The 2013-2014 school year is about to close. Tomorrow night the class of 2014 will receive their diplomas and move on to the next stage of their lives. As is my custom, I am now reflecting back over what this year has brought. Here is MY brief survey:
1. Our enrollment increased steadily over the course of the year. We started below 300 and rose to a high of 320. We had an overall net growth of 45 students over this same point last year, almost a 16% growth for the year. The is the second consecutive year with substantial growth. Even now our enrollment for next year is almost even with where we began this year and we are getting calls about enrollment almost daily. This bodes well for next year's enrollment since we usually see a surge in the late summer days.
2. We began a new EC program which is now growing toward a full scale Special Education program. God has brought together a fantastic team of people to continue to grow this program to provide services to children who need special attention and help academically. ACS has made the commitment to fully invest in this because we believe this is God's plan for us.
3. We expanded our pre-school to add a 1 year old class. It has brought some new challenges but has been a true blessing to provide this service to several families.
4. We faced great weather challenges in the second semester, losing seven days to snowy/icy weather. We made up most of them (including using Memorial Day, which was a great mistake that I apologize for. It won't happen again!). Yet we still had very high achievement test scores.
5. We celebrated state championships in Choric Speaking and Girl's soccer and started our first ever shooting team that finished 15th out of 40 teams at the state shooting match.
6. We saw substantial spiritual growth among our student body and that is always cause for great rejoicing.
7. We sent out parents surveys at the end of the year. We had some very helpful comments and discovered that 98% of those who responded stated they were Satisfied to Extremely Satisfied. We are headed in the right direction. When it came to things like dress codes about an even number feel we are too strict as those who felt we weren't strict enough and that says we are probably about where we need to be, balanced!
8. We have been able to hire two of our recent graduates to serve on our faculty next year. These young men will bring energy and enthusiasm to our school. We are a unique Christian school ministry in that in our high school we will have more male faculty than female and this provides a great team of male mentors and role models for our young men.
To close, let me say that I am thankful to be a part of the ACS team. I am more excited about next year than I have ever been. We will have our new Elementary Principal, Kally Roberts, bringing new academic and spiritual focus and energy to that division. We have new families joining us who are excited to be a part of the ACS family. We are starting to breath that phrase "building program" as we see this growth continue. Satan has fought us along the way, but our God is greater and our God is stronger! This is HIS work!
Grace and peace to you!
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Dead Noses Smell No Roses
Many years ago I worked with an older gentleman who was always sharing bits and pieces of pithy wisdom with anyone who would listen. He especially liked sharing these thoughts with younger guys around him. He was the person from whom I learned a statement I often make to our students, "Experience is expensive and a wise man buys it second hand." I learned a lot from this older and wise man. One thing that I thought about driving to school this morning (Yes, we are making up a snow day on Saturday! Stupid groundhog!) was a statement I heard him say more than once, "Dead noses smell no roses, so give flowers while they can be enjoyed." The real meaning isn't about flowers. It's about giving praise and credit when it is due, not after a person is gone and can't enjoy it.
In the 37 years I have been in Christian education I have been blessed to work with some wonderful people. I have worked with men and women who could have made a lot more money in a lot of secular fields but chose to dedicate themselves to Christian education. They made this choice even though it meant great sacrifices at times. One such person is a member of our staff here at ACS who has been a part of our school for over 30 years, Mr. Duane Manning. Duane came here right out of college and became the driving force behind our music, drama, and speech programs. This certainly isn't all he has done, but when you mention speech and drama in North Carolina Christian school circles the name Duane Manning always comes up. He is a legend in this state. He works tirelessly to produce state champion performers in drama, speech, choric speaking and readers theater competitions year after year. Just this week his groups in Junior High and Senior High choric and readers theater won yet more state titles and many will go on to compete at the national competition next month. I had a fellow administrator ask me, in sarcastic humor, "Is Duane EVER going to retire?" He was paying tribute to the fact that Duane's students are hard to beat in competition.
