Tagged

Pastor Jared (of New Reality) tagged me last week. Here are the answers to the nine questions. I don't read very many blogs, and those that I do have already been tagged, so I didn't tag anybody else. Blessings.

1. One book that changed your life: The Bible. There are other books I could list, but they all play second fiddle to the Scriptures.

2. One book that you have read more than once: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I picked it up in fourth grade and have worn out several copies over the years.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: Anything by the early church fathers (and mothers). While I have read bits and pieces, I simply don’t have the time in my normal week to read and digest them like they need to be.

4. One book that made you laugh: Anything by Dave Barry; I’ve only read a couple of his books, but they always seem to pick up my mood.

5. One book that made you cry: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz; it is a work of fiction, but the main character is so pure and simple that you can’t help but like him.

6. One book you wish had been written: Pastoral Ministry for Dummies. There are many days that I feel like I need it.

7. One book you wish had never been written: I don’t have one. I’ve read many very good books and some very bad ones, but ultimately it is up to the reader to discern what we keep and what we spit back out.

8. One book you are currently reading: Introducing the Uncommon Lectionary by Thomas Bandy. The appendix has been instrumental in my preaching for the last two months.

9. One book you have been meaning to read: There is a whole stack that I could list. One is Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.

Tears from the Sycamores

Late Monday afternoon, the Sycamore trees in the valley were dripping with rain. It seemed as if the whole valley was crying. Larry was a miracle, who doctors said should have died days before he had the surgery. The heart valves that needed replaced where pretty routine, and the bypasses were too, but the hole in his heart had grown from a small tear to a gaping hole the size of an orange. That was not routine at all.

Larry came out of surgery on that Monday, two weeks ago, to the surprise of the doctors and the relief of friends and family. His prognosis was good, and we all thanked God for the miracle that He had provided us.

Two weeks passed, with little change. Larry lay in a hospital bed, sedated, fighting for his life with the same dogged determination that he brought to life. He had the patience born from a lifetime of farming—he still plowed, planted, cut, and gathered his harvest with the horses. But like the storm clouds that roll up into the valley, the signs did not look good.

Monday, after two weeks of fighting, Larry was ready to go home. He was a simple man who loved hunting with the dogs, spending time with the grandkids, and giving horse-drawn wagon rides at the harvest festival. When the family had said good-bye, he passed peacefully from this life into the next.

I know that I’m not alone in wondering why God would give us a miracle one Monday, only to allow Larry to come home so soon, but I know that God has a plan for our good. God is good . . . all the time.

What I do know is that when Larry stopped breathing on Monday afternoon, my wife was driving up the valley. And the sky broke open in great big drops of rain. The whole valley seemed to weep for the loss that will be felt for many years to come. Larry, we’ll miss you, and add our tears to those that fall in the valley from the sycamore trees.

Feasibility Study opens doors for Higher Ed.

In the August 3 edition of the Monroe County Beacon, Arlean Selvy reported on the progress of Belmont Technichal College in bringing a branch campus to the county. The county commissioners adopted a resolution by Dr. Joseph Bukowski, president of Belmont Tech., to conduct a feasibility study. This study will seek to identify the educational needs of the area, as well as the wants and wishes of current students, county residents, and the business community.

The study should be completed and analyzed in the next three to four months. The plan is to present at least three educational program proposals, and then select the one which will best fit the county's needs.

What is the goal of Education?

In our current cultural climate of “leaving no child behind,” proficiency testing has become the means of assessing progress. Such testing creates a climate in which a school’s curriculum is based upon what is being tested. This raises a serious question: What is the basis for a standardized “proficiency” test? Is it not to test children for a minimal standard of achievement? Such thinking makes educators set the bar at the least common denominator rather than setting it at the level of the average student’s potential. This means that in our current system, only the weakest students struggle, while those who are in the upper 40-50% of their class are being kept from realizing their own potential.

This leads to the opening question: What is the goal of education? Is it to prepare our children for their future, providing them with the skills and knowledge necessary to be a productive member of society in a workplace that is increasingly global. If this is the goal of education, then the least common denominator cannot be our standard. Such an education would teach only the basics, never daring the students to push themselves to their potential.

Others would say that the goal of education is more complex. For those students who can not (or will not) attend college, school teaches those basic skills necessary for living and being productive in the workforce. For those students who do wish to pursue a college degree, the goal is to help them be well rounded, preparing each student for the unique experiences they will find in college. Yet how does standardized testing help these children?

At its best, testing does little more than diagnose where problems exist. It does nothing to fix the problems. And testing is not always at its best. Consider the child to whom the test is administered. Does that test show the child’s ability or does it show how well the child tested that day? As a pastor, I’ve talked to parents whose child has failed one of these tests. On one occasion, the child’s parents were divorced just a few days before the test. Another child was ill the day of the test, but was well enough to go to school. Both of these children are bright; both were functioning well under their full potential, and both failed the test. When the test was re-administered later, both children passed the test easily.

Talking with several teachers, it seems clear that this type of testing is not the way to move forward. Yet if we move away from standardized testing, how then do we assess the effectiveness of our children’s education? The answer to that question is yet to be found.