Textbook Summary Paper John Sitka III Liberty University
Textbook Summary of Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations Overview/Summary of Author's Key Points
Schultz (2003) suggests that today’s society has a postmodern view of truth, ethics, and values. That truth and values are all relativistic to ones egocentric worldview. In the early 1800s, education used the bible as a foundation for moral and ethic behavior in everyday life. The author goes on to explain how the age of enlightenment and progressivism has relegated the bible to a book of myths, stories and legends. That science, Darwinism, and evolution are the new truth and anyone who challenges such ideas is considered uneducated and narrow-minded. The world broadcasts constantly to public and the schools that truth is relative. Whatever an individual believes to be justified in their depraved behavior such as homosexuality, than no one should question it or challenge it. The modern worldview goes on to suggest that all belief systems and cultures are equal, and that all religion lead to heaven.
The author discusses Kingdom Education as a part of the Kingdom of God, in that we are to continue the responsibility of the Great Commission to further the knowledge of God to future generations. Parents are the most significant individuals to their children. God mandates them for their care and education. Education of the next generation begins in the home. But, it will also depend on the spiritual belief of the parents. Parents are responsible for who teaches their children and what the school is allowing to be presented to these young fertile minds.
evolution? This is very different from today’s public education system, which refuses to discuss science and religion. Regardless of the teacher’s role, the final responsibility is with the parents to allow others to teacher their children who have no interest in the spiritual future.
Churches have the responsibility to their congregation, which includes their responsibility to the future generations. Many have made use of vacation bible classes and Sunday school. Few have onsite pre-school, elementary and middle school education. Even if there is a Christian school in the area, neither the church nor the school compliment, nor work with each other for a host of reasons. Churches, parents, and educators need to have a renewing of the minds and make it a call to action to reform their view of education and training future generations in scriptures. If we do not teach them the heart and mind of God, then the world will fill them with relativistic truths, values, and morality.
Personal Response
Much of what the author was saying saddened me. The author primarily laid the
responsibility spiritual education of the future generations at the feet of the parents. What if the parents are unequally yoked? What if they are a working single parent or have no spiritual beliefs? Because of today economy, it not so much material things that families seek, it has become more of a matter of survival.
financial means. Yes, there are those families that squander their finances, but that is becoming less in what I have seen in the Christian community.
Many parents are not aware of their spiritual responsibilities. Churches are not focused on the need to help and educate parents in the skills of parenting and raising children in a Godly home. The author had it right, in that helping parents to be become the people God intended is not high on the priority list of most churches. In many cases, even if they would consider such a program, the church would not know how and where to begin. Most of these churches may not have the expertise in the field of parenting and educating parents.
In my earlier class of EDUC 703, I had to conduct a professional interview with an educator. I asked a woman from my church who taught in the public education system at the high school level to participate in an interview for one of my class projects. I also assumed that she was a deeply spiritual person. When conducting the interview, I discovered that she would not discuss any spiritual matters with her students, even if she is asked. She expressed how the schools are discouraging any spiritual discussions whatsoever. However, she is permitted to discuss sexuality and the latest fads or programs on television.
Application to you
As an educational leader, I am reminded that the worldview of ethics, values, morality, and spirituality will sometimes be in conflict with mine. As head of academics, in an adult education technical training institution, we are limited in what we may discuss spirituality. However, people are people and sometimes the subject arises. Opportunities do present
As a grandparent, even though the parents are the primary educator of the children, the grandparents can pick up some of these responsibilities when the parents are unwilling or unable. Even if parents are actively participating in their responsibility, that does not prevent the
Textbook Summary of: The Leadership Challenge Overview/Summary of Author's Key Points
There are numerous books written about leadership, but Kouzes and Posners (2008) book has quantified the qualities of a great leader. They have broken it down into five practices of exemplary leadership with some supporting stories and biographies, which for most readers makes more interesting and not just a bunch of theories.
In modeling the way starts with clarifying values that leaders need to have a solid
foundation of ethic and values. Eventually these values will be tested and how we act or what we say has been known to make or break reputations. If a leader shares their values, we need to make our own words and learning to use our words to build people up.
Inspiring a shared vision is not just having a goal or vision, but also getting others involved. People need to be inspired and good leadership will express their dreams by appealing to common ideals by what they hope and dream. The leader will also animate the vision by making them real and vivid with creative language and images. We need always to be ourselves and speak from the heart.
Challenge the process is about that leaders will always been looking for new goals and opportunities. Even if that means doing something that no one else is doing or doing it in such a way that no one else has thought of. Adversity creates opportunities and leaders should use these times to have people and the organization grow from their experiences. It is also a great
Enable others to act by discussing methods in which others can participate in goals and the organization as a whole. Collaborations take time to develop when building trust and communicating others should share their ideas freely. People need to share ideas and resources; leaders can facilitate these interactions. When teammates are developing collaborations, there is usually a certain amount of negotiations that takes place. Leaders need to trust their team to listen and learn from their team when it comes to seeking advice or making a decision. However, leaders also want teams to make choices and take risks, while at the same time holding the group to some form of accountability.
Encourage the heart, leaders must recognize and celebrate the team’s accomplishments. Success needs a condition or a measure, people need to know the goal and what condition allows them to know whether it is achieved or not. While accountability is imposed, there should also be reward and recognition for the team when success is achieved. This creates a spirit of community and camaraderie. Recognition should be done publicly and leaders should explore ways to make it a ritual.
Personal Response
The book quantified some traits of leadership, with the highest being honesty. I have seen what happens when one of the partners who help start the school was not honest and the
devastation it was to the staff and the teachers. I did like the concept of writing a personal credo of my guiding principles.
The chapter on challenging the process was quite a revelation. There are numerous other maritime schools and universities, but we decided to be different and take some risk, go in areas that no one else has ventured. However, from my perspective, my enthusiasm has cost the school, which we jump the gun before the regulations were in place and it cost us significant dollars. The CEO called me into his office and did not chastise me, as I was expecting, but asked me what I learned from this experience. His wisdom reiterated that if something was easy, then everyone else would be doing what we did.
The chapter on Enable Others to Act, was one that had particular significance for me. Over the past year, especially since I have been taking classes with Liberty, I have begun to learn the significance and importance of getting others involved and working together as a team. My personality flaw was I was focusing on I and not we.
Application to you
million dollars in revenue this year, which is a 30% growth from last year. We are also partnered with a college in Texas.
References
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2008). The Leadership Challenge. (4th Ed.) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc.
Schultz, G. (2003). Kingdom Education: God’s Plan for Educating Future Generations. (2nd Ed.). Nashville, TN: LifeWay Press
Van Brummelen, H. (2002). Steppingstones to curriculum. (2nd Ed.) Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications.
