During the time in Houston, with my brother, I had the rare gift of "down time." Even though I would never want to have down time in a Cancer Center, it served a valuable purpose during my month of the Daniel Fast. In addition to keeping my mind focused on serving my brother, I had time to pray about my job. Don't get me wrong. I love my job. But in the grand scheme of things, I know that what I teach is just necessary for the degree. Ultimately, knowing about brain mechanisms is not valuable in the lives of my students. It won't make them better people.
Last fall, I had begun to question the entire point of higher education as I read more about the housing crisis and the highly educated people that profited from it. I read about the tactics used to entice people into buying homes that they couldn't afford. I read about re-financing schemes targeted at minority communities that had people losing homes that had been paid off. I read about these highly educated people who were only concerned with making more money for themselves and I began to question the value of an education.
My students believe that they need an education to get a "good" job. By the time they take my course, they are seniors and the class represents one of the final hurdles of college life. In the last two years, I have learned that most of my students don't want to learn to know, they want to learn in order to pass. Given this situation, I focused my fasting and prayer on how to be a better teacher. The answer came in a question of two words "Teach what?"
Perhaps, the reason my undergrads took issue with my teaching over the internet while I was in Houston was because there is something vital and necessary that can't be delivered via Skype. "Teach what?" Perhaps, I am doing more in the front of the room than describing neurons. Like, last semester, when I began every class with a breathing exercise. I needed those three minutes to orient and focus myself. Once I asked myself, what if Jesus was sitting in each of these chairs, then how would I teach them.
What if Jesus IS sitting in each of those chairs?
If I truly recognized God in each of my students then perhaps, I could convey that knowledge to them. If they knew themselves in this way perhaps they would enter life after college fully prepared to use their faith in helpful and creative ways to serve humanity.
Perhaps in the cultivation of self-discipline, that is essential and necessary for a faith-filled life, they would also place a ceiling on their desires- not ever needing to horde or borrow, eating healthfully, making wise use of time.
Perhaps in creating a life fueled by faith, service and self-control, my students would become so successful at what ever they were doing, they would ultimately realize that love is the principle thing...that education without love is destructive and dangerous.
The answer to my prayer- Teach what?
Teach students to see the God within them. Teach Truth. Teach Self-Discipline. Teach Love. Teach Peace, Teach non-Violence.
Q. What would happen if I and every one of my students became such a teacher?
A. Revolution.
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