In a comment to a previous post, I mentioned that it’s a sin for a teacher to be boring. That prompted a friend to ask me to share my thoughts on the “sins of a student.” Thus this post is the first of a few on that subject. I think that many of the readers of this blog are former students of mine, which means they may not benefit from this (because – 1, I’ve already knocked them over the head each way about these things, and 2, they’re no longer students). In any case, the first “sin of the student” is that they are short-sighted.
I actually wrote a mental sermon related to this a few months back, but it was never written or preached. But I find it to be true every semester. It’s probably more characteristic of the nature of youth than intrinsic to those studying, but since most of my students are young, this distinction for me is not great.
By short-sighted, I mean simply that students do not look ahead in making their daily decisions. Their choices are based on the immediate rather than the lasting. I see this manifested in a variety of ways, but I have time only to mention one today.
Extra-curricular activities. Students go to college to learn, but too often they make decisions that directly and significantly hamper their chief objective. They choose to take a job (or two), take a school leadership position, and have a ministry role at church. If they have time to do the best (reasonable) job on their assignments, then I have no quibble with their extra activities. Unfortunately, that never seems to be the case. Those extra things crowd out the main thing. A classic example is the student who has to work 20 hours/week so that he/she can go to school. But they don’t have enough time to do the course reading, do the careful preparation for the research paper, or study thoroughly for the exam. So do the math. In making $160/week at their job, they are forfeiting a $900/week education. Seems silly to me. Better, if you have to, to sit out a semester and work two jobs, and then come back for the semester and not work at all. You earn more and you learn more. Remember too that education is not only about assignments. What a shame it is to have access to some great minds (yep, by that I mean the teachers), and to never ask them questions. But if you’re just barely keeping up with the assignments, you don’t have time to formulate the questions, let alone ask them. But college is the time for that; you won’t do it later (and you won’t have the expensive access you’re paying for now later either).
I don’t actually believe that it’s impossible to work a job while gaining an excellent education (I believe that I did that). But I do believe that it is impossible to work a job, serve in a school position, and devote significant time to ministry and to get an excellent education. So, the long-sighted approach would be to say: I simply must work this job 20 hours/week now, and therefore my ministry involvement is going to be limited. I know that sounds “unChristian”, but I think the opposite approach of “do it all” is terribly poor stewardship. If you don’t work, you can (and I hope you will) pour more of yourself into ministry. The needs are great. But if there simply is no other way than a job, cut something besides your education.
Your blog got me thinking at an even younger level – the Sunday School class. I have kids for two years (5th & 6th). Some come into class the first year with great enthusiasm and a desire to learn. They’ve “heard” about the class and they want to take full advantage. They are a great encouragement to me! But the biggest obstacle I see is oten with their parents and their willingness/unwillingness to make sure their child is there every week – on time!, to supervise their Quiet Times every day and ask them once in a while what they learned in class that week. I’ve found parents absolutely thrilled their child is finally old enough to be in this class, but then not doing a thing to help that child get the most out of it. So I encourage all your readers to back up their SS teachers. Use them as a resource to help your children learn about God and His Word. Don’t let sports, music, socialization, school work, etc. crowd out the most important thing – worshipping God and learning His Word.
Thanks for taking the time, Todd. Very beneficial. I think I might email the link to the the guys in the dorm once you’ve done a few more posts on it.
Thanks Todd, those are some great thought provoking comments. It is definitely something that many students over look. I think I pass off the academic part sometimes because I have been told that I will learn more out of the classroom than I will in it. Thanks for balancing the scales.
You can always count on gunner to bring focus and conviction to even an off-handed comment about not paying attention in class. I love that about you, bro. Thanks for challenging me to not be a typical slacker of a student. oh yeah, thanks for your thoughts on the matter too, Todd. :-)