The Question of the Day

In addition to my responsibilities as the Headmaster of my school every afternoon I teach a high school Omnibus class. I like to begin my class with a “question of the day.” What is this? In simple terms, the students are able to ask me basically any question on any topic. The only limits are: if it is inappropriate for a classroom I will change the question or refuse to answer it, if it is a personal question I will answer it quickly because I find talking about myself tiresome and boring, if it is a “google” or reference question I will have them look it up themselves, and if it is an incomplete question I will help them rephrase the question so as to give it more depth and meaning.

Why do this?

There are a number of benefits to doing something like this. First, it creates rapport with students. It is a nice, easy way to have a “soft start” to a class while still doing something of value.

Second, it shows students that questions in general, and their questions in particular, have answers. I would hate for my students to graduate without having had a chance to explore questions that matter to them. Moreover, so many young people walk away from the faith because they wrongly believe that there are no good answers to their questions. If school is not a place to discover truths that students are interested in knowing, then what is it for? 

Likewise, the question of the day affirms the fact that the purpose of inquiry is knowledge—we don’t ask questions just to sound clever or to impress, but because we want answers (and hopefully) because we want to change our lives on the basis of the truths we discover.

Finally, the question of the day is often a way to tie our class material in with the interests and concerns of my students. Let me clarify one thing before I go on: I am skeptical of everything with even a hint of “child-centered learning.” I believe that I, as a mature adult and as a caretaker of an ancient and venerable tradition, am in a far superior place to decide what is worth learning than my students. I believe that student-centered learning leads to shallow exploration and at best a fragmented understanding of facts and events. I believe that truth is worth pursuing and knowing for its own sake and not for any secondary benefit or “relevancy” it may have. That being said, when there is a connection between classroom material and things of interest to the students, that is to say, when something is indeed “relevant,” it is prudent of the teacher to explore that connection. After all, showing this connection will spark interest, which will make the material more memorable and hopefully encourage the students to continue to investigate it on their own. Let me provide an example of this worked out recently.

Last week our class was wrapping up Suetonius’s Twelve Caesars. One of the students began class by asking my opinion on “unschooling.” Instead of immediately giving my judgment, I asked the class what unschooling assumed about human nature. I helped them to reach the conclusion that it assumed that children are naturally good and will thereby want to learn, that there is nothing inherently essential to conserve and pass down to future generations and therefore children can direct their own education, and that education should be fun. We then looked at these three assumptions from a Biblical point of view. We declared that the Bible clearly states that children are not good, it teaches that some things are of infinite worth and absolutely must be passed down to children, and it assumes, given our sinful nature, that we require discipline to become mature men and women of God. All three of these assumptions run counter to and undermine the assumptions of unschooling. After this we tied the question to our reading. We considered how men like Caligula, Nero, and Domitian acted when they were left free to follow their own impulses.

I asked my students, if they would want to set up an educational system that puts a child’s desires and impulses at the very center. Knowing what the Bible teaches and learning the lessons of history they responded with a resounding NO! 

Not every question goes that well, but showing my students that their questions have answers and that we can often know those answers, while at the same time connecting our readings to the Bible and the world around us, is very rewarding and encourages me to continue with the question of the day.