True Remote Learning by Christian Self-Discipline in the Covid-19 Pandemic
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Please be sure to read Dr. Renfro’s May 2020 Article:
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True remote learning by Christian self-discipline developed in students, and educators who know Christ can carry them through from the confrontation of the Covid-19 Pandemic and could in time have positive results in the learning process.
A relationship with Jesus Christ can provide a true key to real learning, learning to learn with a Christo-centric self-discipline in this computer age, particularly spawned in the educational process when adapting to the plague of Covid-19. This vital relationship between self-discipline and distant learning, remote learning, online learning, or whatever it might be called in this computer age should be imperative. True remote learning by Christian self-discipline which can be developed in students who know Christ can carry them through confrontation of the problem of the Covid-19 Pandemic and could have positive results in the learning process.
In addressing this electronic distribution of knowledge, I will just combine all the different kind of instruction under the name of “distant learning” for this article. Distant learning is the types of education that schools are using to educate children during the virus, but as well it is in all types of education on the Internet rather than in the classroom. Students are in this context of distance learning are physically separated from their teachers during instruction, while online technology facilitates communication and the material to be learned. School-aged children are staying home, and some most often in families are charged with the task of facilitating and overseeing this increasingly new way of schooling and learning in general. In this respect, it is a call to a type of self-discipline not only by the students by the parents or others in the household.
Christian students can realize a resource in the value of knowing Jesus Christ as the guide and support in all learning, something which has been and is being rejected totally by progressive thinking and is under continual attack from progressive thinking, which is so dominant in schools and in education of society at large. Self-discipline in the Christian context is realized as the believer keys into the discernment and support that comes being a “new creation in Christ.” Proverbs 2:3-5 points to this, as it says: “Yes, if thou cries after knowledge, and lift up thy voice for understanding; If thou seek here as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures; Then shall thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”
The shock waves and impact of Covid-19 sweep over our country, and one large change so dominant which we are experiencing is in the educational shift that has become what we call “distance learning.” Distance learning is the buzzword around the entire globe right now in the educational domain. It is new in scope, not that it has never been used before, but it is new in the magnitude of it, very much in the degree for students that have been going to it from the traditional “brick and mortar” schools. Teachers who have faced widespread school closures have had to quickly adapt their teaching methods to teaching through the extensive use of remote learning or distant learning. It has created a situation where academic discipline is not something imposed on the students by the structures, but something that the students must realize themselves to a much greater degree.
It is a call to develop academic self-discipline. “Self-discipline is an important skill in order to be successful in distance learning,” observed Kristin Foght in her article in the Kick Blog entitled “What is Distance or Remote Learning?” Her article is to affirm that, but in this article, I am proposing to do so not just from self-discipline but going further to see it from a Christian self-discipline in the understanding the focus. True remote learning by Christian self-discipline developed in students who know Christ can carry them through from the confrontation of the Covid-19 Pandemic and could in time prove to cultivate real positive results in the learning process. The knowledge of Christ is vital for Christians in the learning process, as here is strength, direction, and discernment in it all!
How effective is the online learning? There are various factors, with some praising it, while others look on it with real criticism. Many students disdain it as to do many parents, many say it is inadequate, but many praise it.
In one article, “Distance Learning Isn’t Working” by Bethany Mandel in the Atlantic, April 20, 2020 she says that, “Many school districts have attempted to shift schooling to home but you cannot simply school at home. That’s why many homeschoolers call what they do ‘home education,’ not ‘home-schooling.’” Many kids are bored with it, and many just do not get it. But education is much more than schooling, and this Covid-19 problem might help to awaken our nation to this factor, as education is not really what is taught, so much as it more what is learned.
One factor in this respect is parental involvement, as many parents either can’t or won’t really work at it. The factors for every student are different, and while this diversity of each individual has been a problem in the traditional classrooms in which teachers try have often to teach the same lessons to each student the class, when really each and all really might learn differently.
One parent who had been a homeschooler addressed how this could work as she began working with the distant learning: “As a homeschool mother, I set my own curriculum and my own schedule. We have the flexibility to plan our schedule around baby and toddler naps, my work schedule, and the activities my children once did. My kids’ education is my responsibility, and it is designed to fit our family’s individual needs. So, in the shift from the traditional classroom to one-line learning parents are going to have to do much like the homeschooling parents have already been doing!
The parents are able to take the substance of the educational material and cultivate it in the development of each child individually, something as I said earlier that the schools very often fail in doing. So, I’m not so sure that the title of Mandel’s article is really true, except for parents who miss or can’t adapt to the involvement, which really is the substance of her article as she observes that, “Instead of trying to move classes on line, schools should support parents educating their children.” But without question on-line distant learning can be a vital tool, when correctly used!
