Carol Swain
Political Science
Vanderbilt University
[Mar 12, 2007] —
I am a devoted believer. I do not believe that you can really entirely divorce your beliefs and values from how you teach.
What we believe is likely to spill over into our teaching. Not in the sense that we force students to believe the same as us (as if we could!), but our beliefs are a part of who we are.
That is what I tell students on the first day of class. I use that initial class as an opportunity to tell students who I am. I believe that this is important as far as truth in advertising — I want students to know who they are with in the classroom.
I tell them that it does not mean that I am going to proselytize all of them, which prompts laughter. I continue, “Just some of you.” That gets them all laughing.
Having students and colleagues know who you are and where you are coming from has made teaching so much easier for me. I do not have to hide.
When people that come to me, they know who I am. They know whose office they enter. I have a Bible on my desk and I have C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and so it’s out there.
I believe that when people “accidentally” wander into my office that it’s not random. So if someone knocks on my door I am very attentive. Often I find they have a spiritual need which I will address. If there is a need other than the spiritual need, I will start with that.
A student came to see me. She was hysterical and she said, “I’m pregnant. It’s the end of the world.”
I said, “No, it’s not the end of the world. This happens every day.”
She told me that she could have chosen not to see me, that she had many options. I replied, “Yes, and whichever one you choose, you have to live with.”
She said, “I’m a believer.”
So I said, “Well you unfortunately have fewer options. Whatever decision you make, you have to live with it as a Christian.”
I gave her information about Mercy Ministries that allows young women to go in and have their babies and either put them up for adoption or make some other choices.
There is a lot of pressures on faculty members to be atheists and to deny the existence of anything and that you can not put in a regression equation and pop out an R-squared. But that is not me, and others notice it.
I find that, especially when there are crises in the lives of colleagues or their families, I do not push my faith very deeply, but I’m very quick to say, “I will pray for you.”
It is a bit like those moments on the first day of class. I believe God creates many opportunities; my role is to be ready to respond.
© 2007 Carol Swain
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