But, there is a deeper purpose in Duane's ministry here. Sure, he takes what he teaches our students very seriously but he takes his personal investment in the spiritual growth and maturity of our students far and above any performance or production. For all these years he has spent thousands of hours counseling and mentoring young men and women. He has hosted groups of them in his home many times every year. He has maintained contact with them over the years and I rarely meet a graduate of ACS who doesn't ask me about him. He is the embodiment of what every Christian educator should be. He sacrifices in every way to pour himself into the lives of the hundreds of students who have sat in his classes over all these years. The most telling fact about the love and respect he has earned from his students is that nearly every graduate who drops by for a visit always makes a point to stop in and catch up with one teacher..... Duane Manning.
I don't usually dedicate a blog post to individuals but, dead roses smell no roses. I don't anticipate Duane will graduate to glory anytime soon but I want him to know how much this administrator, this staff and the graduates of ACS love and appreciate who he is and all he does. Here's to you, Mr. Manning! You're the best!!
In the 37 years I have been in Christian education I have been blessed to work with some wonderful people. I have worked with men and women who could have made a lot more money in a lot of secular fields but chose to dedicate themselves to Christian education. They made this choice even though it meant great sacrifices at times. One such person is a member of our staff here at ACS who has been a part of our school for over 30 years, Mr. Duane Manning. Duane came here right out of college and became the driving force behind our music, drama, and speech programs. This certainly isn't all he has done, but when you mention speech and drama in North Carolina Christian school circles the name Duane Manning always comes up. He is a legend in this state. He works tirelessly to produce state champion performers in drama, speech, choric speaking and readers theater competitions year after year. Just this week his groups in Junior High and Senior High choric and readers theater won yet more state titles and many will go on to compete at the national competition next month. I had a fellow administrator ask me, in sarcastic humor, "Is Duane EVER going to retire?" He was paying tribute to the fact that Duane's students are hard to beat in competition.
But, there is a deeper purpose in Duane's ministry here. Sure, he takes what he teaches our students very seriously but he takes his personal investment in the spiritual growth and maturity of our students far and above any performance or production. For all these years he has spent thousands of hours counseling and mentoring young men and women. He has hosted groups of them in his home many times every year. He has maintained contact with them over the years and I rarely meet a graduate of ACS who doesn't ask me about him. He is the embodiment of what every Christian educator should be. He sacrifices in every way to pour himself into the lives of the hundreds of students who have sat in his classes over all these years. The most telling fact about the love and respect he has earned from his students is that nearly every graduate who drops by for a visit always makes a point to stop in and catch up with one teacher..... Duane Manning.
I don't usually dedicate a blog post to individuals but, dead roses smell no roses. I don't anticipate Duane will graduate to glory anytime soon but I want him to know how much this administrator, this staff and the graduates of ACS love and appreciate who he is and all he does. Here's to you, Mr. Manning! You're the best!!
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Battling the Silo Syndrome - Part Two
In my post of a couple of days ago I explained what the "silo syndrome" is and how it is affecting Christianity in the 21st century. At the close of the post I mentioned the one most important distinction of Christian education is Biblical integration. I want to follow up by explaining, for those unfamiliar with the term, what Biblical integration is and why it is the single most important distinctive of Christian education.
Christian education has its roots at least as far back as the colonial period of American history. This is something revisionist historians have tried to hide from students of American history. The earliest schools in America used the Bible as primary textbook to teach reading, spelling and philosophy as well as character traits. In the earliest period of American history, scriptural principles were taught in all schools in the young nation. A study of the roots and progress of public education will reveal until the turbulent 60's there was still an element of concession to religious freedom within the public schools. The Bible could still be read, teachers could have or permit prayer to be said in class and the ten commandments could often be seen in school hallways and classrooms. But the tide had already started to turn and today all of those things are either restricted or illegal in America's public school system. Private non-sectarian schools have existed since the founding of America and while many of them did and still do maintain a strict code of conduct, uniform dress codes and an emphasis on character and integrity, their academic programs are usually devoid of any open connection to Scripture in faculty or curriculum.
