Learning in Freedom
Most courses are taught in "one size fits all." Yet one size doesn't fit all. So I revamped my course to make it much more flexible. You can read the books and do the written assignments that matter most. You can take tests when you like and as often as you like, since they don't count until the midterm and final exams. You can take the challenge package that best suits your priorities and capacities. This is more like the way you are learning in the rest of your life, and especially after you graduate.
Your freedom carries risks, of course. Here are some suggestions for learning in freedom.
Weigh your priorities.
Life is a sacrifice. Even wasting time is a sacrifice, because you don't get the time back. So take an hour to evaluate (and re-evaluate) your priorities this semester and in your college years. What's most important to you, and what will you commit to sacrifice for it? Maybe grades matter because you need to go to graduate school or maintain a scholarship. Fine. Or maybe you have critical family concerns that distract you from academics. Or a job that's necessary for financial reasons. If those sacrifices are necessary, so be it; accept the cost in grades or exposure to course materials without regrets or apologies.
This course can provide you a perspective on God, the Christian faith, your church tradition, the Bible, and on and on—a perspective that can improve the direction of your life from here on, and maybe for eternity. Which sacrifices are those benefits worth?
Recall why you came to Westmont.
For grades? I doubt it. You can get higher grades for less effort elsewhere. But do you live and learn as if grades are why you came here?
For a merit or athletic or music scholarship? I doubt it. Those are means to the end, not the end itself. Of course you need to try to maintain that scholarship; it may be making college affordable in the first place. But the financial support serves some other purpose.
To make and enjoy good friendships? Of course. But not in such a way that the school part of Westmont becomes an excuse. You can make and enjoy good friendships a lot more cheaply in other ways. And you can study hard without sacrificing those friendships—though you may have to learn how to
Most of you came to Westmont for transformation. You came to become a different kind of person: more faithful, more mature, better equipped for adult life and fruitful ministry.
Then can the structure of this class serve those ends, the ones that brought you here in the first place? I think it can, but staying focused there will take some planning and self-control.
Do more than the minimum.
Learning comes through exposure. So increase your exposure. Take the test again after we go over it in class. Read an extra book. Watch an extra lecture. Do additional written assignments. It's all practice, and it's all learning. It's why you came here. It may even help your grade. Surely it won't hurt.
Take some chances.
Life is also risky. And while some risks aren't worth taking, some are. Moreover, some benefits are simply unavailable without risk. And academic stakes are actually pretty low (and rewards high) compared to a lot of others. Which rewards in your life and ministry are worth some of the risks in this class's approach?
Prepare while the stakes are low for when the stakes are high.
When Israel was young, newly emancipated, and still warped by slavery, God responded to transgressions immediately and harshly. As Israel matured over the next few centuries, the line from cause to effect became longer and curvier. Rather than instant plagues in the wilderness, the Hebrews suffered famines and neighbors' attacks at home.
Jesus stretched things out even further for the heirs of his kingdom. We gain responsibilities, and the freedom to exercise them. There may be no consequences at all for neglecting them until Judgment Day finally comes. "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man" (Matthew 24:38-39 RSV).
Jesus' advice was that as Noah was ready for that day, we too "must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (24:44).
By contrast, our educational system is increasingly structured around more and more testing and parallel assessments, rubrics and grade incentives for desired behaviors, short leashes of 'accountability', and 'outcomes' that standardize and even guarantee results. That contrast distorts our course topic by conforming it to current academic conventions—while Paul warns the Romans not to conform to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their mind (Romans 12:2). How will conforming to this world make us ready for the Son of Man?
Stay current with the lectures and written assignments, take the tests on schedule, pace out the workload over the semester, don't give in to temptations of procrastination or demotivation, and your diligence will be rewarded. In fact, you'll be comfortable at the final exam, because your earlier performance will have demonstrated how well you're likely to do.
Or don't. The consequence will be a low or perhaps even a failing grade. That's not the end of the world; it's a lot less consequential than Judgment Day. The lesson learned may be worth the price.
Work out a schedule.
Here's what some students recommend: Early in the semester, pull out a planner or online calendar and plan out both your weeks and your whole semester.
Put due dates for tests and written assignments for each of your classes. Figure out when in advance of those dates you will need to do the reading, research, and writing. If you have multiple things due the same week, you may have to write an assignment a week early.
Carve out times of day for watching lectures and reading the books, and stick to them. This will be easy for some of you and very hard for others. It doesn't come that easily to me.
Seek accountability if you need it.
If you start putting off lectures, tests, and especially written assignments, then you are putting yourself at risk of failing the course. What will you do about that? You could
... recruit a friend or two in the class to remind you and hold you accountable.
... share your calendar with a family member.
... drop commitments that are interfering with college.
... remove temptations (whether electronic or social) that are distracting you.
... drop the class and focus elsewhere.
Don't just resolve to pull it together. In my experience, that usually doesn't happen. On the other hand, I have had students return a year or more after failing or dropping, and with their new maturity and motivation they've often done really well.
Be patient with being a work in progress.
There is a reason for all the structures, incentives, and penalties of traditional courses. Works-righteousness gets results.
Then why did Jesus structure things so differently in his church? I think he was aiming for character, not just outcomes. And structures are of decreasing value in building character, as Paul teaches in Galatians. At some point, externals have to yield to internals such as joy, motivation, consistency, and the like.
By now you have been well formed by all those structures, and you are probably ready to shift more and more into a more autonomous way of living and learning, where others depend on you for consistency.
However, the transition may not be easy, and it won't be seamless. We all make mistakes along the way, and you will probably learn that you are a little less responsible than you would like to be. That too is part of the learning process. Better now than later when the stakes are so much higher. Take on the challenge now and you may find yourself readier to take on and beat life's later ones. 