Adulting

Our education system is designed to develop people who can personally contribute to society, whether that contribution is manual labor, office work, retail, raising a family, educating others, enhancing society through the arts, running a business, and so on. It's not just to produce workers for jobs, but that each one who is able becomes capable of adding to society in a real way.

If we broke the process down to 5 basic steps, it might look like this:

1. Tools. The earliest stages of education are the acquisition of the basic tools of learning: letters, numbers, learning habits, and motor skills, for example. The goal here is to learn how to use the tools, but the tools are not usually being used for anything that contributes significantly to society or solves a social ill.
2. Exercises. Now that we have the tools, we take on exercises in order to use the tools. These are usually non-real problems - just exercises on a page. The solution for each question is already well-known, and you'll be graded by those already-known answers. In this stage, we are learning how to solve problems, but we're not faced with real ones. If we get the answer wrong, no one will lose a finger.
3. Word problems. We eventually graduate from exercises to word problems, which are real-world problems - things that could exist. But still these problems are already solved. We're not creating a new solution that will actually help someone. It is a realistic simulation, and we are preparing for that day when we'll be doing the same actions for problems not yet solved.
4. Thesis / project. This stage ventures into the territory of solving problems that have not yet been solved. No one has pre-worked this particular scenario, and our answers will be a new contribution, no matter how small. But this is a controlled environment and the risk is still pretty low. If we get the wrong answer, it's easily fixed.
5. Work. Now, we're doing what we've been building up to through the previous stages. These are new, real problems. But they also carry real consequences. Someone could lose a finger if we get these wrong. But now ... finally ... we're really contributing to the Common Good.

If we stop at Stage 1, no "work" gets done (other than learning itself).

If we stop at Stage 2, no useful work gets done.

If we stop at Stage 3, we feel accomplished, but the Common Good is still not yet served.

If we stop at Stage 4, perhaps others can learn from our labor, but we're still not directly doing "work."

Our goal is Stage 5. The other stages make little sense until we get to this stage. None of the previous stages are a destination for all who are able. (Note that good teachers are in Stage 5, not 4, but what is produced is the student, not the problems they solve.)

In today's terms, we call it adulting.

Now, make the following associations and then reread the 5 stages and the "if we stop at" statements:

1. Tools = Bible & prayer.
2. Exercises = Bible studies, Sunday school.
3. Word problems = theology, sermons, in-depth studies.
4. Thesis / project = church programs.
5. Work = walking daily as a disciplemaking follower of Jesus.

Too many Christians stop at Stage 3, and we too often settle for Stage 4. None of those stages are a destination - our goal is Stage 5.

In today's terms, we call it adulting.