This is where Christian education is and must always be distinctive. Christian schools aren't the only academic institutions that have conduct codes, dress codes and character training, but ONLY Christian education connects all the dots with the implementation of Biblical integration.
What IS Biblical integration? Let me start by telling you what it is NOT.
--It is NOT including a Bible verse at the top of a worksheet.
--It is NOT praying before the start of class.
--It is NOT reading a Bible verse about fish while teaching a lesson on fish in biology.
--It is NOT having class devotions everyday.
--It is NOT pulling out Bible verses on dress codes or honesty or hard work to support what we require in our classrooms.
--It is NOT using a Bible verse to teach sentence diagramming in English class.
Simply stated, Biblical integration is taking a lesson objective and/or lesson outline, and teaching it from a Christian perspective. It is not just a lesson or objective devoid of God, his character, nature, or creation, nor is it solely about God, his character, nature or creation. It is a melding of the two. It is understanding the objective or lesson from the Christian point-of-view.
Biblical integration is not something that just happens at the end of a lesson. Students should be encouraged to think Biblically all throughout the lesson. Remember, seeing something from God’s perspective is not a separate task, unless that is the lesson objective. For instance, students may compare and contrast how Christians understand a lesson in comparison with how a pantheist or naturalist might see it. Sometimes when the integration happens last, students tune out, figuring it won’t be on the test or that the integration is just an add-on. The goal of good integration is for students to view a subject the way God does, and to see how this understanding impacts them personally as well as society at large.
The goal of Biblical integration is to help students to think biblically and critically about every subject. Further, the goal is for students to think biblically and critically about every aspect of their lives. Ideally, students should seek to see each subject the way God sees it. When students truly understand something from a biblical perspective, they should gain a greater understanding of the character or nature of God, or have a greater understanding of how God designed things to be.
Biblical integration is seeing how any topic or subject reveals the character or nature of God, mankind, creation, moral order, and purpose. It is single most important distinctive about Christian education because only through Biblical integration can we, as educators, equip our students with the critical thinking skills and Christian worldview to enable them to stand against the attacks of Satan in the day to day challenges of life beyond their days as a Christian school student.
Grace and peace to you all.
Christian education has its roots at least as far back as the colonial period of American history. This is something revisionist historians have tried to hide from students of American history. The earliest schools in America used the Bible as primary textbook to teach reading, spelling and philosophy as well as character traits. In the earliest period of American history, scriptural principles were taught in all schools in the young nation. A study of the roots and progress of public education will reveal until the turbulent 60's there was still an element of concession to religious freedom within the public schools. The Bible could still be read, teachers could have or permit prayer to be said in class and the ten commandments could often be seen in school hallways and classrooms. But the tide had already started to turn and today all of those things are either restricted or illegal in America's public school system. Private non-sectarian schools have existed since the founding of America and while many of them did and still do maintain a strict code of conduct, uniform dress codes and an emphasis on character and integrity, their academic programs are usually devoid of any open connection to Scripture in faculty or curriculum.
This is where Christian education is and must always be distinctive. Christian schools aren't the only academic institutions that have conduct codes, dress codes and character training, but ONLY Christian education connects all the dots with the implementation of Biblical integration.
What IS Biblical integration? Let me start by telling you what it is NOT.
--It is NOT including a Bible verse at the top of a worksheet.
--It is NOT praying before the start of class.
--It is NOT reading a Bible verse about fish while teaching a lesson on fish in biology.
--It is NOT having class devotions everyday.
--It is NOT pulling out Bible verses on dress codes or honesty or hard work to support what we require in our classrooms.
--It is NOT using a Bible verse to teach sentence diagramming in English class.
Simply stated, Biblical integration is taking a lesson objective and/or lesson outline, and teaching it from a Christian perspective. It is not just a lesson or objective devoid of God, his character, nature, or creation, nor is it solely about God, his character, nature or creation. It is a melding of the two. It is understanding the objective or lesson from the Christian point-of-view.
