Interesting kid

[Lutheranteach]

I’m reading through some brief personal essays and questions I gave my 8th graders. I can already see I am going to have an interesting year with one young man who has declared in his work that this summer he has become an atheist and how he plans to write every essay assigned on that topic when possible. In reading what he’s written he is very thoughtful and very, very good…not good for 8th grade…just good —*a very powerful writer and it’s pretty clear it’s not just a young man looking for attention. This is someone who has given this some very serious thought. My concern is whether he plans to keep his thoughts self contained or if he plans on trying to spread his message as it were.

 

[PatrickSebast]

I have only been on this forum for a month, but I have got to say that in my time here I have noticed that you seem to have a certain talent for writing posts and wording topics in ways that are bound to get some of the posters here roused up. I mean when ever I post I feel like there is some subscribed unspoken rule of etiquette I should submit to if I want my post to be well received and move towards positive discussion and I feel like at least 20% of the things I have read from you, if not more, stomp all over that unspoken etiquette in almost gleeful manner. It is almost like watching a social experiment except that in this case I am in with the rest of the lab rats.

Anyway, I am interested to see what you mean by good, versus good for an 8th grader. How permissible do you think it would be for you to post a small excerpt?

 

[Lutheranteach]

I actually am not trying to make anyone feel like a lab rat…but am looking for thoughts, advice, comments, suggestions. I think I go out of my way to be polite. I don’t however shy away from playing the devil’s advocate or trying to make people see other sides of issues, etc.

A few answers to questions posed to young man I talked about:

**Do you like to write? Do you think you are a good writer? **
I’ve been told I am, but I’m not even sure what that means. I’m just a soon to be 13-year-old dude with a pencil, some paper, and — I hope — a some level of intellect. If there is any strength in what I do it’s that I mean it. I’ve never written anything just for a grade or just because I had to. And, I don’t write papers I think are what teachers want to read or what other people want to hear. If that makes them mad. Sorry, but if I think I’m saying something important I’d rather be heard, or read, than liked.

**How do you go about writing? **
How I write isn’t a mystery. It’s really just me popping off: Here’s where I went. Here’s what I saw, and here’s how I feel about it. I’m just lucky enough to have seen a little more than some, and I’ve taken the time to know how I feel about it.

How do you feel about having your work read and critiqued in class?
Hemingway said critics are people who watch battles from the safety of mountain tops and then come down and shoot the survivors. I think that’s true about*people who say “I don’t like it. It sucks.” I had some of that last year. It’s a waste. People who come in and say: “Did you think about doing it this way…” — that I like. I get seriously amped when I’m working with someone who I think is really making my stuff better or making me spin it and see it new again.

— a young man I suspect is going to be both blessed and cursed with his own self awareness this year.

 

[PatrickSebast]

I don’t have any problem with how you post, you just go outside the norm is all and it seems to be the type of thing that helps get some on this board a little riled up at times when coupled with the whole Lutheran and Devils Advocate thing. I think it is that your posts tend to encourage individual thought while the general attitude here, and behind the Church in regards to moral issues is more of a hive mind thing. Not to say that I, or any Catholic here is incapable or doesn’t exercise free thought. I think the best way I could word it is that the general poster here attempts to express humility as a primary quality, while your methods seem a bit more open and provocative. Probably part of being a teacher honestly.

As an example I think the average poster here simply would have asked what others thought the proper measures to take in this situation were while you left your initial post open to any form of discussion. The reason I say this breaks unspoken etiquette is that many people see a lack of a qualifying statement on such an issue as being almost supportive of the kids beliefs.

Anyway as far as suggestions go, I would say the key thing is to challenge him at an intellectual level rather than a theological one. I am only 10 years departed from that age and I know that in my experience with atheists at that age most of them are not going to have any interest in hearing any religious arguments, especially from those in authority over them since they tend think that it is all a giant fairy tale and any advocacy for religion comes from fools. So challenge him to actually think about his beliefs, if he focuses solely on trying to discredit Christianity ask why he associates his disbelief in Christianity with a disbelief in all Theism. If he makes in accurate statements about history or doctrine call him out on being ineffective at defending his viewpoints so he is more careful to explore the real facts of the matter. If you are knowledgeable in science as well then make sure he doesn’t write anything vague or untrue about science to support himself. At that age I think one of the most important lessons any kid can learn is that there is still a lot that they don’t know.