position paper coffin week 2

8/17/2019 Position Paper Coffin Week 2

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Running Head: CALLED TO TEACH, CALLED TO LEARN 1

Called to Teach, Called to Learn

Daniel Coffin

Concordia University, Nebraska

Submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for SOC !

"ay #$th, %!

'n The Divine Comedy , the poet Dante (li)hieri frames the be)innin) of his

narrator*s +ourney throu)h an underorld of terror and sufferin) to self-knoled)e and


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CALLED TO TEACH, CALLED TO LEARN 2

illumination thusly. /"iday throu)h our life*s +ourney ' ent astray 0 from the strai)ht

road and oke to find myself 0 alone in a dark ood1 2o ' came to it ' cannot ri)htly

say 0 so dru))ed and loose ith sleep had ' become 0 hen ' first andered from the

True 3ay4 5#$6%0%&, p7 %87 So, too, have e as a society nodded off and andered

off the path into a orld here disaffected students fail to learn and )ro and

discoura)ed educators fail to teach and nurture7 There are undeniable socioeconomic

factors hich need to be addressed in order to close the achievement )ap, but these

remedies ill be insufficient unless teachers and students both reaaken to their sense

of purpose, +ust as Dante*s narrator needed to ake up and earnestly seek out the True

3ay7

This sense of purpose 9eith refers to as vocation, the purpose of hich is to love

and serve those around us and to act as :od*s instruments in the orld 5%#, p7 #$,

;


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/failin) system74 ?eform after reform have failed to solve the problem - the charter

school movement, restrictive discipline, No Child Left =ehind, Common Core, merit pay,

tenure reform, standardi@ed testin) - all these have failed to fiA hat*s broken in

(merican education7 No one has found the ay back to the True Bath7

The consequences of this disorder are sta))erin)7 The National (ssessment of

>ducational Bro)ress shos a si)nificant and stubbornly persistent )ap in achievement

beteen (frican (merican, Latino, and (merican 'ndian students and their 3hite and

(sian (merican peers at all )rade levels in both math and readin) proficiency 5Bitre,

%$, p7 %#&87 There are a number of factors hich contribute to this phenomenon, both

outside of schools, such as hun)er, parent involvement 5or lack of same8, and trauma,

as ell as inside schools, such as access to hi)hly trained teachers, sufficient materials,

and student en)a)ement in academic tasks 5Bietre, %$, p7 %#%87 The consequences

of this achievement )ap are, in part, tan)ible, as students ho lack sufficient education

ill likely find their earnin) prospects reduced 5=ureau of Labor Statistics, %$8, but

also intan)ible, as "ller and Bohlmann*s research on the correlation beteen lo

achievement and diminished self-concept has shon 5%&, p7 $$!87 Neither are these

consequences the students* alone to bear7 (s adults, these students should be prepared

to )o on to contribute to their societies7 't is impossible to calculate the impact of the

lack of cultural contributions from these disaffected learners, but the economic cost can

be quantified. #7; to %7; trillion dollars over a period of ten years, hich cannot but lead

to those socioeconomic factors hich in turn perpetuate the cycle of failure and

frustration 5(u)uste, 2ancock, LaboissiEre, %&&


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their first three years of teachin), ith %G of these citin) dissatisfaction ith the

profession as their reason for leavin) 5=oe, Cook, Sunderland, %&&H, p7


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Blayin), for eAample, is hat children do, and, ar)uably, hat they are supposed to do7

Learnin) is part of the callin) of childhood7 >verythin) they do is part of their vocation,

and it is the one vocation that everyone has had4 5%#, p7 HH87 So much effort is spent

convincin) students of the need for hi)her education, encoura)in) them throu)h pep

rallies and one-on-one conferences7 /3e )o to colle)eJ4 is the rallyin) cry of many a

school family7 (nd yet, there has not been )reat chan)e in hi)h school completion and

colle)e enrollment in the populations receivin) that eAplicit encoura)ement7 3hyI

