Good Education is a Balance

I should have made the fourth-grade baseball All-Star team.  I was CLEARLY the best player on the team. I mean, just look at this catch I made as a kindergartner!

If I was this good as a kindergartner, you can just imagine how good I was in the fourth grade. I had years of experience at that point and training by a Major League pitcher. Nathan Minchey was a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, and he grew up at the same church as I did. Nathan gave me personal pitching lessons in his off-season. I was good.

So when the season was over and we were at the closing ceremonies, I knew my name would be called for the All-Star team. But…it wasn’t. The head coach’s son’s name was called.  My dad was just the assistant coach. I was so mad at my dad! How could he not stand up for me in the coaches’ meeting and make sure I got on the All-Star team? It was simply an injustice. I can remember the anger I felt, and I can remember how mad I was that my parents decided to do nothing to help me get on that team.

Now, as an adult, I look back on this situation so thankful for the way my parents handled it. Last semester during our Family Institute, I started to process what I learned from this experience and what I would have learned if my parents had fought and got me on that team.

If my parents had complained	Because they didn’t complain
I would have learned my parents loved me	I learned how much they loved me for not complaining
I would have learned that life is not fair but you can manipulate the system	I learned life is not fair
I would have learned that I can get my way by how I interact with my parents	I learned to work harder and improve
I would have learned that my parents will fight my battles for me	I learned to suck it up (grit)

I learned a lot more about real life by not being on that team than by being on the team. Dr. Tim Elmore, an author, national speaker, and teen researcher has put some interesting information together about raising the current generation of kids.

He says that our kids' world is full of…

Speed

Convenience

Entertainment

Nurture

Entitlement

What are the consequences of these things?

If our children’s world is full of SPEED, they will view SLOW as bad.

If our children’s world is full of CONVENIENCE, they will view HARD as bad.

If our children’s world is full of ENTERTAINMENT, they will view BORING as bad.

If our children’s world is full of NURTURE, they will view RISK as bad.

If our children’s world is full of ENTITLEMENT, they will view LABOR as bad.

Think about this for a second; what are the implications for our children? How do they view slow, hard, boring, risk, and labor? As an adult I often have to deal with slow, hard, boring, risk, and labor.  If I have a hard time in my marriage, how do I respond? If work is boring for a period, how do I respond? How can I function as a follower of Jesus if risk is bad?

We know that this must be a balancing act because life is also full of speed, convenience, entertainment, nurturing, and entitlement. We also know that these things are not inherently bad. The key is knowing the right opportunities to teach all of these.

So, how does this balancing act impact your child’s education? As a response to all of this, here are some great examples of what we can do in education, which is also great advice for parenting.

Don’t think Control, think Connect.

Don’t think Inform, think Interpret.

Don’t think Entertain, think Equip.

Don’t think Manage, think Mentor.

Don’t think Impose, think Expose.

Don’t think Prevent, think Prepare.

Don’t think Cool, think Real.

Don’t think Tell, think Ask.

Don’t think Prescriptive, think Descriptive.

Don’t think Lecture, think Lab.

As educators, we spend a lot of time thinking about the most effective ways to reach our students. As you have read from my previous blog posts we desire to be a school that focuses on best practices. Yes, you have seen updated technology use, strategic pedagogy, and new programming being effectively used at OCA. But at the end of the day, are we preparing students to be good decision makers and problem solvers? Or, more importantly, are we forming students to be followers of Jesus? 

This is a delicate balance that we take very seriously. We are in the midst of building an educational system that provides speed, convenience, and other modern advantages while still training our students how to do hard, risky, and labor intensive things. There will be adjustments made along the way, but our goal will always be to provide our students with the most well-rounded experience possible.

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a learning model and best practice that educators use to help their students develop critical thinking skills and for better retention of information.

To move up the pyramid from lower-order thinking (simply remembering and understanding facts) to higher-order thinking (analysis, evaluation, creation), we must push, challenge, and create opportunities for critical thinking. Critical thinking, problem solving, self-motivation, and responsibility are 21st Century Kingdom Skills that we focus on at OCA. As educators, we value partnering with families in teaching these real-life skills because we know this will prepare them to be successful in our world.

I am so thankful to be a part of a community like Oklahoma Christian Academy that has families who allow our educators to do this. You allow us to be rigorous, you desire that we develop faith-formative skills in your children, and you collaborate with us (not against us) when your child hits adversity because you know the value of preparing your child for the path and not the path for your child.