Buechner Inspired Calling

In the spring, seniors in high school and college are thinking about calling, with the former selecting a college and a major and the latter applying for jobs. We often talk about students finding their calling or vocation, as individuals ... but finding the calling for an institution is equally important. Each organization likely has a mission statement, core values, and a strategic plan, but have they truly sought their calling?

What should be the calling of a school?

American philosopher and theologian Frederick Buechner is known for his quote on calling:

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

We interpret this quote (as likely intended) to be about an individual person identifying his/her gifts, interests, and passions (what he/she is created to do) and then trying to find how to use that "deep gladness" to make a positive difference addressing an identified need ("deep hunger") in this world. This is an important wondering as we individually strive to be reformational and restorative in this broken world. However, shouldn't we also consider this quote for an institution?

What if each institution (for-profit, non-profit, religious, or secular) considered this quote?  What a powerful exercise to consider calling, as Buechner defined it!

• As an institution, what is our deep gladness? What is our passion, what are we created to do, and what do we do really well?
• As an institution, how can that deep gladness meet the world's deep hunger? Is there a way to use our institution to help to restore brokenness in this world?

Sometimes those two naturally align. 

To be too literal, a farmer, passionate about growing and harvesting crops to the best of his/her ability is directly meeting the world's deep hunger of food. As the bumper sticker says, "No Farms, No Food." A farmer is living a Buechner inspired calling.

The founder of TOMS shoes, Blake Mycoskie's deep gladness was in making shoes, but he also recognized the "hunger" in the lack of shoes in impoverished communities, so he developed the One for One model to meet that "deep hunger." For each shoe purchased, the company donated a shoe. TOMS' mission statement is simply "use business to improve lives." That is a Buechner inspired calling.  

• Read the TOMS story HERE!

Can schools have a similar Buechner inspired calling? Absolutely.

It does take three steps ... 

1. Identifying the educational institution's deep gladness.
2. Remembering the educational institution's mission statement. 
3. Evaluating the deep hunger in our society.

Often schools have this process backwards. Educators see the needs (deep hunger) in our society, but forget their school's mission statement and deep gladness (i.e. what schools are created to do). Schools turn into churches (because the 'hunger" of evangelism), soup kitchens (because the "hunger" of homelessness), families (because the "hunger" of broken homes) and social clubs (because the "hunger" of community). Although each of those areas are important hungers that need to be met, they are likely not found in a school's mission statement and arguably are not what schools are created to do.

So what do schools do better than any other institution? Educate students!

General Knowledge

General knowledge is one of the deep hungers in our society today ... and we are getting hungrier! The good news is that knowledge acquisition aligns well with both a school's "deep gladness" and mission statement. Unfortunately, schools are under-performing. I am appalled by the level of ignorance in our culture today. I have stopped laughing at the "man on the street" interviews; there is nothing funny about ignorance. Mark Bauerlein calls this the "dumbest generation" due to the digital age, and I agree. Schools must address this hunger with a passion ... tackle ignorance head on, build overall literacy and competency, and reclaim the purpose of education. That is one example of a Buechner inspired calling.

Wisdom

Once our culture becomes smart again, we can "get wisdom." While not able to be fully realized without a knowledge base, wisdom is also a deep hunger in our culture today. One way to address this deep hunger is to start teaching philosophy again ("philosophy" is literally translated "the love of wisdom"); students must learn to philosophize ... to love wisdom! Unfortunately, we have too many examples of smart people who are not wise; again, schools are positioned well to address this hunger, and teaching wisdom should be our deep gladness!

Christian schools have a head start on teaching wisdom, as the Bible states in Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Educators must start by teaching students to fear the Lord if we want to improve wisdom. Modern usage of the word "fear" connotes being afraid (as "I fear walking down the street alone at night"); however, the biblical definition of fear is to have reverence and respect. Fearing God and His word, which includes obeying His commands, has waned in today's culture. It is no wonder that wisdom has also been on a decline. Christian schools must begin where God commands us to begin ... the fear of the Lord. Unfortunately, we have too many examples of Christian schools (and Christian colleges) that do not fear God or His word. In fact, in Christian colleges today, some professors think that they are smarter than God, questioning His word, or even mocking it, rather than fearing it. They clearly are not wise.

If Christian schools want to embrace a Buechner inspired calling, they must fear the Lord, build general knowledge, and get wisdom. 

• What is your deep gladness as an educator?
• Does it fit your educational mission statement?
• Is there a deep hunger that you/your students can help restore?

How exciting it would be if every school (as well as every educator) had a Buechner inspired calling!

Hygge Time (over Screen Time)

When is the last time you had a "cozy conversation in pleasant company"?

This past Christmas we purchased a new game ... The Hygge Game. "Hygge" (according to Miriam-Webster) is a Danish word meaning "comfort and coziness" but its etymology comes from Scandinavian, old English, Saxon and Frisian terms that incorporate thinking, considering, recalling, and understanding. Hygge is a rich word aptly described in the game's sub-title, "Cozy conversation in pleasant company."

It is a game of conversation starting questions ... that is all. No pieces to move, no roles to play, no empires to build, no opponents to conquer. It is quite simple but really needed today. We all need more hygge time in our lives.

