What Characters Our Children Will Be!
As we prepare for school to begin the Fall of 2020, I have had the opportunity to talk with a handful of parents who hold a variety of opinions about how safe it is to return to school, and about the challenges of weighing job responsibilities with online learning requirements and opportunities. There is anxiety about what this year will mean academically in the long run. Parents are trying to figure out the right thing to do, even as the school is trying to figure out the right thing to do.
I don't believe there is a right thing to do. We find ourselves in a wrong place; an uncharted wilderness. We are playing a waiting game, and all we can do is move forward one step at a time. It is a good time to practice humility, open our hearts, and recognize that everyone is learning how to do this for the very first time. I'm not apathetic, I care deeply about our schools, and what the year will bring. I'm open to letting it be what it will be.
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| Trinity the Sea Blessing of Backpacks Fall 2019 |
As for parents, we all might do well to let go of our preconceived expectations of...well, everything. Be clear about what you value most, and remember we are all in the same boat. I know that grades matter to colleges and to employment opportunities. Education itself is enriching, regardless of the standards of measurement. Our whole system of education is something that history has created, reshaped by each generation, and invented by necessity. It is a system we came up with to help educate each new generation; it is not where we should look for our ultimate worth and meaning. Our worth comes from God, and what we do with our life is our gift back to God.
That is not to say the path of education is not meaningful. That is not to say that education is not important, nor that our schools are not important in what they teach. They are life changing. The relationship with good teachers can transform a students expectations of what life might bring. I'm thinking more here about the way COVID-19 is a shadow over everything, and I want to stay open to things not being the same. Nothing is the same, once again. Remaining clear about our ultimate worth coming from God, then we are free to engage the work at hand, whatever it may be. Our life and livelihood a further expression of God's love in the world.
Our children are learning that the world changes; I trust that my son, Eli learned things from surviving Hurricane Harvey that I didn't learn first hand at his age. Now he is learning, even while school is not in session, about how to manage during a global pandemic. He sees his mother going off to work at the hospital most days, and his dad learning new technology (sometimes successfully!) instead of gathering our congregation. We are adapting to our new reality as best we can, and learning from our failures. I tell him I love him every night, and remind him what an amazing human being he is as often as I can. I try to be honest when I do not know answers to his difficult questions, and empower him to seek out answers for himself. He and all his peers are actively taking this in, learning, and will put what they learn to use as they navigate life going forward.
I love our local public school and I pray for the teachers and administrators, as well as the school board, as they navigate not only the safety requirements and online learning techniques, but also the difficult challenges of state governing bodies, funding requirements, and politically motivated decisions. (I should also mention the shining example our Trinity Day School has set with a smaller student population this summer. Our school director and teachers, parents and students are to be commended for managing to keep the school going and manage the risks.) We want to keep Eli enrolled In PAISD because we love our school and our community. I also don't have expectations of what this year may bring. I am excited about his 5th grade teachers, and I know any time with them will enrich his life. We will do our best to keep up with the online time of year, and look forward to the time when he can attend in person safely. We will see how it all unfolds, and he will still be a stronger human being because of the relationships and interaction. And yes, he will learn math, science, literature, and history. He will learn a lot about online education, and we will survive and move forward, maybe eventually in the classroom.
More importantly, he will be learning by living through this. I don't know what lessons he is internalizing, and I am on the lookout to support him with the opportunities that arise. These are difficult times, and difficult times lead to development of character, or as St. Paul puts it:"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we hav obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." Romans 5:1-5
I guess what I would advocate for here is hope, humility, and an open heart. Go easy on yourselves, and those making decisions about schooling because again, there is no right answer, every step is new territory, and everything is more challenging with our general collective anxiety. There is only suffering through this time trusting that things will come from the journey that only God can imagine for us. Let's hold our expectations lightly, and our relationships lovingly. Remember your worth comes from the love of God who saw fit to create you, sustain you, and liberate you from whatever binds.
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