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Preparing for the Hill of the Development Process#

This point will probably strike you as strange. Typically we hear that we are to teach children that they are to respect their elders, which is true. And the idea of questioning authority in primary school should not be considered. Primary school students should learn to ask good questions, but not to question authority. However, at the secondary level students will question authority, and without guidance in the questioning process they will become rebellious. They are moving into adulthood. In fact, the idea of a teenager is a modern concept of the West that is harmful to healthy development, but that is a topic for another paper. Let's continue with understanding why we should help secondary school students to question authority.

Studies and discussion on an individual's development focus on the first 15 or so years of a person's life because so much physical change happens during that time. Understanding these first 15 years help us to serve the person with learning at that stage of life. The steep incline (hill) shown in the color teal in the below graph shows us these first 15 years.

The development cycle does not stop in the teenage years. Physically the incline of the hill after the teenage years is very gradual but it continues. The choices we make, shown in red on the graph, and the impact they have on us becomes very steep in our teen years. And it is even more important than the early development stage. Perry's Educational Model shows a shift of the teacher (and parent) from a role of "Authority as the source of 'Truth'" to a resource with specific expertise to share.[Perry] During the ages of 14 or 15 to 30 or 35 the person is making choices and developing their own faith structure. These years are absolutely critical. Keep in mind that everyone has faith. The problem is that most people have no idea where their faith is placed.

It behooves us to prepare our children to have a concrete plan on how they will climb this steep choice hill so that they can make their own choices and not be swept away by the current (as in river or flow) of the day.

To do this, we need to encourage our children to ask questions, even to question authority, even to question us. Yes, we want them to be that strong that they question everyone including Jesus Christ. (By the way, this is our "ace in the hole". Jesus promised that if we seek, we will find Him. The best thing you can do is to get students to honestly ask questions of Jesus Himself. He will answer them.) This is particularly important if your child is going on to university where their professors will assume the role of authority and if your child does not know how to challenge them and ask solid questions, they will be confused and controlled.

Not only should we encourage our children to ask questions, but we need to teach them how to ask questions and how to evaluate the answers they are given. Finding Truth by Nancy Pearcey is a good example of asking questions and discerning. However, this book is hard to get and some people find it difficult to understand. Please pray with us that TEN3 could develop material that could help secondary and tertiary teachers in this area.

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For more info see AJP