October 2, 2008: Curriculum and Corruption

Dear Friend,

The contexts of these two are separate, but I couldn’t help but find a correlation. I’m not a teacher, at least not a certified educator, not someone who’s gone through years of post-secondary schooling in order to enlighten the minds of young people. That would be one’s hope, at any rate, when studying to become a teacher. I find myself in a situation many teachers find themselves in, though, and that is to form a curriculum for students to learn from.

You’ll recall from my list of three goals this semester, one goal is to form a curriculum about forum theatre to present to high schools. I have to come up with some ideas by the tenth of this month, ideas that can be considered in forming our curriculum. I’ve never thought about something like this before. I’ve studied my syllabi in past years and wondered how my professors came to their conclusions, but I’ve never ventured to form a syllabus of my own. Also, I know very little about forum theatre at this point and need to work to find a basis which I can build upon. This should be interesting. I, of course, won’t be doing it on my own, but I need to get the ball rolling.

Diana, Maria, and George returned to the office today after their cross cultural training convention in Straja. Diana and I got to have a chat about my experience thus far in Bucureşti. We ate a light lunch at this restaurant in a park a couple blocks away from the office. I was very happy to see her, Maria, and George, familiar faces from Lupeni.

Iris and I watched part of a movie tonight Vali downloaded from the Internet. It was entitled Bigger Stronger Faster: The Side Effects of Being American. It was a documentary about steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. We only got to see about an hour of it before the Internet stopped working (which is a common dilemma.) What we saw, though, I found rather heartbreaking. The film began with footage of pro-wrestling events and clips from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone movies, with the host, Chris Bell, telling us how such people were American idols to children. What followed was footage of commercials and marketing campaigns using these celebrities to encourage youngsters to work hard, eat healthy, and take their vitamins. Doing so would make you stronger, would make you better, and would make you more American. Bell, an aspiring body builder and athlete himself, then went on to explain his disappointment when he discovered his heroes had used steroids to become to strong, drugs he had been taught from an early age not to use.

The film followed Bell to different interviews with people connected in some way to the steroids controversy. Body builders, former Olympic athletes, high school coaches, congressmen, doctors, fathers of children who committed suicide, and his own family members were interviewed about the subject of steroids. Like all controversial issues, many opinions and positions were addressed and no conclusion was ultimately made (maybe there was at the end of the film, which we didn’t get to see.) It showed, however, how convoluted everything can become when humans try to solve human problems using human knowledge and human wisdom.

A lot of the film spoke about, though never mentioned it by name, forms of corruption. Why do people take steroids? To become stronger. Why do they want to become stronger? For any number of reasons, take your pick. So I can be a better athlete. So I can be stronger. So I can feel better about myself. So I can achieve my goals. All of these reasons are very “I” oriented. I need, I want, I must have, or else I won’t be what I’ve always wanted to be and my life won’t be the way I’ve always wanted it to be. Corruption. When and how did these people start to think like this? Who told them these things and what makes them think these things are true? What “life curriculum” have they been given, have they been following? Who compiled this “curriculum?” America? In many ways, yes, but not entirely.

A book I’m reading now entitled Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be begins with a chapter on shalom. Shalom, as many of us have been lead to believe, means “peace,” but to leave the definition there, according to the author, cuts the exact meaning of the word short. Shalom is “universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights.[1]” Sin, according to the author, is anything that disrupts shalom. At the risk of jumping to conclusions (read the book if you want deeper, scholastic arguments) the use of steroids within the context the film was discussing, namely performance enhancement, is a disruption of shalom. It’s sin. The lives and well being of many people have been so negatively affected by the use of steroids, and in many ways that bear little if any physical evidence. The very desire for the use of steroids to enhance one’s performance seems negative in and of itself, without taking into consideration all the possible ramifications of such a decision.

Going back to the aspect of education, one might consider how or why someone begins to think they need steroids. At certain points in my life, I have been told I need to become the best, I need to be strong and not back down, I need to be all that I can be. Within the context of shalom, such goals would make sense and would be goals worthy of pursuit. However, because I am sinful and because my sin disrupts shalom, another rationale surfaces. By whatever means, I must be the best, I must be strong, I must be all I can be. I’m fed this rationale from many corners of my life. I find it on TV, in movies, on the cover of magazines, which all pour out into my experience with peers and expectations from parents and elders (while some of these experiences are indicative of my own life experiences I’m speaking, at this point, in generalities.) I get my education from everywhere and none of these sources are accountable to each other. Therefore, I’m left to figure out my own rationale, my own opinion of things, and my own way of life completely relative from anyone else’s. This, in turn, leads to corruption. In the documentary, this leads to steroids.

The reason I’m so focused on education at this point is because of a statement the father of the suicide victim said in the film. This man’s high school son committed suicide because of steroids, according to the father. The father, in essence, blamed or at least placed responsibility upon professional athletes, and cited them as being examples to the youth of their country, the youth that so greatly idolized them. At the risk of completely refuting the man’s argument, but where were the boy’s parents? What responsibility do they hold? What responsibility do they freely give to others (teachers, sports stars, celebrities, Sesame Street) that should actually be their own? These are gross, over simplified generalizations, but they’re made to try and flesh out what I’m thinking in my head.

And yet, even if I haven’t studied to become a teacher, I can’t say I don’t have responsibility to others. I’m given responsibility to be a positive, Christ-like influence to those around me on the simple basis that I’m a Christian. In the case of constructing this curriculum, I take responsibility to help construct something that will be used with high school students. Granted, I doubt steroids will be mentioned in the teaching of forum theatre (maybe we could do a play about it,) but the overall concept of positive influence remains the same. Educators ensure to parents their legitimacy. They won’t corrupt their children. The Bible even holds teachers to certain standards it doesn’t hold other vocations at. Much responsibility is given to those who pass on knowledge, and much retribution will be had on the educator who refuses to pass on the truth, who refuses to maintain shalom.

A little solemn for two seemingly unrelated topics. However, as I mentioned before, it’s what was on my mind. The concept of forming a curriculum is quite intimidating, but I know I won’t be doing it alone. Besides, it’s a challenge I hope to enjoy, as I don’t know when such experiences will aid me in the future.

Blessings.
Kailen

[1] Plantinga Jr., Cornelius. Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1995. pg. 10. See also Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Until Justice and Peace Embrace. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1983. pg. 69-72 (author’s citing.)