Biblical integration is not something that just happens at the end of a lesson. Students should be encouraged to think Biblically all throughout the lesson. Remember, seeing something from God’s perspective is not a separate task, unless that is the lesson objective. For instance, students may compare and contrast how Christians understand a lesson in comparison with how a pantheist or naturalist might see it. Sometimes when the integration happens last, students tune out, figuring it won’t be on the test or that the integration is just an add-on. The goal of good integration is for students to view a subject the way God does, and to see how this understanding impacts them personally as well as society at large.
The goal of Biblical integration is to help students to think biblically and critically about every subject. Further, the goal is for students to think biblically and critically about every aspect of their lives. Ideally, students should seek to see each subject the way God sees it. When students truly understand something from a biblical perspective, they should gain a greater understanding of the character or nature of God, or have a greater understanding of how God designed things to be.
Biblical integration is seeing how any topic or subject reveals the character or nature of God, mankind, creation, moral order, and purpose. It is single most important distinctive about Christian education because only through Biblical integration can we, as educators, equip our students with the critical thinking skills and Christian worldview to enable them to stand against the attacks of Satan in the day to day challenges of life beyond their days as a Christian school student.
Grace and peace to you all.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Battling the Silo Syndrome
Paul wrote so eloquently in Colossians 1 about the pre-eminence of Christ and how He was not only the Creator of all thing but is also IN all things. Christians don't have a secular option. For those who are believers all things are sacred because Christ is all and in all. One of the traits of post-modernism has been the tendency of many believers to compartmentalize God out of most areas of their lives. God is what they "do" on Sunday but that's where it ends. It's like the farmer who raises several types of grain on his farm and has a silo for each type of grain. He strives to keep the grains separate, in its own silo.
One of the disturbing traits often seen in the 21st century Christian is a type of "silo syndrome". There is a silo where the believer keeps God and his religious activities. Then there are other "silos" for the other activities of life; a silo for his business, a silo for his dating, a silo for his college choices, a silo for his career choice. And on and on. God is kept separate from his other areas of life. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is a dangerous way for a Christian to live his or her life. A few years ago I had a senior in a Christian school tell me where he went to college was none of God's business, that was his decision to make. I was stunned, but soon came to realize that this type of thinking was not all that uncommon for Christians today.
I have been in Christian education for over 35 years and have seen the pendulum swing far and wide in the field. Christian schools in my native North Carolina began in the 1960's, often out of a way of avoid integration. They were often "white flight" schools that masqueraded as Christian schools. It was a shameful period of history for Christian education. What was also a blight on our ministries was the tendency to devalue academics by putting teachers in classrooms, teaching subjects for which they had little or no academic background. We embarrassed the name of Christ by being "fly by night", slipshod organizations proudly, if ignorantly, proclaiming that all we needed to be a good teacher was a knowledge of the Word. Thankfully, most of those schools have long since closed their doors, but the stigma they left still affects us in the public eye today. But I am a little disturbed about how far the pendulum has swung the other direction. I fear even in our Christian education field we are teetering on the edge of a sort of "silo syndrome" in our philosophy of Christian education.
There is an alarming trend in many so-called, "Christian" schools to move away from biblical integration in all subject areas. In our attempts to be academically minded we have come dangerously close to isolating the teaching of the Scriptures in the Bible class "silo" or in the chapel "silo" and have started to speak less and less of the Bible in math or history or science or literature. The problem this presents is the diminishing of the main distinctive in Christian education. In the next segment of this blog I want to address what is the TRUE distinctive of Christian education. It isn't dress codes or conforming to rules or being able to quote a litany of Bible verses. It is biblical integration, and it is absolutely vital we never move away from that and fall prey to the "silo syndrome" in our Christian schools.
Grace and peace to you!
