Learning in and out of school
12/10/13 05:42
Early in my life I experienced a transition in terms of my attitude toward formal academic education. I think it would be fair to say that I enjoyed school for the most part when I was an early elementary student. But somewhere around the fifth grade or so, as I began the awkwardness of early adolescence, I began to lose my interest in the school. It seemed to me that the most interesting things in life were happening in places other than the school and that formal education was simply not very interesting. This detachment and distraction from school didn’t stop me from learning. Our home was filled with opportunities to learn. We had ready access to books and strong support for our own experiments, building projects, and other activities. Our home was a gathering place for all sorts of interesting adults and there were lots of ways to learn lessons that don’t fit into a formal curriculum. By the time I reached high school, I was largely disconnected from many of my classes. I went to school, I earned passing grades, but I had lost respect for some of the teachers and grew distrustful of the administration of the school. Part of my situation was the product of turbulent times. The late sixties did not engender a lot of support for respect of elders and formal institutions. Part of my situation was a product of a small town school system that probably was underfunded and unable to compete when it came to salaries and support for its employees. It seemed to me that most successful people sought careers in places far away from schools.
My attitude underwent a dramatic transition, however, when I entered college. College was academically challenging for me. I discovered that I had to work hard to learn the materials presented and to keep up with the workload. I was exposed to teachers that I admired as individuals as well as educators. I was drawn to the professors at the college and even imagined that teaching was a career that I might pursue. As I gained academic skills, I discovered real joy in learning and was excited and delighted to continue my education by entering graduate school upon graduation.
I have continued my respect for and love of academic education throughout my adult life. I enjoy visiting college campuses. I enjoy opportunities to take classes and I have continued to find opportunities for continuing education within the academy. The few opportunities I have had to teach at the college level have been challenging and joyful for me. I take great delight in the young adults in our church and enjoy hearing about their college experiences.
That said, however, it is clear that there are many other ways to learn. Not all people learn best in formal academic settings. Not all life lessons come from classrooms. Textbooks don’t have all of the answers. Within the academic community there are centers of excellence and innovation that are well aware of these facts. There are dedicated teachers who are exploring creative ways for teaching and learning that are outside of the normal lecture-and-reading approach of many college courses. Our experience at the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Center for Aboriginal Theological and Ministry Training in Canada has allowed us to participate in a unique learning program that is based on traditional native methods of teaching and learning where the content is consistent with the coursework presented at universities.
The program features a five-year community based ministry program. Students who complete the program become eligible for ordination in the United Church of Canada. There is also a three-year program for designated lay ministers. It is a rigorous educational program, but it doesn’t involve much listening to lectures. Most of the classes are taught in listening circles with elders, teachers and students all participating in seeking additional education and knowledge.
Ministry, however, is a vocation and not a simple set of skills that need to be mastered. Over the years I have learned that no academy, however innovative in its approach to teaching can fully prepare a student for the realities of ministry. Good ministers have learned their academic lessons well, but continue to learn after graduation. As I said earlier, there are lessons that are not best learned in the classroom.
Life experience and imagination are excellent teachers if you continue to listen to their lessons after completing your formal education.
Upon graduation, we began our ministry in a rural and isolated setting. Some times during those early years, we became lonely and felt that there were few in our community who could understand the challenges we were facing. One of the most accepted models in those days was a kind of sink or swim exposure to ministry without access to mentors and others. Ministers who survived four or five years in a small congregation were usually rewarded by a call to a larger congregation and a larger salary.
The world doesn’t work that way any more. Students graduating from theological seminary typically have such large debts that smaller congregations cannot afford to pay them a living wage. Ministers who have more experience and who have paid back their debt can afford to work for smaller salaries than those just beginning their careers. The result from my point of view is an even more risky practice of congregations with substantial size hiring ministers fresh out of school. The congregations are seeking youth and vigor and are willing to accept a pastor with little or no experience because they want to attract younger members to their congregations. The ministers accept the positions because of a perceived prestige to particular pulpits and sometimes are unaware of the complex dynamics and pressures of larger congregations. The result is that far too many ministers leave the ministry in search of other vocations early in what might have been promising careers if there had been sufficient support and perhaps less challenging problems in the initial years of ministry.