=ecause vocation is not a function of choice, or of hearkenin) to the eAhortations of

another, but of discoverin) and developin) one*s :od-)iven talents and essential

nature 59eith, %#, p7 ;87 Students ould do better ith feer pep rallies and more

opportunities for prayerful self-reflection7

Teachers, then, need to be mindful of vocation in their daily ork7 Keelin) the call

to love and serve, they ill approach their students as not a burden, or even as their

on beloved children, but as esus Christ himself 59eith, %#, p7 6%87 =ein) mindful of

their vocation, they can inculcate the same mindfulness of vocation in their students,

encoura)in) them to reflect upon and develop their unique )ifts and personalities in

accordance ith :od*s ill7 't is true that, as participants in a pluralistic and secular

society, public school teachers cannot approach such ork openly and vocally as

/:od*s ork,4 it is still possible to teach and encoura)e stillness and mindfulness in a

non-sectarian and non-reli)ious fashion7 ust as readin) is a /secular4 skill hich can

open up the possibility of readin) the 3ord of :od, so too can mindfulness and self-

reflection be tau)ht as /secular skills4 hich mi)ht, in time, prepare students to hear

:od*s callin) if they have not been tau)ht to do so in the home or their on faith


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communities7 'f nothin) else, a seed has been planted to hich :od ill attend in the

fullness of time7

' have been a public school teacher for five years7 'n those five short years, '

have passed from ide-eyed naivetM to sad resi)nation to hard-bitten cynicism and

back a)ain as the thrills and challen)es of the profession have come and )one around

me7 ' had, for a time, andered from the path and lost the True 3ay, focused on my

development as an educator and distracted by a lust for professional reco)nition and

advancement, and the increased compensation they brou)ht7 This course has )iven me

the opportunity to reflect carefully upon hy ' became a teacher, hat ' brin) to the

profession, and ho ' approach the students in my char)e7 3hile ' have done all ' could

to brin) my professional skills to bear on the ork of closin) the achievement )ap in the

hi)h-poverty, predominantly minority school in hich ' ork, ' can say honestly that '

have not approached my students as as servant, but have instead treated them as an

intellectual problem to solve7 Chan)in) my attitude ill, ' believe, enable me to see and

truly serve my students as the unique and unreplicable bein)s they are, as :od*s

children, and be)in to sho them ho to develop the same orientation to service in

themselves7

?eferences

(li)hieri, D7 5%&W The Divine Comedy: Inferno7 57 Ciardi, trans787 Ne ork. Si)net

5Ori)inal ork published #$6%87


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(u)uste, =7:7, 2ancock, =7, LaboissiEre, "7 5%&&7>7, Cook, L727, Sunderland, ?77 5%&&H87 Teacher turnover. >Aaminin) eAit

attrition, teachin) area transfer, and school mi)ration7 Exceptional Children,

75 5#8, p7 6-;#7

=ureau of Labor Statistics 5%$87 "edian eekly earnin)s by educational attainment

in %$7 ?etrieved from http.007bls7)ov0opub0ted0%0median-eekly-

earnin)s-by-education-)ender-race-and-ethnicity-in-%$7htm

"ller, 7, Bohlmann, =7 5%&87 (chievement differences and self-concept

difference. Stron)er associations for above or belo avera)e studentsI ritish

!ournal of Educational "sycholo#y, $%, p7 $;-$&7

Bitre, C7C7 5%$87 'mprovin) african american student outcomes. Understandin)

educational achievement and strate)ies to close opportunity )aps7 &estern

!ournal of lac' (tudies, )$ 5$8, p7 %&7 5%#87 *od at +or': our Christian vocation in all of life7 3heaton, 'L.

Crossay7

3illiams, (7 5%#87 ( call for chan)e. Narroin) the achievement )ap beteen hite

and minority students7 The Clearin# -ouse, $., p7 !-6#7
http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/median-weekly-earnings-by-education-gender-race-and-ethnicity-in-2014.htmhttp://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/median-weekly-earnings-by-education-gender-race-and-ethnicity-in-2014.htmhttp://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/median-weekly-earnings-by-education-gender-race-and-ethnicity-in-2014.htmhttp://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/median-weekly-earnings-by-education-gender-race-and-ethnicity-in-2014.htm

position paper coffin week 2

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