Category: DOC Thoughts
The Spirit of our Founders
I said in my sermon on Sunday that we need to become a people that embrace the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law. By that same example I’ve thought that our denomination needs to rekindle the spirit of our founders, Stone, the Campbells, and Smith as we move into the 21st century as a way to remain a relevant voice of gospel in the noise of society. I noted this article in the TCU Daily Skiff by Pearce Edwards urging the university to connect to the heritage of our denomination as it moves deeper into this new century. Here is a paragraph. Click on the title to read more.
Disciples Heritage Should Not Be Forgotten
by Pearce Edwards | TCU Daily Skiff | April 1, 2010As the Disciples of Christ denomination follows the national trend of declining mainline Protestantism, it is not the tangible bonds between the Disciples and TCU that hold strong as they once could. Intangibly however, the Disciples’ belief in fostering learning in all its followers and a spirit of discernment honed by a pursuit of truth resonates strongly with the university’s mission to educate its students to be “ethical leaders and responsible citizens.”
Where does TCU go from here? The university must realize its fundamental resonance with the mission of the Disciples of Christ denomination and embrace the intangible bonds it shares. An ocean away, Shanghai urban planner Ruan Yisan speaks of a rapidly modernizing China that seeks the cutting edge when he says, “There is nothing wrong with improving people’s lives, but we should not throw our heritage away like a pair of old shoes.”
The Death of Liberal Arts
This is an interesting article from Newsweek online. It details how the economic problems of our nation have rippled into the higher education system and are changing it (doing it harm). This is not a new discovery. My summation of listening to teachers (primary, middle, and high school) and professors at colleges and in Disciple seminaries is that the last 15 years of teaching students for “the test” has created a generation of people that not only cannot think about or dream the big thoughts for problems, but they simply don’t want to nor see the need. Education is no longer a way to a better future for yourself, for a job, or simply to keep learning. Now, it is a hoop to leap through on your way to a professional sport dream or entertainment industry job. Is it important that a construction worker, road crew member, convenience store cashier, nurse or middle school principal understand philosophy, has an appreciation of literature, can filter myth and hearsay in history, as well as the 24hr news cycle? Yes. This is how civilization evolves, ideas develop, and reform happens because, I think history shows, this is how governments and leaders are held accountable to ideals. It is how better ideas for the benefit of everyone win the day and new leaders are recognized.
My liberal arts education at Texas Christian University gave me the thinking tools needed to understand for myself, that though an important step, the health care legislation that passed is not reform. Those same tools for thinking helps me recognize that, though important, the work to reform the financial industry will not be reform because the “get mine” ideology of capitalism has not been regulated since Regan dismantled it in the name of “American optimism” when I was in middle school. Is the same thing happening to liberal arts education? A liberal arts education helps one learn how to ask the right questions on the way to seeking an answer. [This applies to the denominational life of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) right now as we live through the third reformation of our frontier movement]. Here are two paragraphs from the article. Click the title to read more.
The Death of Liberal Arts
by Nancy Cook | Newsweek Online | April 5, 2010
Apart from the tough economics surrounding college choices, the move to offer more practical classes may have gone too far. Although many students now want to major in something that sounds like a job, the economy is shifting so rapidly that it’s hard to predict the landscape of the labor market in the next 10, 20, or 30 years. Not long ago, green tech, renewable energy, and health care were not the burgeoning fields they are today. While the number of students majoring in business has steeply risen this decade, there’s no guarantee that business training will offer students the best preparation for the future.
While the tradition of the liberal-arts education may be on the wane nationwide, the most elite schools, such as Harvard, Swarthmore, Middlebury, and Williams, remain committed to its ideal. These top schools are not tweaking their curriculums to add any pre-professional undergraduate programs. Thanks to their hefty endowments, they don’t have to. As the economy rebounds, their students, ironically, may be in the best spot. While studying the humanities has become unfashionable and seemingly impractical, the liberal arts also teaches students to think big thoughts—big enough to see beyond specific college majors and adapt to the broader job market.