Our processes of preparation of leaders for the church continue to produce struggles for the church. The current situation is a shortage of ministers and the need for fresh innovations in education and equipping people for the tasks of ministry. Some of the solutions will come from the academy. Theological Seminaries are responding to new challenges with new programs. But churches must also change their systems of support for emerging leaders. Balance will be required.
There are probably more than a dozen blogs possible on this topic and the subject has not been fully explored in this brief essay. Although I do not expect my career to lead me to work within a college or seminary, I do expect that the next years of my ministry will involve a call to be more actively engaged in assisting with the education of clergy for the next generations of the life of the church.
My attitude underwent a dramatic transition, however, when I entered college. College was academically challenging for me. I discovered that I had to work hard to learn the materials presented and to keep up with the workload. I was exposed to teachers that I admired as individuals as well as educators. I was drawn to the professors at the college and even imagined that teaching was a career that I might pursue. As I gained academic skills, I discovered real joy in learning and was excited and delighted to continue my education by entering graduate school upon graduation.
I have continued my respect for and love of academic education throughout my adult life. I enjoy visiting college campuses. I enjoy opportunities to take classes and I have continued to find opportunities for continuing education within the academy. The few opportunities I have had to teach at the college level have been challenging and joyful for me. I take great delight in the young adults in our church and enjoy hearing about their college experiences.
That said, however, it is clear that there are many other ways to learn. Not all people learn best in formal academic settings. Not all life lessons come from classrooms. Textbooks don’t have all of the answers. Within the academic community there are centers of excellence and innovation that are well aware of these facts. There are dedicated teachers who are exploring creative ways for teaching and learning that are outside of the normal lecture-and-reading approach of many college courses. Our experience at the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Center for Aboriginal Theological and Ministry Training in Canada has allowed us to participate in a unique learning program that is based on traditional native methods of teaching and learning where the content is consistent with the coursework presented at universities.
The program features a five-year community based ministry program. Students who complete the program become eligible for ordination in the United Church of Canada. There is also a three-year program for designated lay ministers. It is a rigorous educational program, but it doesn’t involve much listening to lectures. Most of the classes are taught in listening circles with elders, teachers and students all participating in seeking additional education and knowledge.
Ministry, however, is a vocation and not a simple set of skills that need to be mastered. Over the years I have learned that no academy, however innovative in its approach to teaching can fully prepare a student for the realities of ministry. Good ministers have learned their academic lessons well, but continue to learn after graduation. As I said earlier, there are lessons that are not best learned in the classroom.
Life experience and imagination are excellent teachers if you continue to listen to their lessons after completing your formal education.
Upon graduation, we began our ministry in a rural and isolated setting. Some times during those early years, we became lonely and felt that there were few in our community who could understand the challenges we were facing. One of the most accepted models in those days was a kind of sink or swim exposure to ministry without access to mentors and others. Ministers who survived four or five years in a small congregation were usually rewarded by a call to a larger congregation and a larger salary.
The world doesn’t work that way any more. Students graduating from theological seminary typically have such large debts that smaller congregations cannot afford to pay them a living wage. Ministers who have more experience and who have paid back their debt can afford to work for smaller salaries than those just beginning their careers. The result from my point of view is an even more risky practice of congregations with substantial size hiring ministers fresh out of school. The congregations are seeking youth and vigor and are willing to accept a pastor with little or no experience because they want to attract younger members to their congregations. The ministers accept the positions because of a perceived prestige to particular pulpits and sometimes are unaware of the complex dynamics and pressures of larger congregations. The result is that far too many ministers leave the ministry in search of other vocations early in what might have been promising careers if there had been sufficient support and perhaps less challenging problems in the initial years of ministry.
Our processes of preparation of leaders for the church continue to produce struggles for the church. The current situation is a shortage of ministers and the need for fresh innovations in education and equipping people for the tasks of ministry. Some of the solutions will come from the academy. Theological Seminaries are responding to new challenges with new programs. But churches must also change their systems of support for emerging leaders. Balance will be required.
There are probably more than a dozen blogs possible on this topic and the subject has not been fully explored in this brief essay. Although I do not expect my career to lead me to work within a college or seminary, I do expect that the next years of my ministry will involve a call to be more actively engaged in assisting with the education of clergy for the next generations of the life of the church.