he's past his prime / he's arrogant

Student evaluations from one of my classes came in while we were traveling in Colorado and Wyoming. Against the backdrop of stunning natural beauty, I read the following (I'm skipping the nice comments because they are not the ones that stay with you):

I didn't learn anything.

The grading was mystifying -- a "B" is unacceptable.

He's past his prime.

He is arrogant.

My first reaction was that students these days are so ungrateful. They are now the patrons and customers; we professors are merely waiters serving them their selections from a menu of their making (a menu that is unknown to us, and probably unknown to them).

My second reaction -- and this is the one that has stayed with me -- is that what they said, all that they said, might be true. And so this summer I am taking pains to revise my material, and to rectify my heart.

Teaching is a mystery. What is it?

Is it a transmission of facts? An impartation of inspiration? An opening of new vistas neither teacher nor student were previously aware of? Is it being a role model?

And there is indeed the question -- especially in these rapidly changing times -- of whether or not a person educated at year-1 can even teach relevant content by year-10.

Teaching is a mystery because knowledge -- this thing we call knowledge -- is itself a mystery. We are never in possession of it. We simply become aware of certain things about God's world for a time; perhaps we tell others about it; but very quickly we pass on and all is forgotten. (Much is forgotten even before we pass).

To rectify my heart. What is meant by this? Well, on our trip we read to each other the words of Paul: For I determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

This has also stayed with me through these weeks.

Logos2Go

1 Corinthians 2.1-5 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.