By G. H. Akers, Professor Emeritus, Andrews University
General Conference of S.D.A. (Education), Retired

E-Mail: <akers@andrews.edu>
Published April 2001

Q. Is it permissible to try to inculcate subjective "faith" into objective instruction?

A. This is a fairly common and legitimate concern. It is charged that any attempt to integrate faith and learning represents a form of exploitation of subject matter at best, and at worse, some sort of stealth indoctrination, a subterfuge. That we as teachers have no right to do this.

True, if the premise operating here is acknowledged, then it would indeed be unthinkable for any sincere, "upfront" teacher to be manipulative, to ever use his/her enormously persuasive influence in any way to betray his/her students' confidence, regardless of their age level. Personal and professional authenticity are at stake here for the teacher--and certainly with respect to the Rights of Students!

But faith nurture in the classroom--conventional or digital--if honestly and straightforwardly conducted, is academically sound -- no bending of course content or the imposition of some "agenda.." It is the very upfrontness of the teaching strategy, unapologetically announced and pursued with transparency and restraint, free of any taint of deceit, that gives it academic integrity. (And certainly much more teacher credibility!).

Q. But isn't this an artificialization nevertheless, a bifurcation of learning? (faith in one compartment, and learning in another?) Aren't you tucking one part into the other, really, super-ordinating one and subordinating the other? What about the unity and totality of true knowledge?

A. That's the point exactly, by embracing All the aspects of the learning, we elevate the subject, not diminish it. The subject has its objective components, and its subjective implications, and we unapologetically treat both. Comprehensive instruction, two sides of the same coin. To separate these two aspects is like one Siamese twin saying to the other, "You go your way, and I'll go mine..." Unity and totality are the middle names of this specialized pedagogical science! True, it has its presupposition, and its methodology --inseparable, like most of the great universal theories that have govern much of our study. These two aspects of learning, the objective and the subjective are fused, and it is a "bending" of the subject matter to try to take them apart! That's why we call this "integration," because that's exactly what is--a keeping together that which is inherently integrated and coronated..

Q. But is there not an "agenda" operating here anyway-- whether covert or overt--an attempt to proselytize? In the end to gain converts?

A. Sure, every teacher has an agenda (we would hope...) and as we all know, in the affective domain, a la Bloom, this is the real payoff at the personal/emotional/spiritual level, where the student moves from the "what's so..." of the bits and pieces of course information, to the broader "so what...?" questions. That's the applicational dimension, where "subjective appropriation" occurs. Master teachers keep this instructional objective in view at all times, standing on tiptoe with their students as it were, reaching together with them for the higher order issues. And the teacher who is operating only on the thin crust of his/her discipline, who isn't regularly confronting his/her students with some philosophical/ ethical--yes, religious implications of the subject and topic at hand, is falling considerably short of the mark; for every study has in some way--and to some extent--some ethical/spiritual considerations begging to be addressed. No subject is devoid of them. And every student deserves to be confronted with them! The skill of the master teacher, then, is to tease these out of the subject and plumb their depths with the class. This is where the exercise moves form ho-hum to exciting. We're talking here about "the peculiar pleasures of the mind!" And we are assuming that it can be undertaken in cyber space, as well as within four walls.

Q. Is IFL Scholarly? I'm concerned about its academic respectability of IFL

A: Indeed. It's no less scholarly than the work of the teacher of literature, who endeavors to create in the student an intrigue with linquistic elegance; or the art teacher the love of the beautiful; or the math/science teacher an appreciation of, and faith in, the marvelous symmetry and consistency of natural law. Or, now in these ultra-modern times, the faith that the computer and its software can, given enough time and talent working, solve all human problems. (That's a form of "faith in _______." These are the essential "overtones" of any subject, and responsible teachers strive to inspire and prod their students into resonating with these.

Some teachers do, unfortunately--without announcement, and sometimes with-- set out to destroy young faith, and are NOT at all apologetic about it. (Thru need to read what Christ said about this in Mark 9: 42) Their purpose is to undercut faith and characterize it as simple, childish and un-informed, naive, waiting to be liberated. "Doubt everything" was the humanistic battle cry of the French Revolution, and it produced a worldwide harvest of dangerous skeptics. We, as committed Christian teachers, though, are not hostile to faith--faith of any kind; we endeavor to strengthen young people's faith, not only faith in all that is true and beautiful, but also faith in the basic goodness of people, be they leaders or laity. So this generic faith, upbeat and positive, goes well beyond formal religion and the limits of church creed and loyalty; it's religious in the highest sense of the word, though, for it produces, as Sir Thomas Moore was wont to say, "a man/woman for all seasons"! A world citizen transcending time, culture, and geography

(as much as is possible, that is...)

This brand of faith nurture produces graduates with personal conviction, a rare quality nowadays. Graduates who emerge from their alma maters with some settled values, having thought through at a fairly deep level the implications of the various values and ideas they've encountered . The world eagerly awaits this quality of thinker and do-er.