If you pay any attention to my list of recommended articles to the right, you may have noticed that one of these things is not like the others. Today, I read an interesting article on “Raising Smart Kids” from Scientific American. I’m not real sure why I read it. At 21, 17 and nearly 16, my kids are fairly well “shaped. I’ve probably done all the good or ill I can do in raising them—at least in terms of how “smart” they are. But I was curious—and I will be a grandmother some day and it is always helpful to have lots of “Wise” advice to force upon my children ;-D However, as I read the article, I realized that it has something to say to us about how we raise disciples of Christ in the Church today
As I’ve stated in early entries, Millennials have been our most “over-watched” generation. Everything they have ever done has been documented—they have truly not only been there, but they actually do have the video and the t-shirt for just about every event in their lives. They were awarded trophies simply for showing up. We measured their intelligence at a young age and assured them that they were not only special but they were Lake Woebegone children—above average—simply because they had been born.
The main point of this article is that when we raise our children to think they are inherently smart, they fail to excel when faced with challenges. The author maintains this is not only true of academic challenges but also social, work and even family challenges. The reason is that they think that struggle or failure is a sign that they are not truly smart. As a result, they are unwilling to admit failure or respond to constructive criticism because that would be admitting that they aren’t smart enough. Or they simply give up. So the answer to raising smart kids is not to teach them that they are smart because they have a high IQ, but to teach them that they are smart when they work hard to learn and to achieve.
Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability—along with confidence in that ability—is a recipe for success. In fact, however, more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings. . . . Praising children’s innate abilities . . . reinforces this mind-set, which can also prevent young athletes or people in the workforce and even marriages from living up to their potential. On the other hand, our studies show that teaching people to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, helps make them into high achievers in school and in life. --Carol Dweck
What does this have to do with the church and reaching 20-somethings? Well, it raises a couple of questions to me: How do we talk to this generation about grace when in fact they expect it as their due? Will they really respond to a message that simply repeats “You are special—a beloved child of God”? Won’t they just hear this as an affirmation of what they have been told all their life and will it simply play into the notion that if things go wrong something is horribly amiss within them!
In “Googling God," the author says that Millenials test the truth of something by how well they can measure up to it. Well, what happens when they measure themselves up against the standard of “Be ye perfect”? So how do we talk to them about grace when they fall short of the mark? How do we teach them to enter into the honest, critical self-examination that is required of the on-going Christian life?
For me, this means a return to good old fashion Wesleyan theology. Discipleship is hard work! And while that work is a response to salvation and not the means of obtaining it, we need to teach this generation that hard work and perseverance are a vital part of our faith. We need to proclaim not only that they are saved by grace but also that they are called to a committed discipleship of Jesus Christ. If we miss this message of commitment, study, growth and service, I think we will do them a disservice!
3 comments:
Wow! Interesting observations. I believe that this message of discipleship applies to every group - not just millenials.
Actually, some cultures are so obsessed with the work of discipleship that they forget the grace. When I served the Korean church, I felt like I constantly needed to remind my youth that they were loved just as they were and that sometimes faith is just accepting that you are accepted just as you are. They "got" the hard work part, but they had a hard time accepting the grace part.
As a teacher, I see this in the classroom everyday. The idea of facing challenges and constructive criticism...they would rather not try at all. When I was growing up in another church denomination, grace was a word we didn't hear much about, but we were certainly instilled with the idea of discipleship. Somehow we need to find the happy medium.
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