The baby bird theory:
Teaching is letting others learn. Simple enough, but compare a good teacher and a bad teacher and the distinction between some definitions of “teaching” and actually letting others learn becomes pretty clear. Teaching is not allowing the baby bird inside the student to convince you that they need a preswallowed serving. Complex arguments! Critical thinking! Rah Rah Rah!
Sometimes though, we feed the baby bird because we’re afraid of that thing that is too conceptually difficult to swallow. Rock the boat, and the entire nest falls over. Learn to fly slowly. Cliché, Cliché.
My baby bird came to me today in a Writing Colleague meeting. A big linebacker, assigned to a seemingly random Freshman Seminar called Introduction to the New Testament. Flat out confused, but not in the typical linebacker-given-an-essay-way. My baby bird was confused as to how he could possibly reconcile his very deep Catholic faith with the lessons we were learning in the class. We had studied discrepancies in the texts of the Gospel, as if they were historical fact and that naturally leads to questions. Big ones. The big ‘ole bird, in the middle of our meeting just looked at me and said “What am I supposed to do? I’m just so confused in this class. I’m a devout Catholic, born and raised, and this class is asking me questions I just can’t answer.”
Rah… rah…. Crap. Forget spoonfeeding, I just want to give this kid a hug. Where is the line? I consider myself a medium Catholic. I know the texts, I was Confirmed, and I still like gay people. I eat shellfish, and I’m pro-choice. How can I challenge this kid to make the complex argument when that might push his faith too far? How can I present to him the things I love the most about writing, when the text we are “reading against the grain” is the doctrine of his faith? Worst of all, am I baby birding him?