There is a single question every teacher will eventually hear, and every student will be tempted to ask: Why do we have to learn this? Sometimes the question is framed a little differently—like, when am I ever going to use this in real life?—but what might be the oldest question in education is in one of its various forms just begging to be asked.
The motivation behind the question is often something like “this subject or text is boring or too hard to learn and I don’t see its relevance in my life and I wish I could expend my mental energy doing something I like.” Perhaps the student couldn’t articulate his thoughts this clearly but the struggle is in this ballpark.
What the student needs is real motivation and real motivation comes from genuine understanding. The student needs to understand the purpose for education. What is education for?
This is a question that Classical Christian Educators have done a better job at answering in recent decades than most of their public-education counterparts; but even the answer “so you can be a better human being,” while it is a better answer than, “so you can have a good job,” might still have a hollow ring to it.
I want to suggest we take it a step further and provide an answer that is more in line with our Christian confession: the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
In his book, Study Smart, John Seel encourages students to memorize what he calls the “Student’s Calling.” I’ve revised it slightly but following is a gem worthy of sharing with students who want to know why they have to learn whatever it is they are at the moment, unmotivated to learn.
“We study in order to understand God’s good creation and the ways in which sin has distorted it so that, in Christ’s power, we may bring [the gospel to bear on]((The original said “healing to” where I have substituted “the gospel to bear on”)) persons and the created order and, as God’s image-bearers, exercise responsible authority in our tasks of cultivating the creation to the end that all people and all things may joyfully acknowledge and serve their Creator and true King.”
