orwell. In this novel Orwell describes a world in which people are essentially robots; they are educated very specifically to believe what the government wants them to believe and individual thought is outlawed. They do not ask questions or attempt to understand the state of the world; they simply memorize what they are told and recite it. Although 1984 is an extreme example, this kind of system is how Freire paints the "banking concept" of education. He describes it as a system in which the teacher has total control and is simply filling the students' heads with facts and unquestioned beliefs. This system does not allow students to truly think. He criticizes this form of education and proposes another form which he believes is much more effecting: "problem posing" education. "Problem posing" education removes the distinct line between students and teachers and provides a place where everybody is required to think critically in order to find solutions to problems they are presented with. In this form of education, the teachers become students and the students become teachers because everybody has input in the class. Instead of creating robots who are able to memorize facts and regurgitate them, "problem posing" education creates thinkers who are beneficial to society.

    I have experienced both of these forms of education. During my freshman year of high school I attended a charter school in Colorado Springs that used a learning concept called direct instruction. This meant that the teacher would ask the entire class a question and we were all required to give the answer in unison. As one can probably see, this process does not allow for individual thought or critical thinking. We learned facts and were only required to tell them back to the teacher. It was rare that we were challenged to think critically about the facts we had been given. I also have experienced "problem posing" education. At my school in Peru, many of my classes operated this way. One in particular, however, stands out: novels. My senior year English class required us to think very critically about the readings we were given. One particular assignment we had was over the short book Metamorphosis. For our assessment we were required to discuss, in depth, the concepts of the book and how it relates to existentialism. Our teacher did not participate in the discussion except when absolutely necessary. We were forced to look into the piece and come up with the answers on our own. I remember Miss Murrell saying several times that she was learning new things from us despite the fact that she had read the book multiple times before. I don't remember all of the facts that I learned at my school in Colorado, but I do remember very much of the discussions we had in Novels when we were required to actively think about what we were learning.

What Others See

    "Where do you see me in ten years?"

    "Chasing two kids in diapers!"

    "Being married, having two and one quarter kids…"

    "I see you as a mother in ten years…"

    This week I was required to ask at least four people questions regarding my abilities, passions, and where they see me in ten years. When they got to the third question, about my future, they all responded as seen above. I had no idea that so many people would envision me in the same place, especially in that situation. This is not the only similarity in the responses to my questions. In fact, there were only two (I asked eight people) overwhelming themes in response to the first question about my passions: people and relationships. This came as no surprise to me as I too believe that my greatest passion is people. There are few things that make me happier than spending time with people and developing close relationships with them. I value my friendships greatly and will always make time for them.

    The second question I asked was: What do you think I'm good at? Several people responded as I expected, telling me that I'm good at listening to people and encouraging them. Two people, however, gave an answer that I was not expecting: "You're good at organizing things and making things happen." This came as a bit of a surprise to me as I have never considered myself to be a great organizer but after briefly reflecting on my life I began to see truth in the statement. I am a leader so it is natural for me to step in and make things happen. Even when I try to avoid such situations I often find myself being drawn in unintentionally.

     It was exciting to see answers from so many different people coming together to form one overall picture. Everybody I asked imagines me doing the same thing in ten years. Besides simply being a mother and chasing children around, they see me involved in youth ministry. Some were not so specific but their main point was the same: teaching others how to love and serve Jesus. The responses to these questions were encouraging to me. For many years I have been asking God to reveal his plans for my life and the gifts he has given; now He has. It is amazing how God has used tests, surveys, and now people to confirm that I am walking in his plan for my life. Our God truly is an awesome God to answer our prayers so clearly.

Strong gifts? Gifted strengths?

My Top Gifts: Hospitality Music Encouragement Pastoring Giving

My Top Strengths: Empathy Connectedness Developer Belief Communication

 

    I recently took two tests to see what my top strengths and gifts are. Unsurprisingly, the results from both of the tests complement each other well. For example, my strengths empathy and connectedness aid me greatly in using my gift of encouragement. In order to encourage people, I need to have an idea of what is going on in their lives. Empathy allows me see that and put myself in the same position; connectedness allows me to have an idea of why they are going through that particular challenge and to find the right words to use in encouraging them. I remember a time when I was able to use these strengths and gifts to help a friend. A girl in my class had just moved to Peru for a year because of her dad's job. I had recently gone through something similar and knew how hard it was to leave home. Jesus helped me to see her hurt and encourage her to make the most of her time and to reach out to Jesus like never before. At the end of the year she told me that my words had encouraged her greatly and that, partly because of them, she had enjoyed her time in Peru much more. These experiences fill me with joy.

