[Note: If your head is in the sand and don’t know what is going on in the economy and the government right now, go to your favorite news website. It will be on the front page. I promise. Read up.]
On Sunday morning during Sunday school, I asked my high school students, some of whom are seniors taking Government, if they had heard anything about the $700 billion dollar bailout plan currently in the news. A few of them had heard something about it. I asked if any of them had talked about it in school, and they said no, which was understandable since the Treasury didn’t get their plan to Congress until Friday.
So, I told them that they needed to ask about it in an appropriate class this week at school. Wednesday night I asked again if they had talked about it at school, and the answer was no. One girl who asked her teacher about the plan said that her teacher said, “Yeah, I’ve heard about it,” and that was it.
My seniors who were taking Government still hadn’t talked about it. They were busy talking about John Adams or something. Riveting.
Does this bother anyone else? Regardless of the actual peril that our economy may or may not be in if Congress does not act, Congress is acting in ways that I have never seen. And Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sent a proposed bill to congress that included some crazy propositions:
(a) Authority to Purchase.–The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States…
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
If I was a government, economics, or history teacher I would have had printouts of the bill submitted by the Treasury (you can read the text of the bill here, it’s only two and a half pages long) on the desks of my students on Monday morning. In economics, we would talk about free markets, investments, supply and demand, regulation, and such. In government, we would compare the powers requested by the Secretary and the proposed involvement of the government in the financial markets to the powers enumerated in the Constitution. In history, we would compare our current situation to the Great Depression, which has been thrown around a lot in the news but is probably very overblown.
What should youth ministry’s role be in situations like this? When significant things are happening in our society and aren’t being covered by the schools, should we step in? Why aren’t schools addressing this?
Some of our students will be voting in the election on November 4th, but they don’t even know about what is happening in our economy. Do we in youth ministry have a role in this?
Matt. I would say that as a program, this may fall outside of your “youth ministry” realm. But as people who are training a generation of Christians. It ought to be a part of what we’re doing.
I would suggest, after dismissing your next high school gathering, asking your senior (or any who can vote) to stay afterwards and simply start a discussion. Or i would organize an event where you and the students could discuss things.
When i was a senior in high school i voted for George W Bush based on the idea that he would rid the world of abortion and turn the USA into a Christian nation (the republican party did an amazing job at telling me what i should think). I was incredibly uneducated about the election and I think it is a shame when christian students get roped in by one party because the party markets themselves well. We ought to be teaching students how to be critical and supportive of our government in informed ways.
That’s a tough question. I would say yes and no. Yes in that you can look at the moral implications of what led us to this crisis. The Bible has a lot to say on money. We can tackle the issue of creed.
Regarding your students responsibility in voting – you can discuss what is a Christian’s responsibility as a Citizen. I’m currently reading God & Government by Charles Colson and it has been very interesting and could give you some discussion material.
With no – I don’t think you want to get into civics, branches of government, etc. I don’t see that as our role. We want to help student grow in Christ-likeness and with the limited time we have, I’m not sure that should be a priority.
Also want to avoid any partisan rhetoric or endorsements as well. I have my personal opinion on such things – anyone who reads my blog can know what it is, but I never, ever bring it up at church.
😀 come on matt, politics… you should remember from your SB background you leave that stuff at the door unless its pulpit time and you want to convince someone your candidate is better than theirs
i think, honestly, that in the world of holistic ministry it something that should be taught on. our goal is not to indoctrinate or form the opinion for students but give them tools to shape and be opinionated with the best possible resources.
a few weeks ago we did a great debate with adults and students (pissed off a lot of people but it went great) where we debated some of the issues going on. it was very interesting to see how students view and perceive politics…and like wise how adults do as well.
students need some times like this when their thoughts are challenged…and not just thoughts on who Christ their King is… i don’t believe it is our place to give them skewed facts like Fox…hehehe or CNN that would lean them in one particular area or another.
i asked some students about the whole bail out and they all said give the money to the people….not a bad idea…. but wouldn’t help the economy long term like this plan… could
anyways…all that to say yes talk about it with them
This is difficult to cover in school because of all the standards that teachers already have to cover, although I do believe it something that teachers could spend briefly explaining in class.