One of the disturbing traits often seen in the 21st century Christian is a type of "silo syndrome". There is a silo where the believer keeps God and his religious activities. Then there are other "silos" for the other activities of life; a silo for his business, a silo for his dating, a silo for his college choices, a silo for his career choice. And on and on. God is kept separate from his other areas of life. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is a dangerous way for a Christian to live his or her life. A few years ago I had a senior in a Christian school tell me where he went to college was none of God's business, that was his decision to make. I was stunned, but soon came to realize that this type of thinking was not all that uncommon for Christians today.
I have been in Christian education for over 35 years and have seen the pendulum swing far and wide in the field. Christian schools in my native North Carolina began in the 1960's, often out of a way of avoid integration. They were often "white flight" schools that masqueraded as Christian schools. It was a shameful period of history for Christian education. What was also a blight on our ministries was the tendency to devalue academics by putting teachers in classrooms, teaching subjects for which they had little or no academic background. We embarrassed the name of Christ by being "fly by night", slipshod organizations proudly, if ignorantly, proclaiming that all we needed to be a good teacher was a knowledge of the Word. Thankfully, most of those schools have long since closed their doors, but the stigma they left still affects us in the public eye today. But I am a little disturbed about how far the pendulum has swung the other direction. I fear even in our Christian education field we are teetering on the edge of a sort of "silo syndrome" in our philosophy of Christian education.
There is an alarming trend in many so-called, "Christian" schools to move away from biblical integration in all subject areas. In our attempts to be academically minded we have come dangerously close to isolating the teaching of the Scriptures in the Bible class "silo" or in the chapel "silo" and have started to speak less and less of the Bible in math or history or science or literature. The problem this presents is the diminishing of the main distinctive in Christian education. In the next segment of this blog I want to address what is the TRUE distinctive of Christian education. It isn't dress codes or conforming to rules or being able to quote a litany of Bible verses. It is biblical integration, and it is absolutely vital we never move away from that and fall prey to the "silo syndrome" in our Christian schools.
Grace and peace to you!
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
The EPIC Generation - Part Two
In my last post I explained the basic traits of this generation of young people, often referred to as the EPICs. They are Experiential, Participatory, Image driven and Connected. In my opinion, reaching these young people with the gospel as well as academics is not MORE challenging than past generations, but they present DIFFERENT challenges. I have listened to church youth leaders as well as classroom teachers talk with frustration about the difficulty in finding "what works" with today's teens and even college aged students. I want to share a few thoughts about some ideas I have found that work. Most of this has come from a combination of personal experience and discussing with other educators things they have tried with good success.
1) Invest in developing personal relationships with your students. Today's young people are for more interested in teacher-student relationships than past generations. Remember, they are Connected and are very into connections. By investing, I don't mean just a cursory chat every once in a while, but a real conversation about things that matter to the student. In my day (yes, the Golden Ages) we didn't engage in casual conversations with our teachers because we saw them as so far above us they were often unapproachable. The line between teacher and student was wide, dark and crystal clear. While we still need to keep a line of distinction between teacher and student (they don't need us to be their buddies, but their mentors) we need to be willing to be transparent about who we really, our own interests, challenges and spiritual struggles.
2) Accept they fact that what drives them may seem shallow and surface at times, but to them it is very important. If we scoff at it we will lose the chance to minister. I am just not into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. and honestly, a lot of it seems shallow, trivial and a waste of time to me. BUT, that is NOT the way this generation feels. This is how they connect, build relationships. That's why we now have teachers and students who are Facebook friends and Twitter followers. There are some inherent dangers in this and I intend to address some of these potential pitfalls at a later time. For now I'll just say that we must not criticize or ridicule their obsession with social media. It is only going to become more prevalent in the future.
3) Be willing to take up the challenge to realign your approach to teaching so that you can take advantage of some of these traits. Make sure you include MUCH visual imagery in your lesson plans. Open your class to include discussions that permits students to share personal experiences. Make sure that you plan classroom activities and field trips that involve students participation, even at the high school and/or college level.
