Questions

“Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.” -KJV John 3:25

Education, like youth, is wasted on the young, or so the saying goes. Like any proverb, there is an element of truth present that makes rebuttal difficult. I must admit that much of my education was poured upon me at an age when my maturity level was largely impervious to either truth or the disciplines necessary for mastery. In today’s educational jargon, we would use the word “readiness” to describe that state of being where a child is actually ready or not ready to receive the assigned lessons.

A painful memory for me comes from my senior year in high school when, for one reason or another, I decided to pick up the book, “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoyevsky and read it just for fun. Now there is an oxymoron for you: reading a Russian novel “just for fun.” I am not sure it can be done. Russian novels are always daunting especially as the progression of characters passes the two dozen mark. Yet, there I was, proudly carrying a black paperback copy around school and earnestly pressing my way through it. To my credit, I actually finished it. The trouble is that I could never tell you what it was really about. I was driven more by vanity and show rather than any intellectual pursuit of truth. I loved the reaction from teachers and other students who were so duly impressed by my literary tastes. It was a totally hollow experience.

In high school, I was simply and totally unprepared for the questions and issues raised in the book. Now, I have been challenged once again to read “The Brothers Karamazov” as one of the top 100 books every person should read in their lifetime. There are many compelling reasons for placing the book in this elite position and many would argue for its inclusion as it deals with many of the great issues of life, love, and faith that thinking adults are prone to contemplate. I am pondering taking another turn at this famous novel, this time bringing with me a lifetime of experience that has made me aware of the great issues and questions of life.

If I have a bone to pick with many upper level History and literature books, it is that they do not always identify what great issues are being addressed in the pages and pages of text that are provided. I always made a point to never promise my young History students that they would leave my class with all the answers. I did hope that they would take away an understanding of what the great questions were. One cannot appreciate an answer unless one understands the question. Reading the book of Romans is daunting to a young reader unless one understands that there is great tension between faith and works and a history of debate as to what is the real basis of salvation.

What I would like to do is challenge my readership with coming up with a list of the 20 top questions or issues of our day be they theological, social, economic, political, or environmental. We have just been examining the question of the basis for human dignity. It is a question for our age because of the challenge of secular, Darwinian humanism. Former generations never even questioned this because there was such wide agreement. Not now. So what issues would you nominate as the top 20 questions facing this next generation? I encourage you to submit your entries as a comment. Try to focus them as tightly as possible preferably no more than 100 to 200 words max. We will then comb through them, and our staff will argue the top finalists. Feel free to submit 1, 5, or all 20.

It is my hope to use this as fuel for thought and direction in our middle and high school classes. It will be a curriculum that is problem driven by the challenges our children will actually have to face.