(Tim) Last week, Wheaton College's Teacher
Education Program Conceptual Framework was big news. A radio
commentator named Sandy Rios did a short
commentary on the document and it was hurting the college's
reputation enough that their provost, Stan Jones, was assigned the task
of responding.
Jones made a valiant
effort, but was doomed to failure. These ordering principles
written and adopted by Wheaton's Education Department are indefensible,
particularly for a school claiming to be under the authority of the Word
of God. There's barely a hint of that commitment in this piece of
educational propaganda.
Yet this is not just propaganda. Here we
have the document used to vet Wheaton faculty hires as well as Education
majors seeking teacher certification. The Conceptual Framework
has teeth. The last third of the document is titled "Performance
Expectations and Assessment of Candidates" and includes statements like
this:
(We have) instituted a referral process for
identifying and assisting candidates who do not exhibit appropriate
dispositions to teach. This process is described in detail in the Unit
Assessment Plan. In essence, any professor may complete a referral on
any candidate who, in the professor’s judgment, does not exhibit the
appropriate dispositions to teach. The ramifications of such a referral
include both remedial and punitive aspects.
Of
course, no one wants Wheaton's Ed. Department to pass on for
certification men and women lacking the knowledge or gifts to teach. But
read the earlier two-thirds of the document and it's apparent Wheaton
defines "appropriate dispositions" by a student's ability to silence his
biblical conscience in the context of the toxic, anti-biblical
multiculturalism pervasive throughout our public schools. The entire
document is an exercise in teaching Christians how to go along to get
along...
It's aimed at preventing Wheaton grads from giving the school a bad
name by zealous, and therefore destructive, teaching that's informed by
the Word of God, prayer, and the Coming Judgment.
The Conceptual
Framework makes it apparent that Wheaton has departed from
producing graduates committed to working and leading and teaching "for
Christ and His Kingdom." Wheaton's profs indicate no desire for their
students to apply Scripture to their students' lives or the schools they
work in. Rather, students must prove their ability and commitment to
enter the public school system "work(ing) effectively for positive
change in their schools and communities."
Does Wheaton want their
students to be teachers? No. They are to be "agents of change." This
phrase is hammered home, appearing in the Conceptual Framework
eighteen times. And what changes are the profs' seeking through their
students?
Three:
The profs declare it is their:
"mission to prepare
teachers as agents of change in the schools: (1) teaching for social
justice, (2) making informed decisions, and (3) acting responsibly.
These three central themes are the unit’s primary purposes and their
supporting research forms the philosophical basis for (our) conceptual
framework."
What "social justice" is Wheaton's Ed.
Department seeking?
The Conceptual Framework begins with a
recitation of Wheaton's history:
Jonathan Blanchard,
Wheaton College’s first president and a strident abolitionist, believed
strongly in preparing Christian young men and women to fight injustice
and improve life for those in need. Under Blanchard’s leadership,
Wheaton College was the first four-year college in Illinois to graduate
an African American and to enroll women on an equal basis with men.
Note
that statement that the school's first president was a "strident
abolitionist."
Not to get off the track, but I'm wondering whether
Wheaton's profs have ever used the word 'strident' to commend anyone?
And
moving on, I also wonder whether Blanchard's stridency in opposing
slavery is a model for the sort of change agency these profs are seeking
to inculcate in their students as they send them out into our nation's
public school districts to oppose, for instance, the slaughter of our
nation's unborn children? The starvation of our nation's feeble and
elderly? The murder of our nation's defective newborns?
What
stridency concerning what social justice issues are Wheaton's profs
turning out, and how do Jonathan Blanchard's commitments translate to
the work of Wheaton's Education Department today?
Teaching
for social justice is addressed in all of the unit’s classes to ensure
that the candidates both understand and are able to demonstrate a
respect for all [emphasis in original] individuals
regardless of any particular characteristics, belief systems, or
disabling conditions.
Then, Wheaton's grand vision
is clarified:
The issue of teaching for social justice
has generated significant discussion in recent Teacher Education
Advisory Committee meetings [TEAC is Wheaton's Ed. Dept.'s advisory
committee] as the partners discussed changes in their schools. Based on
these discussions, the unit has delineated three broad goals related to
social justice. These broad goals are further interpreted in highly
specified outcomes incorporated into each class/experience; and
measurements in the form of key assessments related to standards
promulgated by ...national specialty organizations (that) ensure that
all of the candidates are learning to teach for social justice...
The
first broad goal is to ensure that candidates learn to work
effectively with all children and their families regardless of race,
creed, religion, national origin, sexual preference, disabling
condition, or capabilities. This broad goal is measured by numerous
indicators on the field experience evaluation forms, examinations in
several classes, several papers prepared in classes common to all
certification candidates, and the candidates’ portfolios.
The
second broad goal is to ensure that diversity is respected and that
candidates have the opportunity to work in diverse environments and with
diverse colleagues and teachers. This goal is measured primarily by
evaluations of candidates in their practicum experiences and by the
unit’s capacity to meet Standards 3 and 4 of the NCATE Unit Standards.
Outcomes include cooperating teachers’ and college supervisors’
evaluations of candidate performance, cooperating districts’ diversity
indicators, and College data regarding diversity among students and
faculty.
The third broad goal is to ensure that candidates
understand current social justice issues in education and understand
their obligation to work for positive change. This goal is measured
primarily by an action research paper completed by each candidate during
the student teaching experience. This paper is also included in each
candidate’s final portfolio. [paragraphs added for ease of reading]
Wheaton
has a much-vaunted exegetical faculty pouring their lives into the
closest examination of historical documents' lexicographical nuances and
cultural contexts. It might be good for them to turn their attention
away from Scripture for a day or so, to work on a document giving a
precise explanation to Wheaton's administration, trustees, and alumni of
the real meaning of the Education Department's Conceptual Framework.
Sadly,
Wheaton graduates approved to teach in our nation's public school
districts will not bring the multicultural diversity of a Christian
conscience bound gracefully by the Word of God out of hiding, into our
public schools.
Rather, as every evil deed called an "abomination"
by God is promoted across the public school districts of our nation
today, Wheaton will send out teachers carefully honed to demonstrate
"respect" for those abominations. They may be strident, but only for
"social justice," "making informed decisions," and "acting responsibly."
Speaking seriously, Pastor Curell just added the comment that he
believes honest and faithful Christians committed to Scripture have a
better chance of making it out of our Indiana University School of
Education, intact, than Wheaton's Department of Education and its Conceptual
Framework.
I agree.
Wasn't it Chesterton who said the
anti-Christian is always a half-Christian gone mad? May God lead Wheaton
back to producing grads with the Biblical fire and
Holy Spirit zeal of Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, and Nate Saint.
