Dad's Way
Dad's Book found on eBay
Who has greater power, a general or a teacher?
In the short term, it is probably the general, but it is the long term that has the greater impact.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. - James 3:1
The brother of Jesus and the first head of the Church, James, was both a general of sorts and a teacher. Like the stereotypical college professor, he was odd, choosing to live a lifestyle that was out of the norm, a vegetarian who rarely bathed and dressed in rags. Yet he was a powerful speaker and a persuasive preacher.
It was James who taught the disciples discipline, and it was James to whom all went for approval and acceptance in the new community of Christ's followers, members of The Way.
In today's lesson, James warns them that their feet are to the fire. They are to be judged more strictly than all others, because they are teachers.
My father agreed with that. In fact, he wrote a book highlighting his approach to teaching children, challenging teachers to have higher expectations of their students, make greater investments in their abilities and to encourage them to fully use the talents they are given.
He called his approach The Fox Hill Way, after the fictional school in his book, but I got to know it as Dad's Way.
Like James, Dad was very hard on himself, always pushing to be and do better for his kids, his students. He chose to work with the ones who others considered slow or troubled, the ones he considered uniquely gifted, waiting for their abilities to be unleashed by someone who knew where to find the key.
While many families have a morning ritual of breakfast, brief conversation, gathering up school books and shuffling off to the bus, ours was different.
Dad always woke the family to music, whatever battle hymn tied in with his lesson plan for the day, from The Magic Flute to native Hawaiian dance, from When Johnny Comes Marching Home to Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen.
His students didn't study history, culture and language. They lived it, played it, sang it, danced it and loved it.
Several of Dad's students wrote to Mom years after Dad died to tell her that they had become teachers because of Dad's influence and his approach.
Yes, Dad would have had something to say about James' insistence that teachers be ready for greater judgment, and he was definitely ready himself.
So what is our lesson here?
Never be comfortable with what is. Strive for better in all we do, and expect, invite and welcome the challenges, minimize the value of the rewards, and look always for the judgment to be harsh.
Without those things, we fail.
More to come...