The crisis of the Covid-19 can be seen as something that has and is bringing real change in education and schooling of the future. Remote learning is taking place with students from their homes using their iPads or laptops as resources for learning.
Change is in the wind. It is real change in the wind. The responsibility is shifting from the administration grading whether or not the teacher is teaching the subject matter in the pattern the experts have determined it should be taught and programming the students for the tests to where each and every students is able to determine his or her education from the material they acquire from the distance learning. There is testing and monitoring, but it is very different. The students and the teachers have been challenged with the call in this changing environment to develop much of their own creativity.
Patrick Holmes in an article, “School, Just in Different Form—Future of What Education Can Become,” from the Neuse News, April 11, 2020 observed “But educators don’t equate even well-designed, constantly remote learning programs with teacher-led instruction at school. The leveling influence of the classroom setting, and close supervision have across subject areas, the range of abilities and levels of interest can’t be easily duplicated on line. The responsibility for academic success, for sustaining success, for sustaining engagement has tilted toward the students and adults at home.”
On the other hand, Kristin Foght observed some of the advantages of distant learning, such as the accessibility and flexibility of it, as students can access their classroom, materials, virtual classrooms, discussion boards, institutions and more from any electronic device. One of the largest benefits she observes is the opportunity to receive education from highly qualified professionals and connect with others around the globe remotely. Students can more easily focus their attention to have the opportunity to incorporate breaks and chunk the lessons into manageable chunks for themselves.
She observes that “Different kids will do best in different learning environments. If your child learns better in groups, try a Zoom (Zoom, one program among many others such as Canvas, Google Classroom, Remind and Seesaw, etc.) study session with a fellow classmate. The older kids are, the longer they may be able to work on their own. And remember, resources are going to become available slowly for students who need them — you may not have to do this all by yourself.”
Anya Kaenetz from the National Public Radio, March 29, 2020 in an article, “The Biggest Distance-Learning Experiment in History, Week One” wrote that: “Thrown into the breach, public schools are setting out on an unprecedented experiment: With little training and even fewer resources, in a matter of days they’re shifting from a system of education that for centuries has focused on face to face interaction, to one that works entirely at a distance.”
Here we see one such school system in that of Duval County and Jacksonville, Florida taking the lead to make the shift from traditional education to that of distance learning!
Diana Greene, the superintendent of Duval County Schools sent an email to her staff on Friday, March 20, 2020 that illustrated the magnitude of the effort educators around the country were faced with, and in less than seventy-five hours, Team Duval moved the entire district to an at-home, virtual instruction model. They managed to troubleshoot the mobilization of meal programs, lack of technology equipment, online teacher training, and a host of other issues that came with the change of this magnitude in just three days.
Paula Renfro, who is married to my nephew and who leads the professional development for the Duval County Public Schools, when interviewed about making this swift transition, said that they decided to lead with their existing “blended learning resource library,” including software programs and digital textbooks. We could say, “They used their brains and worked with what they had, although they had no written directives to guide them through this uncharted territory.” Renfro told them, “Really when we considered how this rollout was going to look, we needed to provide tools, especially in the beginning, that teachers and students had a high comfort level with.” They used what they had, which was a real call to responsible autonomy!
Renfro noted as well that this was in the early days and that the district hoped to continue getting resources out to students who needed them. For students who did not have computers yet, they found ways for them to get them. They have been contacting families in every way they can each day.
We can observe there is a real emotional attachment of the educators to the students in the Duval schools during this time of transition, as Renfro said, “We still have our hands and our arms wrapped around them to support them.” True remote learning by self-discipline can develop and be exemplified in educators, many whom know Christ
In this situation, not just in the Duval schools, but schools all over this land, we should be aware of the fact that the realization of Christian self-discipline can carry students, administrators, teachers and schools through in the confrontation with the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Yes, it could be argued that true remote learning by Christian self-discipline develops in students, and educators who know Christ with a special strength to carry them through the confrontation of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Here in Duval County is one example of the educators utilizing real self-discipline to resolve the major problem of the transition from the traditional classroom to distance learning! Here was a utilization of a type of responsible autonomy, a system of self-rule, evidence in the Duval County School system as it arose to the occasion into uncharted territory. The concept of “autonomy” points to the element of freedom, and the example of the Duval is utilizing it in a positive way.
However, many do not like the word, “autonomy.” Rousas John Rushdoony in his book, The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum, has a negative view of autonomy and observes that: “It is impossible to understand modern education apart from the concept of the autonomy of critical thought, nor is it possible to have truly Christian education without a radical departure from that concept. As long as the educational curriculum functions consciously or unconsciously in terms of the autonomy of critical thought, the school remains, however, evangelical its faculty, an implicitly anti-Christian institution.” Throughout his book, Rushdoony observes the conflicts he seems to see between “autonomy” in learning and what he sees as a true Christian understanding of it.