4) Use social media to YOUR advantage. Create your own website and make sure it isn't lame! Create a Facebook page for your class and only accept friend requests from your students and their parents. Make sure you keep it professional, positive and free from personal information. Expect your students to do the same. You can do the same with Twitter or other social networks. This shows your students you are willing to engage in social media but know how to use it properly. (Spare us from the people who post numerous "selfies", what they had for breakfast or use it to gripe, complain and attack).
Bottom line, when it comes to this generation of young people, their potential for success is unlimited. I find them very exciting and, as well as a man of my age can, I understand what motivates them. We can either sit around and moan about how hard it is to reach them or we can set about the business of trying to find creative ways TO reach them. I choose the latter!
1) Invest in developing personal relationships with your students. Today's young people are for more interested in teacher-student relationships than past generations. Remember, they are Connected and are very into connections. By investing, I don't mean just a cursory chat every once in a while, but a real conversation about things that matter to the student. In my day (yes, the Golden Ages) we didn't engage in casual conversations with our teachers because we saw them as so far above us they were often unapproachable. The line between teacher and student was wide, dark and crystal clear. While we still need to keep a line of distinction between teacher and student (they don't need us to be their buddies, but their mentors) we need to be willing to be transparent about who we really, our own interests, challenges and spiritual struggles.
2) Accept they fact that what drives them may seem shallow and surface at times, but to them it is very important. If we scoff at it we will lose the chance to minister. I am just not into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. and honestly, a lot of it seems shallow, trivial and a waste of time to me. BUT, that is NOT the way this generation feels. This is how they connect, build relationships. That's why we now have teachers and students who are Facebook friends and Twitter followers. There are some inherent dangers in this and I intend to address some of these potential pitfalls at a later time. For now I'll just say that we must not criticize or ridicule their obsession with social media. It is only going to become more prevalent in the future.
3) Be willing to take up the challenge to realign your approach to teaching so that you can take advantage of some of these traits. Make sure you include MUCH visual imagery in your lesson plans. Open your class to include discussions that permits students to share personal experiences. Make sure that you plan classroom activities and field trips that involve students participation, even at the high school and/or college level.
4) Use social media to YOUR advantage. Create your own website and make sure it isn't lame! Create a Facebook page for your class and only accept friend requests from your students and their parents. Make sure you keep it professional, positive and free from personal information. Expect your students to do the same. You can do the same with Twitter or other social networks. This shows your students you are willing to engage in social media but know how to use it properly. (Spare us from the people who post numerous "selfies", what they had for breakfast or use it to gripe, complain and attack).
Bottom line, when it comes to this generation of young people, their potential for success is unlimited. I find them very exciting and, as well as a man of my age can, I understand what motivates them. We can either sit around and moan about how hard it is to reach them or we can set about the business of trying to find creative ways TO reach them. I choose the latter!
Thursday, February 27, 2014
The EPIC Generation - Part One
"I just don't understand today's young people." I bet you've heard that before, perhaps many times. I know I have. Having served as an educator of young people since 1977, I have encountered Generation X, Millenials, Post-Millenials and now, the generation known as EPICs. Strangely, I think I understand this last group better than all the rest. Or maybe I just THINK I do. Whatever, here is what I mean by the EPIC generation.
1. Today's young people are Experiential. They want to try new things and are willing to go outside their comfort zones (and to our dismay, their parents' comfort zones) to try the "latest and greatest". Often their discretion is lacking, maturity weak and common sense not very common. But if we can help them learn these things they can impact many people because they lack the fear to stretch beyond their zone.
2. They are Participatory. More than any generation in recent decades, today's young people are not content to sit on the sidelines and let other people get things done. They want to be involved. They want to be in the game, actively involved in things that are important to them. These things that interest them may be either positive or negative, wholesome or otherwise, amoral, moral or immoral, but whatever they are passionate about will drive them to participate.
