A Few Weeks In

Lately, I have been struggling to rejuvenate the skills necessary to be a good manager of time and a proactive student. These first few weeks of school have been a relearning time for me. After a few years out of academia, I have had to shake off my high school, and often undergraduate, mentality that the assignment is the ultimate point of class. In other words, this time around has been more than just picking up a book and reading it for how I'm "supposed"to read it. This does not mean, of course, that such skills aren't necessary. While the exercises in class have a purpose, the goal is not to create something that just pleases the teacher. It's a nice perk, but there has to be something in the work that I can make my own. Something in the exercise reveals, and often changes, who I am in relation to the world.
This awareness goes back to the idea we had in class about the lifelong education. Instead of using the reflective writings as a way to pad our journal, they have been incorporated into dialogue between students in peer groups. Keeping a journal has helped me document my thoughts and reflect on them as I develop my opinions. So, when my wife and I talk about the topics raised at school, we are not regurgitating facts. Our experiences both within the classroom and without continue to add to our growth as a family.
How does school work and the social atmosphere that MC provides add to your growth? I can't answer this for you. However, it seems through many of the drafts that I've received that you are all wrestling with this issue of a Christian education in a proactive way. Many have built off the prewriting exercises that seemed just busy work, and many are asking questions that are at a more personal level than academia usually requires.