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Showing posts from May, 2006

Final Exams and the Spiritual Analogue

I'm watching my students take final exams, and I am left wondering. Their greatest immediate concerns are their grades on this exam and this class. As a teacher, I want to make them understand the importance of being ready. This semester should have been one of preparation. This week should not have been one of cramming. Where is the joy in learning? This test should mark the end of a great semester of learning! Instead, I see misery and terror. Students hold the tests and are apoplectic. Several students will leave and be faced with failing grades in my class or other classes. I want to make something clear. I am their teacher. I love my students and would very much like for them to succeed. Where is their passion? I am sure that many parallels can be drawn between this situation and people's spiritual lives. Since most of them are obvious, I will end with two quotes: "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the reward