teaching tuesday: learning how to live

In Hannah Anderson's book, Made for More: An Invitation to Live in God's Image, she has a chapter about women's work & education where she writes this question:
"What if learning is less about how to make a living and more about how to live?"

I think, as it has been discussed and exposed elsewhere, that the educational system is, in some ways, broken. It was designed to create workers in an era that doesn't even begin to describe America now. You can see the video below based on a Ted Talk by Sir Ken Robinson to learn more.

I was struck by Hannah's question because I think a lot of what the language arts world has to do with is how to be a person. After all, literature stands the test of time because of something that deeply resonates with the human soul. This article from The Guardian explores research on developing social empathy through literature. I feel very lucky to be working in a field that is so overtly enriching.

The other departments certainly have their place and function and are as vitally important (no, really! I think it's true), but what if we focused a little less on all of the small details of what students are supposedly needing to memorize to be proficient, well-balanced adults according to state standards and stepped back to see the whole picture? Overall, it seems that Math & Science are about how life works and operates, and Social Studies and English are about how to live within that world.

The thing is, I teach people. Literature and writing is my platform, but at the end of the day, these are developing souls with which I am entrusted. I want to do my best to cultivate each individual.