I was prompted recently to re-think the paradigm of what it means to function from a worldview when it comes to both roles as a parent and as an educator of children. A response to one of my previous blogs questioned the place of God in being a teacher. It posed a very important thought that undoubtedly needs significant consideration in order for me to be able to defend the place of my beliefs in my profession and as a parent. After all, is this not a primary concern of our nations educational plight. Typically, what we are seeing in our culture are either groups of people opposed to God in education, a lot of staunch conservatives who see God as being a vital asset to the school system, and those in-between who can be shaken either way. So, this is definitely not a newly considered topic. But, obviously one that has divided millions of people.
So, why not have a blog addressing it, as many others have? That is what I shall do! Hopefully I can at least shed some light on what it means operatively to have a worldview (which we all do), in the educational system. At first I need to hash out what the concept of a "worldview" means. Gary Palmer, a cultural linguistic professional said a worldview is: "the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing themes, emotions, and ethics." (***source available upon request***). Minus the wordiness, a worldview has an exhaustive impact upon all of our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and ultimately our actions. Though we don't always respond specific to our worldview, the end result and our views of ourselves and others will eventually shape into our worldview. We often deviate to religion when entertaining this concept. The idea of religion is a misnomer of sorts as it does not complete the picture of a worldview. Instead, it is a piece of what the worldview encompasses. Some religions are more heavily weighted in terms of worldview than others, but as a means of qualifying, religious beliefs in and of itself do not denote the entire portrait.
With a fairly general conception of worldview established, I have a practical example. A recent study done with a group of therapists and their clients upon receiving treatment, revealed that the therapists idea of success was typically not connected to the clients concept of personal growth. Instead, what typically indicated client success in the therapist's eyes revealed that it was highly attuned to the therapist's concept of what dictates the ideal life and/or a chosen theory of treatment, and the subsequent tenets of that theory. This said, if you were a therapist who concentrated primarily on helping a client change his/her behaviors (smoking, drinking, etc.) because you believed this to be his/her main deterrent toward a good life, and the client was able to change the behavior, then you would presume you were successful. However, when that client was asked shortly after therapy sessions, if behavior change was what they deemed success, the client revealed he/she was hoping for something entirely different, or maybe more comprehensive. The point of this study was to show that as professionals we have a way of introducing our own beliefs into what we do and how we perform, whether it is conducive to the good of others or not. I would say that the norm is that therapeutic impact is beneficial toward clients, but at times it has this adverse impact upon others where the therapist has sometimes subconsciously pushed a client into a specific definition of success based upon the therapist's own beliefs. Those beliefs may be entirely ineffective when it comes to a person's positive growth! We have missed the point, if we believe that therapy is the only vocation that would be impacted by our beliefs. Is our attitude toward people, success, ethics, etc. not integrated into our business practices, political agendas, and professional pursuits?
I believe this is entirely relevant to the field of education as well, because a I said before, we all have a worldview. Would it not have an ensuing impact on the manner in which we teach or educate as parents?
To take a fairly common view of life... If I believed that at the core humans are always good no matter what they choose, this would influence my approach to educating children. I would undoubtedly excuse negative-type behaviors toward others as being a reflection of a misplaced anxiety. And that eventually behavioral concerns would iron themselves out. Or, another view could be that I have concluded that environmental factors are always to blame for children's issues. If problems arose with a child, I would automatically look to parents, myself, or some broken-down system of influence as being the sole culprit. The child has no autonomy to make good decisions, instead I encourage the child to deflect from the influence and ultimately pressure that child into an opposing position toward those that have caused the harm.
While most worldviews don't pan out precisely this way, we can see how our attitudes can, and I believe always will, be manifested in our interactions with others, including children. This blog seeks to introduce the notion that we must always consider our beliefs about life in general as we are raising, parenting, and teaching children. The impact that our worldview has upon a child shapes so much of that child's approach to life and ultimately their development in either a positive or negative way. There is no in-between when it comes to interactions with children, everything they experience is either encouraging or discouraging to them. If we genuinely believe that children are worthy to receive love, guidance, and direction, because they, at the core are precious creations, then these beliefs will be exhibited in one way or another and the children themselves will reap the benefits of having people in their lives that view them as being worthwhile investments of time and energy. We could have any number of views about humanity as a whole and the effect would work itself into our presentation of educational material. We have only to consider our own experiences with teachers, our parents, and other influential figures, and to evaluate how they look at the whole of life, to see how they have impacted us positively or negatively with their beliefs.
Part 2 will lay out some more specificied and practical ways that we can maintain a worldview that will carry with it the most positive and formative application for educating and raising children.
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