Inevitably I will have students who ask questions like, “Is this going to be on the test?” or “Do we have to turn this assignment in?”
If you’re a teacher, this query is not a matter of if, but when; and educators worth their salt will immediately recognize this line of thinking as problematic.
Education is about much more than passing a test or getting a grade. It’s about discovering and assimilating knowledge, understanding, and wisdom about the way the world works and then conceptualizing the best way to approximate our lives to that which is good, true, and beautiful.
Yet, as much as we repeat these kinds of exhortations to our students, they can’t seem to help the kind of thinking that wants to know if they will have to give an account of their efforts toward learning.
This isn’t the worst of it though. As much as we may not want to admit it, this way of thinking extends beyond high school and into the college classroom, into the workforce, and even into our homes and relationships.
Here’s a novel idea. What if we lived every day out of love and curiosity?
College students cram for the big exam by truncating the knowledge a university makes available to them to the bare minimum needed to pass the test. If it isn’t going to be on the test, students often don’t want to know about it. After all, everyone knows “Cs get degrees.”
Corporations and employers craft bare minimum qualifications on a rubric so applicants learn to craft resumes and interviews that appeal to what they think “the company is looking for.”
Employees learn to “play the game” and move up the corporate ladder while doing the bare minimum required to get a good performance evaluation and an occasional raise.
Unmotivated church members, children, and spouses learn, perhaps unwittingly, how to formulate a checklist of the bare minimum required to keep the “pesky others” off their back and out of their business so they can “do their thing.”
Here’s a novel idea. What if we lived every day out of love and curiosity?
What if students did their assignments out of a curiosity for the subject matter rather than a grade on the report card?
What if employees approached their work as a worthy vocation rather than a stepping stone to a better opportunity?
What if people approached their relationships and responsibilities with a generous spirit of “What can we do to enrich this experience?” instead of “How much do I have to do to get by?”
I imagine few would disagree this is a better approach than the “Is is going to be on the test?” paradigm.
It’s usually pretty difficult to get people to change their paradigm about the things they know they should do, but don’t want to do–and no one can coerce this kind of change. Perhaps, there is something we could do, however.
First, we could look to the Law for our example.
Jesus taught us the Ten Commandments are actually only two, and these are inverse to our usual way of thinking about the law (Matthew 22:37ff). If we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, we will not have to worry so much about whether we are breaking His law, i.e. taking his name in vain, or erecting an idol in his place.
And, if we love our neighbors as ourselves, we won’t have to worry about sinning against them i.e., bearing false witness, stealing, or coveting our neighbor’s wife.
In other words, love is the best way to obey.
Second, we could do our best work with a curious and generous heart.
Knowing we can’t change another’s mind, we can certainly change our own minds and live out the better paradigm in all our pursuits. Instead of being led by what the bare minimum necessitates, we can choose to do our best work with a curious and generous heart. Better yet, we can do it as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23).
Finally, we could start in our concentric circles of concern.
Teachers can cultivate curiosity and generosity in the classroom by setting the right example and learning to assess student progress in more productive ways.
Employers can scrap the cookie-cutter interviews and generic performance evaluations and evaluate employees (or potential employees) on the merits of their character, chemistry, and competence. Or better yet, they could actually get to know the person doing the job (or applying for the job).
We could all approach our own relationships by asking, “What value can I add (or multiply) to someone’s life, today?” instead of “What do I get out of this relationship?”
And by all means, whatever you do, forever strike from your vocabulary expressions like, “Is this going to be on the test?”, “Do we have to turn this assignment in?”, “Is that part of my job description?”