3. They are Image driven. Never in the history of man have we been able to have so many images flashed before our eyes, so rapidly, from so many sources. TV, video games, iPods, iPads, smartphones, electronic billboards...the list goes on and on. Today's generation of young people will be totally disengaged if their classroom activity doesn't include a significant degree of visual imagery, and I don't mean seeing the teacher standing at a podium talking.
4. They are Connected. Do you remember the days when the only connection we had, outside of snail mail and face to face conversation was a phone with a cord attached to a wall plug with a loud ring, a phone that was limited to one thing....talking? This generation Skypes, Facetimes, Facebooks, Instagrams, Tweets with dozens of people every day, some of them from the other side of the world in real time! Never has man been more connected with hundreds, even thousands of people every day and this generation has grown up knowing nothing else.
SO, how does that affect our parenting? How does that affect the world of education and how we adjust our teaching styles? How does that affect the way we hire people? I will attempt to address some of these questions in the next blog post so stay tuned!!
1. Today's young people are Experiential. They want to try new things and are willing to go outside their comfort zones (and to our dismay, their parents' comfort zones) to try the "latest and greatest". Often their discretion is lacking, maturity weak and common sense not very common. But if we can help them learn these things they can impact many people because they lack the fear to stretch beyond their zone.
2. They are Participatory. More than any generation in recent decades, today's young people are not content to sit on the sidelines and let other people get things done. They want to be involved. They want to be in the game, actively involved in things that are important to them. These things that interest them may be either positive or negative, wholesome or otherwise, amoral, moral or immoral, but whatever they are passionate about will drive them to participate.
3. They are Image driven. Never in the history of man have we been able to have so many images flashed before our eyes, so rapidly, from so many sources. TV, video games, iPods, iPads, smartphones, electronic billboards...the list goes on and on. Today's generation of young people will be totally disengaged if their classroom activity doesn't include a significant degree of visual imagery, and I don't mean seeing the teacher standing at a podium talking.
4. They are Connected. Do you remember the days when the only connection we had, outside of snail mail and face to face conversation was a phone with a cord attached to a wall plug with a loud ring, a phone that was limited to one thing....talking? This generation Skypes, Facetimes, Facebooks, Instagrams, Tweets with dozens of people every day, some of them from the other side of the world in real time! Never has man been more connected with hundreds, even thousands of people every day and this generation has grown up knowing nothing else.
SO, how does that affect our parenting? How does that affect the world of education and how we adjust our teaching styles? How does that affect the way we hire people? I will attempt to address some of these questions in the next blog post so stay tuned!!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
The Dangers of Social Networking
First, yes, it's true that you haven't seen a post on this blog in a long time. My goal is to begin to write a weekly blog post instead of trying to write one daily. This will be the first of what I hope will be a weekly post.
As a school administrator I have come to see the pros and cons, blessings and curses of the internet. I am an avid reader and researcher so the internet opens the door to a myriad of opportunities to have information at your finger tips. The worldwide web has literally made the world less wide and much smaller when it comes to information accessibility. Certainly, in that way, the internet is a blessing. But, as in most things man uses that are amoral in nature, Satan finds ways to use the internet as a tool to entice people into areas that can be immoral, illegal, unseemly and dangerous. This is never more true than the area of social networking.
Let me state right up front that I am not opposed to things like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc. I think all of these are tools that can be used for good things. The purpose of this post is to address the dangers that lie buried within sites likes these, dangers that people, especially immature people, simply are ignorant of or aren't concerned about. I work with Christian school students everyday and I am often incredulous at things I see and hear about that are being posted and written by some of these students. I have become convinced that many of our parents are paying very little attention to the activity of their children on these social networks. Here are some things to keep in mind.
1. There is truly no real privacy and security on the internet. People make a career and hobby out of hacking into people's social network accounts seeking personal information, images, clues to your habits and patterns. They are often seeking bank information, clues to when you'll be at work or on vacation. There are predators looking for images of your children, where they go to school, where they may be at any given time. They are looking for phone numbers, addresses, things you like and groups you join. Sadly, if you post that kind of thing it is always "hackable" and you are always vulnerable. Be wise and circumspect in the images, comments, groups you join and dialogues in which you engage.
