Your story reminds me of the importance a teacher’s influence can
have on the student’s experience. I have encountered courses in both of
my graduate programs where the material was interesting yet the teacher
nearly ruined the experience for me. I recall one course where my
motivation level dropped significantly due to a poor-quality professor and I
had to muster up everything in me to continue learning a critical topic for
my degree and professional plans.
In the case of my negative teacher illustration, the primary positive
outcome was the decision for me to quit the program. My previous PhD
program was at a supposed “Christian” university, but I longed for a true
biblical integration which I found at Liberty! It also helped me solidify
more of a learning orientation, driven by developing my skills and
understanding the course content well, rather than a performance
orientation, driven by grades and winning favor with my professors
(Bernstein et al., 2020). I fully believe this mindset shift was facilitated in
part by this poor teacher/university experience in that the excessive
busywork was a tipping point, causing me to take a step back and reflect
on what I really wanted. It allowed me to recognize my goal in a graduate
program was to become a master researcher and practitioner in my field. I
knew I wanted to carry my skills into both business and ministry and
needed a change to accomplish this.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16 that we are to commit our work to
the Lord (v. 3), the Lord makes everything for its own purpose (v. 4), and
although we plan our paths, it is God who directs our steps (v. 9; New
American Standard Bible, 2020). Therefore, I know nothing of my time in a
less than ideal experience is wasted, and He directs my steps toward
becoming the best possible teacher.
References
Bernstein, D.S., Frantz, S, & Chew, S. (2020).Teaching psychology: A step
by step guide(3rded.). Routledge.
New American Standard Bible(2020).
BibleGateway.https://www.biblegateway.com/ (Links to an external site.) .
(Original work published 1971).