    In addition to encouragement, empathy, and connectedness working so intricately together, I believe that all of my other gifts and strengths interact as well. I have the gift of pastoring (this is good, since I am planning to become a youth pastor) and the strength of developer. As a developer I see the potential in people and strive to help them work towards that. I believe that that is one thing that a youth pastor, especially, should do. The belief strength also interacts with the gift of pastoring. An effective youth pastor believes in what they are teaching; that is what makes pastoring fulfilling. Belief also inspires my gift of giving. I love to give to the homeless and the poor not only because my heart goes out to them, but also because I strongly believe that God wants us to do so. Some of the most fulfilling moments in my life have been the times when I have been able to give food to a child on the streets of Peru.

    It has been exciting to discover the gifts and strengths that God has placed within me. I know that He gave them to me for a specific purpose and I am very excited about what that is. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (NIV). When I was young I thought this verse meant that God would give me whatever I wanted if I just read my Bible and prayed; I was wrong. God does not change His desires in order to please us. Instead, when we begin to truly delight in the Lord our desires change to fit the plans that He already made for us. The desire of my heart is to work with people and be a source of encouragement in their lives. God gave me this desire and He is now being faithful to give me the strengths and gifts that I need to fulfill it. He truly is a generous God.

    

My Spiritual Gifts

    Since childhood I have been told that every Christian has a special gift from the Holy Spirit. I've always believed this to be true but it wasn't until my high school years that I truly began to wonder what gift or gifts I had been given. Since then I have taken many different spiritual gifts tests and although the results vary to a small degree, the same gifts always make it near the top: music and encouragement.

    I am always excited to see music come up as one of my spiritual gifts. I am very passionate about it and find much joy in leading others into worship with our God. Although I am not an expert at any particular instrument, I have been able to use my voice to lead worship for about 4 years. God also blessed me by allowing me to learn enough piano to accompany myself when I need to worship Him alone. Singing praises to God is one way that I can release my emotions and get refreshed. I have not chosen music as my career but it will always be a passion of mine.

    If giving encouragement could be called a passion, I would surely have it as well. This is why it came as no surprise to me that encouragement is one of my top spiritual gifts. I find great joy in offering words of encouragement to those I come in contact with; this is one reason why I desire so greatly to work with youth. The proper encouragement can help determine what path a person will take in life. Youth are some of the most easily influenced people in this world and I want to have a voice in their lives. I can do this through the gift of encouragement that God has so generously given me. I am striving to use my Spiritual gifts to please God and to further His kingdom.     

Influencing Intellectual Youth Culture

I have a good friend who is currently attending Calvary Chapel Bible College in Lima, Peru. He once asked why I wanted to spend lots of money attending a Christian liberal arts University when I could spend much less time and money at a Bible college. I responded, “I am an academic person and I do well in school. It would be a shame to waste that.” Even though I could earn my youth ministry degree faster going to a Bible college it would mean sacrificing the opportunity to stretch my mind and learn to think critically about more than just the Bible. I am here at JBU to learn to truly think so that I can influence youth around the world that thinking critically on all levels and in all areas of life is important. I see myself influencing the evangelical youth culture to think in ways that they have never done before and subsequently helping to rise up a generation of evangelical Christian thinkers.
I believe that it is important to be able to apply Christian principles into every aspect of living this life here on earth. Jesus Christ commanded us to be in the world. We can’t do that if we only stay I our Christian bubbles, thinking critically only about areas such as spiritual gifts and the end times. As a youth leader, I would like to challenge teens to strive to reach their full potential as Christians in an intellectual, secular culture. Obviously I do not want to burden youth with more “schooling” at youth group, but I would instead challenge them to truly do their best even in high school. I believe that the high school years help to set a foundation for the way someone will think throughout the rest of their lives. I would want to be a youth leader who not only encourages students to study the Bible and know it well but also to apply what they are learning there to their “real world” studies. I believe that if youth took that seriously they would strive to do much better academically. After all, we are working with the mind of Christ and He created all of our minds. Christians have much greater intellectual ability than they realize, and I want to encourage the upcoming generation to truly develop that ability.