Christian Math Teacher

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Thinking Long Term

I’ve encountered students from time to time who are caught up in working “as unto the grade”. These students are preoccupied with and driven by the grade that they will receive in their current courses. I was not one of those students. Perhaps I might have been better off had I cared more about the grade than the course content, but I don’t think so. I vigorously pursued the courses I was inclined toward and made due in the courses I was less interested in. Recently I’ve been addressing classes with some questions and answers. The normal dialogue goes as follows:

Question: “Which situation would you rather have…getting straight A’s and learning little or getting moderate grades, but learning a lot?”

Response: “I’d rather get straight A’s”

Question: “Why?”

Response: “To get into a good college.”

Question: “What will happen once you get there if you haven’t learned much in high school?”

Response: “Ummm.”

Question: “…and what happens if you do manage to graduate from that good college, but haven’t learned much there? What happens then?”

This questioning moves pretty quickly into a discussion of the destinations we to set for ourselves. Some of us have very short term destinations like, making it through this class period, through today or making it to summer break. Others set longer term destinations like graduating from college, getting married or making it to retirement. It would be incredible if we could still keep these short term destinations in mind, but position them in context with our longer, eternal destination. Asking the question, “what happens once I get there?” helps me remember that the life I’ve been given is not limited to my short term destinations, but by the eternal destination of heaven. Working as unto the Lord, is one of the principles that keeps me moving toward that eternal destination while working unto the grade, keeps me in a perpetual layover marking time and waiting for the next flight to anywhere. It’s taken me a lot of years to recognize this. I pray some of my students will benefit from this discussion.