Fault the Teacher?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"What more could I have done for my vineyard? I did everything I could. I kept looking for a crop of good grapes. So why did it produce only bad ones?" Isaiah 5:4

"The race doesn't always go to the swiftest." Eric Liddell, Olympic gold medalist, missionary in China for 17 years.

I gave a final exam yesterday, and as sometimes happens, a couple students who slept through most of the semester, comatose in the back rows, sprang to life after the exam with complaints and suggestions on how to improve the course!

Unfortunately, some of their complaints had merit. Even after 20+ years of teaching, I still have so much to learn. I do not communicate some things clearly (even though I write some out in both Chinese and English), and I am too impatient (in part because I really do hate to fail students, and so push them, and myself, perhaps too much). But students share some of the blame as well. On the very first day of class, I made students read and sign a bilingual "Teacher/Student Contract" that clearly laid out the rules for class participation, homework, and preparing for the final. Still, a few students ignore the warnings and wait until the end to start preparing, and were then shocked to find they were unprepared. What else could I have done? I ask myself. But....

Before I fault my students, whom I do really appreciate, and learn a lot from, I need to recognize that, in my Father's School of Life, I myself blow it daily. I have to keep learning the same lessons over and over. I hope that when I face the Father, He will not be forced to say, "What more could I have done?"

1. Our Father's Teacher/Student Contract. Our Father has laid out in my "Owner's Manual" exactly what he expects of u. These are not "religious" requirements but ways to live a Right life, in Right relationship to not just God but to others. And to make it even clearer He sent his Son to model for us the Way that we should live. Do we follow the teachings of my "favorite book", or do we crucify the Son anew daily?

2. Course Materials. Our Father has blessed us with the classroom (our life) and all the materials we need. If you can read this blog, you are far ahead of most of the world because you are literate, have access to a computer, internet, and electricity, and probably have food, clothing and a roof over your head. Do you appreciate what you have or complain about what you don't have?

3. Tutors. Our Father has put people in our lives to help and guide us, to encourage and to warn or discipline. Do we listen to them?

4. Homework & Quizzes. Our Father gives us daily tasks to help us grow and prepare. Do we read, pray, and meditate daily, or are we Sunday students? Or worse yet, do we cram in the entire course on our deathbed? (That's risky because few know the date of their Final).

5. Finals and the Prize. Even as students want the grade without the work, many Christians want the "prize" at the end of the race but don't want to break a sweat running. They sing of wearing a "crown" and ruling, but ignore Christ's warning that a leader must first learn to serve.

6. I never knew you. I did all that I could to guide my students to a passing grade, but all that I could do was not enough because I could not (and would not) force them to study. And after some failed the chorus began, "I worked so hard! You weren't clear! Look at all my notes! (often copied the night before from others). I didn't know you really meant it!"

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do what my Father in heaven wants will enter. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord! Lord! Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we drive out demons in your name? Didn't we do many miracles in your name?'" Then I will tell them clearly, 'I never knew you. Get away from me..." Matt. 7:21-23 NIRV

"We worked so hard!" the failing students complain, and they may well have put in a lot of effort--but they worked at what they wanted to do, in their own time, and ignored my own straightforward requirements.

Failing in Life? My students can retake my course, but we have only one chance to pass this School of Life. If we fail, we can't fault our Teacher. He has laid out the course clearly, provided the materials we need, given us tutors to encourage and guide us, and given us daily homework and quizzes to prepare us for the Final. Best of all, our Teacher has a vested interest in us passing because he is also our loving Father. But even though we are his children, he will not force himself on us.

I am greatly saddened today because all that I could do was not enough to make sure every student passed, and after every exam I secondguess myself and ask, "What more could I have done?" I hope that when we face our Father and Teacher, he will not have to say of us, "What more could I have done?
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