2. Keep your testimony in mind with social networking. As unbelievable as this may seem, I have seen people talk about the church they attend, how faithful they are and then in virtually the same post use coarse, vulgar language and talk about getting drunk at a party. I am sure their pastor loves that! I have told people many times, if you are going to act like a pagan in your private life, keep it PRIVATE!
3. More and more colleges and employers are looking at the social network activities of potential students and employees when making admission and hiring decisions. They know, and we should come to realize, that what we will do while hidden behind a keyboard and computer screen reveals the hidden person of the heart, our character
4. Get proactively involved in your children's social network activity. The vast majority of high school students in our school are heavily involved in things like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You have every right as a parent, the person paying the internet fees, the person responsible for the spiritual oversight of your children, to insist that you have access to every social network in which they are involved. You have the right and should ask to be "friends, followers" or to have passwords to all accounts. Don't fool yourself into believing you little darling would never cross a line in social networking. They are all sinners just like you and me and they are capable of doing anything Satan is capable of imagining.
Finally, as Paul taught the Ephesians, be wise and vigilant because your enemy, the devil, is like a lion seeking who he can destroy and then roar after his kill. Never is wisdom and diligence more important that in how we engage in social networking.
Grace and Peace!
As a school administrator I have come to see the pros and cons, blessings and curses of the internet. I am an avid reader and researcher so the internet opens the door to a myriad of opportunities to have information at your finger tips. The worldwide web has literally made the world less wide and much smaller when it comes to information accessibility. Certainly, in that way, the internet is a blessing. But, as in most things man uses that are amoral in nature, Satan finds ways to use the internet as a tool to entice people into areas that can be immoral, illegal, unseemly and dangerous. This is never more true than the area of social networking.
Let me state right up front that I am not opposed to things like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc. I think all of these are tools that can be used for good things. The purpose of this post is to address the dangers that lie buried within sites likes these, dangers that people, especially immature people, simply are ignorant of or aren't concerned about. I work with Christian school students everyday and I am often incredulous at things I see and hear about that are being posted and written by some of these students. I have become convinced that many of our parents are paying very little attention to the activity of their children on these social networks. Here are some things to keep in mind.
1. There is truly no real privacy and security on the internet. People make a career and hobby out of hacking into people's social network accounts seeking personal information, images, clues to your habits and patterns. They are often seeking bank information, clues to when you'll be at work or on vacation. There are predators looking for images of your children, where they go to school, where they may be at any given time. They are looking for phone numbers, addresses, things you like and groups you join. Sadly, if you post that kind of thing it is always "hackable" and you are always vulnerable. Be wise and circumspect in the images, comments, groups you join and dialogues in which you engage.
2. Keep your testimony in mind with social networking. As unbelievable as this may seem, I have seen people talk about the church they attend, how faithful they are and then in virtually the same post use coarse, vulgar language and talk about getting drunk at a party. I am sure their pastor loves that! I have told people many times, if you are going to act like a pagan in your private life, keep it PRIVATE!
3. More and more colleges and employers are looking at the social network activities of potential students and employees when making admission and hiring decisions. They know, and we should come to realize, that what we will do while hidden behind a keyboard and computer screen reveals the hidden person of the heart, our character
4. Get proactively involved in your children's social network activity. The vast majority of high school students in our school are heavily involved in things like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You have every right as a parent, the person paying the internet fees, the person responsible for the spiritual oversight of your children, to insist that you have access to every social network in which they are involved. You have the right and should ask to be "friends, followers" or to have passwords to all accounts. Don't fool yourself into believing you little darling would never cross a line in social networking. They are all sinners just like you and me and they are capable of doing anything Satan is capable of imagining.
Finally, as Paul taught the Ephesians, be wise and vigilant because your enemy, the devil, is like a lion seeking who he can destroy and then roar after his kill. Never is wisdom and diligence more important that in how we engage in social networking.
Grace and Peace!
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