The concept of hygge is similar to "hearth time," a term I have used in talking with parents about healthy interactions with their teenagers. Hearth time, as the name suggests, comes from a pre-technological era (think Little House on the Prairie) where the family would sit around the fireplace after dinner talking about their day. While modern "hearth time" happens in different locations (our was around our kitchen island), it is important to have cozy conversations with your teenager. Of course this involves putting your phones away ... and that, I know, can be most of the battle.

As we spend increasingly more time on screens, we spend less time interacting with each other in cozy conversations. It is easy to pick on teenagers in criticizing screen time ... and they lead the way with 11-18 year olds spending about half of their waking hours on screens (CDC) ... but, globally, humans spend about six hours a day on screens (Screen Time Stats 2024). The long-term effects of screen time are still to be determined, but we have seen excessive screen time linked to cognitive, social-emotional, and language delays in children (Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Child Development, 2023) and mental health problems (especially "depression, anxiety, social anxiety, and somatic complaints") in teens (Excessive Screen Media Activity and Mental Health Problems in Youth, 2023). 

Tying this back to education ... students are spending too much time on screens. However, "phones away" or classrooms that are "no phone zones" is not the answer (or not the whole answer); rather, we need to provide a positive alternative, teaching students about hygge. "Cozy conversations in pleasant company" where people think, consider, recall, and understand is a great description of a positive learning environment. What are we doing to foster hygge at school?

Play Games! 

The Hygge Game would be a good one to introduce into the classroom (not necessarily literally, but in concept). Many teachers ask an attendance question, a bell ringer, or a brain break question ... be intentional about these times to encourage conversations. Teachers often have a minute or two at the end of class, and it is so tempting to allow students to jump on a screen to fill that time. Instead of screen time, add a question to the end of the lesson that students need to discuss with a neighbor.

Board and card games, of any kind, engage our brains, encourage social interactions, and reduce screen time. Homes at "hearth time" used to be filled with games, but that has been replaced by television and phone time. I used to assume that everyone knew how to play the classic games, but children today are not playing games at home. Schools can reclaim that space, teach the classic games, and encourage the healthy brain work of strategizing and socializing. 

Board gaming and card playing has become more popular in recent years; as educators, let's lean into this movement. It is my deep hope that our culture will begin to self-regulate and reduce screen time by shifting back to more meaningful activities, like reading, gaming, and cozy conversations. 

Ring That Bell!

Bells are rung for many reasons ... to announce an arrival at a door, to call for dinner, to celebrate a wedding, or to signal an emergency on a ship. Some cancer treatment centers have patients ring a bell after a final treatment; some restaurants have a bell mounted by the door for customers to ring for good service; some colleges have their graduates ring a bell after receiving their diploma. Most importantly, churches have rung bells from steeples calling the faithful to worship.

Some leaders have instituted bell ringing in the office for meeting goals, celebrating accomplishments, and amplifying core values. Bell ringing is an effective way to keep the workplace positive and raise the overall morale of the staff. When the bell is rung, something good has just happened. Schools need to ring bells, too.

The School Bell

When one thinks of a "school bell," the one room school house on Little House on the Prairie is what usually comes to mind. When the bell was rung by the teacher, kids from all over Walnut Grove came running to school -- what a positive image! Today, schools still use bells to start/end the school day and to start/end class. Those are not the bells that I am talking about.

Every educator should "ring a bell" every single day to celebrate an accomplishment or one good thing that happened that day. Focusing on the positive will help to keep the school ethos positive for staff and students alike. Unfortunately, the opposite is often the case ...

Because we have a deficit mindset in education, teachers and administrators tend to focus on the negative. We want to help the one student who failed the test, correct the one lesson that flopped, or work with the one student who made a poor choice. It is so easy to leave school with the challenging activity from the day on our mind, and because we care deeply about our students, that stays with us, even causing us to lose sleep. While it is vital to help every student flourish, focusing on the negatives of the day can have a deleterious effect on individual teachers and staff morale as a whole.  

Positive Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) is an internal feeling that you can accomplish the next challenge. Positive self-efficacy is built when we focus on small accomplishments and positive actions in the past; this leads to the confidence that we can take greater risks and return the next day with a positive attitude to take on whatever challenges we will face. The opposite is also true, repeated failures and struggles lead to negative self-efficacy, which can turn into a cycle of defeat, resulting in a student (or a teacher) giving up.

We know about the power of positive self-efficacy from educational psychology about student learning, but we often forget how powerful that is for us, as educators, too. It is essential for teachers to take one minute at the end of each day to celebrate "one good thing" that happened that day, and then focus on that as they head home. Pause before rushing out the door; remember the "I got this" look of a student, an impactful moment in a lesson, or a student who said "thank you" before leaving the class. Remember that positive event and end the day with that. 

You Need a Bell

If you have a bell in your classroom or office (I gave all my staff a bell to remind them of this), ring that bell before leaving for the day. This is an auditory reminder that you are making a positive impact in the lives of your students. It will make a difference, and you will show up the next day ready to take on whatever challenge arises.

Use it to Worship

Let me briefly return to one of the reasons for bell ringing listed above. For Christian educators, bells should be used to call us to worship. When you ring that bell at the end of the day, praise God for the work He is doing in you and through you; it will turn into a doxology of sorts as you leave school each day.  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow ... and Ring that bell!