I’ve been sitting on this for awhile, and the Jesus inspired superbowl commercial gave me a push to share an observation I’ve only divulged to a few friends who understand my way of thinking. If Jesus was actually a carpenter, and I’ve never heard anyone dispute it, his education was competency based.
““Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.” ”
Carpentry, and other similar trades, are taught by learning small skills that when mastered become more complex skills until finally someone is good enough to create a piece of furniture with very little, if any, assistance from their teacher. There are no standardized tests, no multiple choice assessments, and no true false questions that can determine if a carpenter is proficient in their craft. The evidence is in the end table, or whatever kind of table Jesus might have built.
I was cautious about sharing this observation because I was raised in an ultra conservative religion, and I don’t want to alienate folks who think I might be taking the lord’s name in vain.
By the way, I think that as a society we’ve taken that phrase too literally. As a child, I would be embarrassed if I accidentally said, “Oh my God,” in front of some folks, folks that would just as easily use God or Jesus to justify all manner of atrocities, like war.
I mean no disrespect, I’m merely making an observation and maybe some conjecture.
I suspect Jesus would himself be an advocate of competency based learning. He would recognize that the gifts of young people were being suppressed as they memorized for tests and completed assignments that didn’t mean anything to them or their lives. He would be upset that so much money was being siphoned to organizations like the College Board who created this arbitrary system of assessment, rather than investing in youth. And although he might have some qualms about the way Competency Based Education is being implemented, he’d certainly prefer it over the type of education we’ve instituted over the last few hundred years.
Jesus would also be a fan of Social Emotional Learning. In fact, he’s one of the most famous SEL practitioners as evidenced through his parables and teaching which are still taught every Sunday around the globe. Which is why I find it so interesting that so many who identify as Christian rail against this type of learning in our schools.
I left the church when I was 15, much to my parent’s disappointment. I don’t know what I think about Jesus being the son of God, or if there even is a god. But I do know that the Biblical Jesus, the carpenter, the social justice warrior, the teacher, would have advocated for learning by doing, conversation and reflecting, and I imagine, just as he tipped the tables over in the temple, he might have ripped up a state assessment or two.