Is there something more?

One of my readers asked for more information about IVCF in my previous post, and I was really glad to get that perspective.  IVCF is an organization centered on college students, so they have little direct presence in public schools, however, the organization is involved in promoting service among college students.  A lot of that service work happens in the public school sector, so IVCF does affect public schools indirectly.  In fact, IVCF has an entire conference called Urbana devoted to promoting service and missions work.  The conference happens every three years, and really is an amazing way to spend five days -- I attended the one in 2006.  According to the mission statement of IVCF, its purpose is to establish "witnessing communities" on college campuses and universities mostly in the US, but also around the world and to promote the message of Jesus Christ, growing in love for God and for God's Word, God's purposes for the world, and ethnic reconciliation.

I have seen IVCF have a positive impact at every university I have visited with a chapter, and I have experienced the power of this kind of community first hand.  I went to Urbana with only two other people from my chapter (our staff worker and a law student) so I was "adopted" by several other chapters while I was there.  I went to the conference knowing next to nobody, but left with dozens of new friends.  That alone shows the power that the organization has in welcoming students and drawing them into community.

In terms of this kind of teaching and NCLB, there is obviously something missing in modern schools.  We're test-driven and we've lost a lot of focus on developing our students as people and as future leaders.  Beyond making sure our students get good grades and test scores and go on to make our schools look good, we've lost a concern for helping them discover a future hope and goals.  This was always a part of both private and public education until now, and it's rather tragic that this is so downplayed in modern public schooling.

I do not think that any particular group would say that developing students and people and leaders is a terrible goal for schools, but I think that priorities have changed.  This is one reason why I am looking forward to teaching social studies -- you can't get away with this kind of thinking in a social studies classroom.  Social studies has a dual purpose of teaching the subject and promoting citizenship and the discovery of an enlightened life.  You can't teach history without teaching what people thought, and that is a great opportunity to challenge your students with the thoughts of philosophers and great thinkers, from all over the globe.

The fact is that though students can put up a front about not caring about their education, most of them are searching for the answers to life's big questions.  My high school experienced this in a powerful way.  Two of our social studies teachers proposed starting a Comparative Religion/Philosophy elective for the junior and senior class.  The students would spent half of the year studying religion and the other half studying philosophy.  The school and the school board fought the proposition for months, stating that it would be a waste of resources because no modern student is interested in that kind of thinking.  Our schools are full of atheists and deists now.  Who would take such a class.

How wrong they were!  Half of the senior class and a good chunk of the junior class signed up for the course.  They actually had to open three new sections and ask other teachers in the school if they would be willing to teach religion and philosophy.  The class was fantastic because all of the students were interested in the subject matter and in applying it to their own lives.  We all wanted to consider and answer questions about the meaning of life and how we order the way that we think and the way that we make moral decisions.  The county actually asked the teachers to consolidate their notes so that they could promote the class at other high schools.

Clearly, students do want something more, but they need to be presented with the opportunity to find it.  There is certainly room for this within No Child Left Behind and public education, but it takes initiative, planning, and perseverance.  It takes teachers willing to take a risk and not just stick to the properly approved courses, but to reach out and do something more than is required.  If they really care about their students, they will do that.