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Copyright © Louis Schmier and Atwood Publishing.
Date: Tue 8/24/2004 2:08 AM
Random Thought: Faith-Based Education
Last Thursday, during our "what do you want to know about me" question
session in class when students ask me any questions about me, a student
asked, "Where do you get all your energy?"
Without thinking, I heard myself say, "I'm faith in action. This class is
a 'faith based class!'"
Some of the students looked at me as if I was a closet, right-wing,
Christian fundamentalist who was going to hold morning prayer meetings to
start class. After I assured them that I wasn't going to ignore either St.
Augustine's 'give unto's' or the First Amendment, I told them that
faith-based education, as I see it, has nothing to do with religion in the
classroom and everything to do with my attitude toward and perception of and
my work with each and every person in the classroom.
"Faith is not what I have," I told them, "It is what I do. It's not about
me alone; it's about how the class runs. It's how I relate to you and me,
think about you and me, speak to you, treat you, help you. It's about how
truthful you and I are with ourselves and each other. It's what I strive to
help each of you help yourself do. Have faith in your ability, seek it out,
cultivate it, and to put it into action. That kind of faith is a mountain
moving force. It's what moves me to move those mountains.
I went on to tell them that kind of faith will provide a sacred power to
break out of a bunch of restricting, if not imprisoning, what I've heard are
called "thought traps." that fence them in, that limit their ideas about who
they each are and what they each are capable of, and, therefore, restrict
their performance. "There isn't one person in this classroom who doesn't
belong and isn't capable. You've just got to have the faith in yourself
that I have in you. It's not easy, but if you trust me," I assured them,
"if you trust yourself, you'll be stunned at what you can do with that kind
of faith."
Then, I went on to answer someone's question about my painted right pinky
nail.
That moment that answer to that question, was the first time I have
described myself, my beliefs, and my methods in that way. By coincidence,
this weekend I've been reading some writings by George Lakoff. He's a
cognitive psychologist at Berkley. As I understand him, the gist of what he
says is that we live in conceptual structures and stereotyping frameworks
and institutionalizing metaphors. And, when the facts don't work in our
favor, when they don't fit into our frameworks and structure, we fight as
hard as we can to keep the frameworks and structures, and deny or ignore the
facts with as such assertions as I've experienced: "in my humble opinion"
or "I believe" or "I'm not comfortable with...." or "I'm...." or "I'm
not...." or "I can't...." or "....but." Thought traps that so many of us
academics and students are caught in, that erode us, that atrophy us, that
burn us out.
My faith in the ability and unique potential of myself and each student is
not a cliché or a slogan. It is a very real "trap buster." I surround
myself with that faith in each student as a filter so that whatever may come
my way, it must first pass through that filter. That is not to deny or
ignore "reality" of imperfection and mistake; it's a matter of choosing how
to experience and respond to that reality. My faith makes sure that I react
with wonder, awe, enthusiasm, and positive expectations rather than with an
attitude tinted by defeat, resignation, anger, and resentment.
My faith is a little, positive "it is" idea that grows and grabs me as it
makes that long, ever-deepening journey from my eyes and ears to my head to
my heart. When I don't heed that faith, when I don't live it, I'm trapped;
I don't filter out the clogging dirt; I screw up; I shirk away; I weaken; I
droop like a drought-ridden flower; I get worn down; and, I get deflated
with a bunch of exhaling self-pitying sighs. But, each time I believe, each
time I listen, each time I see, I stand tall and straight like a satiated
flower basking in the nourishing sun; I take myself into a magnificent world
beyond myself where nothing is impossible. It is what makes me; it is what
makes me ask the questions I ask; ; it is what allows me to take the risks I
take; it is what makes me perceive what I perceive; it is what makes me do
what I do.
Like Alice, every time I set foot on campus I pass through a looking glass
into the spiritual realm of that faith. Everything begins to change, turn
upside down, turn inside out, gets revalued. I have become convinced that
such a faithful, positive vision reveals the true sacred nature of reality
of the "unique" and "individual" person. At the same time, that faith
uncovers the profanity and illusory nature of a depersonalized, often
dehumanized, denigrated if not desacrilized, and stereotyped "student."
In this faithful world, constantly reinforced by reading the students'
journals and small talking with them, I don't see any bureaucratic
bean-counter's impersonal "unit." I don't see standardizing labels. I
don't see nameless generalizations. I don't see lifeless statistics. I
don't see faceless members of a herd-like "student body," or even of
"faculty," "staff," and "administration" for that matter. I don't see a
spiritless ID number. I don't see a mere budgetary resource to be retained.
I don't see an abstraction fit into a strategic plan. No pigeonholes for
me. No stereotypes for me. In a room, as well as throughout the campus, I
see a gathering based on human values, not institutional rules and
regulations and organization charts. I see a unique, precious, and sacred
gathering of unrepeatable ones. I see a rich, too often hidden and ignored
cache of abilities, talents, contributions, and potentialities.
My faith based approach rests on an assumption as does probably everything
we believe and do. It is a decision I've made that imposes an unconditional
commitment that, in turn, becomes a driving force which supplies an endless
and boundless energy. My faith is that each student is like each day: a
beautiful, priceless gift never to be matched, never to be ignored, never to
be cast away, never to be wasted, filled with unique and wonderful
possibilities. The beauty and positive possibilities are always there even
during the storms. Let me let you in on a secret: the more faith you have
in each student, the more peaceful your spirit becomes; and, the more
peaceful your spirit becomes, the more fully you will be aware of, know, and
experience that beauty both in yourself and in others.
My faith is a choice, then. I choose to believe that each ordinary student
is extraordinary, and I act on my choice. For me, each student is a unique,
and worthy human being to be accepted, respected, and appreciated. Each is
too sacred to be left behind or pushed aside or cast out. If we take the
time to build their confidence, patiently allow them to fill their hearts
with their own faith, notice and savor their accomplishments and thoughts,
if we expressed pride, approval, accomplishment, virtues rather than
demeaning, criticizing and finding fault, each student, each day, can be a
celebration that dwarfs that of any holiday.
My faith in each student twists and turns the meaning of words like power
and authority. To live in the powerful, existential, spiritual world of
faith is, as I told the students, to have mountain moving strength, to make
visible the invisible, to make actual the potential, to discover the hidden
abilities, to move the latent talents, to unwrap the wrapped gifts. Faith
is the fuel source of my imaginative and creative energies. It is the
endless replenishment of my "get-up-and-go" stamina that is as vital for me
as a proper diet, sufficient sleep, meditation, and lots of physical
exercise. It is vision, purpose, meaning, conviction, commitment, power,
authority, encouragement, support, and experience.
Faith, I once said, is one of what I call "my four little big words." For
me, faith is a "can do" word an "it's possible" word; it's a word that fuels
my inner fires; it's a word of hope for, belief in, and love of; it's a
confidence word. It is a map showing the topography of each person, the
classroom, the campus, my profession that helps me to understand the
direction in which I must travel to fulfill the sacred promise of my work:
to become a wholesome person, and to help others help themselves become
likewise; to be that person who is there to help others help themselves
become what they are capable of becoming.
Yeah, I'm faith in action and the classes are faith-based.
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