Walter Bradley,
Mechanical Engineering,
Baylor University

[Feb 6, 2011] —

What do students learn from our silence?

In my seven years of taking undergraduate and graduate courses, none of my professors were willing to identify themselves as Christians. Conversely, there certainly was no shortage of professors willing to ridicule Christianity.

This absence of a Christian presence in the university began to rock my own spiritual foundation in a very significant way. I began to wonder if there was something fundamentally incompatible between education to the level of a Ph.D. and my Christian faith. Thankfully, God preserved me from what could have been spiritual disaster.

My Intention

When I became a professor, I thought it would be fantastic to be for my students what no professor had been for me. That was my intention, and it has been part of my opening day routine at public universities, where I taught for more than 30 years, as well as more recently here at Baylor. But I must tell you that I wasn’t always so willing to say anything about my personal faith.

The first semester that I attempted to do so, I went to that first day of class ready to include it. But I was afraid. I wondered whether there was a reason there were no professors in the academy who were open about their faith – they had all been fired. (That wasn’t true, but I didn’t know it at the time.)

That night when I went home I told my wife Anne that I had been silent. She encouraged me not to give up. The second class period I again intended to say something about my faith. But I was still afraid. This went on all semester.

Finally during the very last class period I let my students know that I was in fact a Christian. But it was too late for them to stop by my office and talk about it if they wished – at that point they just wanted to take the final exam and go home.

First Impressions

At least I had said something about my faith. It was a beginning – a baby step. I learned from this. Now one of the most important goals for my first day of class is to connect personally with my students. Our first impressions are among the most lasting ones, (see Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink) so I have become very intentional in my actions.

After explaining the course objectives and reviewing the syllabus, I make sure to:
• introduce my family with photos of us playing tennis and snow skiing;
• talk about flying a Cessna 172 that I rent as a private pilot;
• say that my Christian faith is the foundation on which everything else I do is built;
• take pictures of the students in groups of four.

Using these pictures with their names on them, I can usually learn all the students’ names by the end of the third week. It facilitates classroom discussions when I can call on each student by name.

Anne and I saw our first two years in academia as an experiment to see if God in fact wanted us to make this a career. Now over 40 years later I can say it has been a great journey for us. If I had tried to lead an exemplary life on campus, but said nothing about Christ, I might get the glory. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to glorify God by identifying myself as a follower of Jesus Christ. Even if it took me awhile to learn.

© 2011 Walter Bradley