There are different understandings of the concept of autonomy and especially as it relates to self-discipline. Moving from the classroom to the screen is not anti-Christian at all, but rather it could be argued very much Christian to be able to make this transition. The Bible says nothing about what is the right way to teach and the wrong methods. But, to leave the students in space without instruction because the schools had to be closed would be very much condemned by the teaching of Scripture. Proverbs 8:33 says to “Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.” This says nothing about a distinction between instruction in the classroom and that of distance learning. It was not right to just way for the Covid-19 to pass to restart school!
Rushdoony observes “autonomy” concerned by the definition of the secularist understanding of it, seeing it as not one in harmony with the relationship with Christ. But autonomy is central in self-discipline, and there is an understanding of the concept that certainly is not necessarily the secularist understanding of it. There are many types of autonomy that could be classified as non-Christian, but the argument by Emmanuel Kant for it is in accord with Christian self-discipline, I would say.”It is one that opens the door to the realization of true autonomy in the relationship of a student’s companionship with God in whatever learning situation that might occur, classroom or distance learning.”
This is the disciplined responsible autonomy of the “new self,” learning in companionship with God, but not learning as something just imposed on oneself, but learning in relationship with God. In this realization of realizing a “new self” in Christ, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” people can realize that they are attuned to God’s word and Spirit in the whole learning process. Here, there is a discernment that is vital, as it says in Proverbs 19:29: “Cease, my son, to hear instruction that causes ye to err from the words of knowledge.” Here is discernment and Christian self-discipline in use!
Autonomy has been viewed universally as synonymous with self-determinism, but the concept has a variety of meanings from that which could be called negatively just mere license, then on to a qualified freedom, on to a type of autonomy that the philosopher, Emmanuel Kant labeled as the autonomy of pure practical reason. Emmanuel Kant (1724–1804) defined autonomy in contemporary ethics.
Firstly, autonomy as the right for one to make one’s own decisions excluding any interference from others. Secondly, autonomy is the capacity to make such decisions through one’s own independence of mind and after personal reflection. It is a call to a rational freedom!
Kant presented the concept of human will with two distinguishable aspects, one legislating and the other executing. He presented a rational will that was characteristic of all rational beings, observing that “the will of a rational being can be a will of its own only under the idea of freedom.” In respect to the rational will Kant gave his classical explication of the concept of autonomy when he wrote: “The will is, therefore, not merely subject to the law, but is so subject to it that it must be considered as also making the law for itself and precisely on this account as first of all subject to the law (of which) it can regard itself as the author.” (Kant, Critique of Practical Reason)
Autonomy has been characterized in different schools of thought with a variety of different understandings, such as the elitist autonomy as was proposed by Plato, the individualistic autonomy as proposed by John Dewey, utilitarian autonomy as taught by Jeremy Bentham, personal autonomy as presented by B.F. Dearden, laissez-faire autonomy as proposed by Richard L. Hopkins , socio-political autonomy as developed from Karl Marx, all maybe very much deserving of Rushdoony’s rejection, but the Kantian understanding of autonomy by pure natural reason, an understanding of it, it would seem to be in perfect accord with the “Word” of God, who was and is revealed in Jesus Christ, as John 1:1 & 14 brings out: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” This parallels the teaching of Christ as written in John 8:32, when he said: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Reason as Christ-the Word, revelation as known through the Holy Spirit, and experience, as Christ-“The way, the truth, and the life,” come together and can be seen as united in the truth of Jesus Christ, and in this context opens the door to unlimited learning in these times.
Kant set forth the moral guideline which he called the “Categorical Imperative,” which was “Always act so that you may also wish that the maxim of your action become a universal law.” (Emmanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason). This directive from Kant’s thinking is very much in parallel with what the Lord Jesus taught when he said: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” in the moral sphere.
But moving from the moral understanding of it to the academic, students should be able to apply autonomy in relationship with the categorical imperative in accord with the Kantian understanding of autonomy to a true motivation, power, and guideline in the realm of education. “Always act so that you may also wish that the maxim of your action become a universal law,” can be seen as a valid motivation and call to studious commitment to the new day of “distance learning.” Here is a directive to true commitment, and motivation to the attainment of truth, but truth beyond just the constant changing empirical knowledge or the indoctrination of secularism, so dominant in contemporary education.
Yes, true remote learning by Christian self-discipline developed in students, and educators who know Christ can carry them through this problem from the confrontation of the Covid-19 Pandemic and could in time have positive results in the learning process.
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