The Art of Questioning

About 5 or 6 years ago, I was seriously considering teaching at a college level or even seminary. I could see the writing on the wall: Randall, be a professor and teach Old Testament with an emphasis on the minor prophets. As I look back I often wondered why I was serious about pursuing teaching, especially in a university or seminary setting. It wasn't that I couldn't do it. I believe I can do anything I set my mind to. I think there was a part of me that wanted to do it because that's what a dear friend of mine was on track to do. He is currently working on his Ph.D in early church and Patristic studies and teaching seminary courses as well. I had visions grandeur of being in a doctoral program too and he and I would magically end up in the same university or seminary, he being the New Testament prof and I being the Old Testament prof.

Ahh... those were the days.

As I am embarking on another journey, I've had some time to reflect on why maybe it is better that I am not teaching in academia. I know this is all circumstantial as well, had I completed my degrees and really known nothing else but university life then I could very well be posting something all together different.

It is not my intent to rail on what I consider to be wrong with modern academia. I may come across that way but for those who are on that journey, I fully support what you are doing and hope that it returns blessings a hundredfold in your lives. My intent is to shed some light based on my own experience.

I have been on the path of outdoor education/ministry for a little over two years. I have read, studied, hypothesized, observed, taught, listened and prayed over this process. And seeking what God may be showing me in spite of myself and I am thankful that my life is not entrenched in the academic world. Since having the opportunities to teach in another classroom, I've noticed some subtle and not so subtle ways in which students are "getting it" or not.

In my observations, the didactic approach that academia goes into by default, no longer seems to be teaching most students. Nothing wrong with instruction and informing (roots of the word didactic) but we in the Western world tend to see this as the main vehicle for learning. I would also make the statement that modern academia focuses more on content rather than context. Now there are different academic disciplines where that isn't always true, but walk into most high school or college classrooms and you'll find the more of the former than the latter taking place. I was fortunate enough to be in a discipline such as Religion that didn't keep itself confined to a content-oriented learning style.. but if I wanted the contextual-oriented one it often meant I had to have more one-on-one time with the prof outside the classroom.

In using the Coyote Method of teaching, it has been my experience that it is quite different than the academic approach. Do we still get confined in didactic approaches in outdoor education as well? Yes, I have kids (and adults) who would rather have me inform them about an animal track or plant etc... than to discover for themselves. That's where as an educator, I have to push them to their edge and lead them to answers via the art of questioning.

You might be saying to yourself "Colleges and schools encourage the questioning process too!" Yes, they do but only for brief moments. I spend more time encouraging the questions and leading students to their edge than I do giving them information. My experience was that most teachers/professors could only take so much questioning before they threw their hands up in the air and just started rattling off answers to shut the student up. We (in the West) really have not done a good job of learning the art of questioning as it is always easier to just give an answer. So I don't know how well I'd fit into an academic setting as a vocation now that I have experienced another way of teaching. In the end I'm still teaching... I guess that's what matters to me.

I believe questions lead to inspiration which leads to transformation.

So I guess the next logical step is to ask, what does it mean to inspire students?
More to come...