Monday, October 27, 2008
Integrating faith and learning in higher education
I was assigned to read this article and give my opinion about this article and to compare the information in it to Montreat. The first thing that I want to say is that I like going to Montreat, but there are some improvements that need to be made to make it more like their mission statement. The mission statement is Christ-Centered, Student Focused, and Service Driven.
The vision that is described in this article describes what Montreat wants to be, but not what Montreat is. I have a feeling that this article is describing what they are trying to make steps to be like, but you cannot just make this vision happen, it will take a long time. I personally see Montreat as "The Church-Related College". The faculty students, and board members want the college to be a strong Christian college, and everything to be based upon God, to help he students understand how Christianity is apart of everything that they learn, but Montreat is not at that level yet. There is a campus ministry and there are chapel programs. Montreat also has the academic curriculum for Christianity.
Talking about the chapels and the campus ministry, I think that it could be ran better. I personally don't think that it should be mandatory for a student to have to go to chapel. That is what the college is about, and that is what the students should want to do, but they should not be forced to go. I have heard a lot of speakers complement on the amount of students that show up for chapel, and then take their complement back when they find out that it is mandatory to students to come to chapels. I also think that the campus ministry should have more of an outreach. It made me extremely angry when I watched a clip on youtube and saw the chaplain have a snotty comment about the baseball team never showing up to any of the ministries and making us sound like none of us believe in the mission statement. This is one thing that is keeping us from this vision is the distance from the ministries to athletics. It is not understood sometimes how hard it is to play a sport, and make good grades. I would love to help in some campus ministries but they are never at an available time. The chaplain needs to come to us instead of making comments about us. He needs to confront us and ask us what would be best for us, I personally think a devotion one time a week with the chaplain as a team would be beneficiary for the players and as a team.
The part of the vision that states to teach people to be able to think in Christian categories sounds good, but is not implemented as much as it should be at Montreat. I would love more of this, and learn to be able to think that way better. Teachers try to integrate faith throughly with their various disciplines, but sometimes don't. Teachers here try to integrate faith into the work that you do, such as writing a one page summary about something you learned, and then finding a scripture to go with your paper. This is a good start, but once you have the scripture, your done. This is the time where the teacher should go over the scriptures with the class, this is the excellent time to integrate and share, but it isn't done. There are a lot of good starting points in classes where the teacher or someone could step up and integrate Christianity, but it is rarely done in the classroom.
In my ethics class, we read case studies and talk about whether the actions taken were ethical or not. We talk about virtue, rule, and consequential ethics and relate those to the case study. We mention different action that should of been taken, and if they would be ethical. We talk about the ethical action to take, and the unethical action to take. Then we integrate Christianity into the case and talk about what decision God would of made or what decision God would want us to make. This integration helps the student to understand the Bible more and helps the student understand what God is intending for you to act like. How God wants you to act, and how He wants you try rely on Him in all the actions you encouonter in your everyday life.
I would like to see professors integrate the Bible more in the classroom. This would be a good start to follow the vision that is mentioned in this paper. To learn more about the Bible and relating it to the subject may help you to comprehend the material better. This action could also help the student make the decision that God wants them to when they might encounter the subject latter in the working environment. This could help the student relate the material to others and spread the word of God, who is the reason why we are here today.
The vision that is described in this article describes what Montreat wants to be, but not what Montreat is. I have a feeling that this article is describing what they are trying to make steps to be like, but you cannot just make this vision happen, it will take a long time. I personally see Montreat as "The Church-Related College". The faculty students, and board members want the college to be a strong Christian college, and everything to be based upon God, to help he students understand how Christianity is apart of everything that they learn, but Montreat is not at that level yet. There is a campus ministry and there are chapel programs. Montreat also has the academic curriculum for Christianity.
Talking about the chapels and the campus ministry, I think that it could be ran better. I personally don't think that it should be mandatory for a student to have to go to chapel. That is what the college is about, and that is what the students should want to do, but they should not be forced to go. I have heard a lot of speakers complement on the amount of students that show up for chapel, and then take their complement back when they find out that it is mandatory to students to come to chapels. I also think that the campus ministry should have more of an outreach. It made me extremely angry when I watched a clip on youtube and saw the chaplain have a snotty comment about the baseball team never showing up to any of the ministries and making us sound like none of us believe in the mission statement. This is one thing that is keeping us from this vision is the distance from the ministries to athletics. It is not understood sometimes how hard it is to play a sport, and make good grades. I would love to help in some campus ministries but they are never at an available time. The chaplain needs to come to us instead of making comments about us. He needs to confront us and ask us what would be best for us, I personally think a devotion one time a week with the chaplain as a team would be beneficiary for the players and as a team.
The part of the vision that states to teach people to be able to think in Christian categories sounds good, but is not implemented as much as it should be at Montreat. I would love more of this, and learn to be able to think that way better. Teachers try to integrate faith throughly with their various disciplines, but sometimes don't. Teachers here try to integrate faith into the work that you do, such as writing a one page summary about something you learned, and then finding a scripture to go with your paper. This is a good start, but once you have the scripture, your done. This is the time where the teacher should go over the scriptures with the class, this is the excellent time to integrate and share, but it isn't done. There are a lot of good starting points in classes where the teacher or someone could step up and integrate Christianity, but it is rarely done in the classroom.
In my ethics class, we read case studies and talk about whether the actions taken were ethical or not. We talk about virtue, rule, and consequential ethics and relate those to the case study. We mention different action that should of been taken, and if they would be ethical. We talk about the ethical action to take, and the unethical action to take. Then we integrate Christianity into the case and talk about what decision God would of made or what decision God would want us to make. This integration helps the student to understand the Bible more and helps the student understand what God is intending for you to act like. How God wants you to act, and how He wants you try rely on Him in all the actions you encouonter in your everyday life.
I would like to see professors integrate the Bible more in the classroom. This would be a good start to follow the vision that is mentioned in this paper. To learn more about the Bible and relating it to the subject may help you to comprehend the material better. This action could also help the student make the decision that God wants them to when they might encounter the subject latter in the working environment. This could help the student relate the material to others and spread the word of God, who is the reason why we are here today.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Cross
The most important thing to me is knowing that I am saved, and knowing where I am going to go when I die. Jesus Christ is the only answer, and he will always be there with me through everything I do. He is my guardian angel when I enter a burning building trying to save a little kids life, and will be there at any time I need comfort.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Fireman's Prayer
Link for Firemans Prayer:
http://www.chaplin-nest.com/unkarock/firemanprayer/firemans-prayer.htm
http://www.chaplin-nest.com/unkarock/firemanprayer/firemans-prayer.htm
Bears at my House
My dad woke me up early Sunday morning and told me that there was something that I needed to see outside, so I got up immediately and went upstairs to the deck and walked out onto the deck. This is the site that I saw when I got on the deck, 3 baby Black Bears and 1 Mama Bear around our pond. They were pretty interesting.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Playing for the Catawba Valley Stars
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
My Family
Thursday, October 2, 2008
me and buddy on the 4 wheeler
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Amanda and me
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