How's school going?

That's my new least favorite question! "How's school going?" I usually reply with a generic "good", soon followed by an "I think." Then the person who has asked me the question gets a really funny look on their face....

What's so bad about asking how school is going? Maybe it's that I'm the teacher instead of the student.

When you're the teacher at a Christian school how do you evaluate success? Is it that each of your students is getting a lot of academic work done? Is it when there have been no tears in the classroom? Is it when the day, or week, goes smoothly in the classroom? Is it when you see that the class is bonding and showing better relational skills? Is it when all the girls have memorized the verses for the week?

Putting life into the grand perspective, it's seeing the girls grow in the relationship with and love for God the most important thing that can be accomplished. But is that measured by their ability to memorize Scripture? How much can you tell they have grown in one month?

Looking at it from a pragmatic perspective, my job is to see that the girls learn and achieve academically. Do you measure that by how much work they've gotten done? Or the grades they have received so far? Or do you look for "equal" success across subjects?

What about character? What if someone is getting work done but must be pushed? Or they have done their work with a bad attitude? Can you still give a positive report and say it is going well?

As you can see, the simple question of "How's school?" has now become complicated for me. If you care to ask let me know if you want the long answer or short... Some weeks you may want to be prepared to have a long time.... :)