Not many of you should presume to be teachers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. - James 2:26
It so happens that Advent comes along just as we start to teach about Christianity in the typical high school world history class. So just as the holiday commercials (like the too-early skunk in February) really get going, we history teachers must navigate between the First Amendment and evangelism in a quest to give Jesus a fair shake in the Pageant of History. This is further complicated by the diversity of the audience, some of whom can quote scripture, while others don’t even know what scripture is. No doubt this year, as in every year, I’ll be left with an aftertaste of skunk on my rocky road ice cream.
Which brings me to the parable of the skunk. Just this evening we Edgars attended a concert, and happened to be seated by a sizeable group of middle school students. They talked during the music. Quite a bit. So at halftime (also known as intermission) I couldn’t restrain the inner teacher, and addressed the group.
"What’s your favorite food?", I asked. "Ice cream!" a young man volunteered. "What flavor?" "Rocky road!" "Awesome! Now, what’s a really awful flavor?" "Skunk!" "Ewww, that’s pretty awful. Now how would you like a drop of skunk on your rocky road?"
Once the chorus of yucks and ewwws died down, I mentioned that the music to me was like rocky road ice cream to them, and when they talked, it was like a taste of skunk on my favorite food. This little lesson worked like a charm for at least the first song after intermission, but that’s not the point.
The point is; nobody (that I know of) likes her or his ice cream to taste like skunk. So this year I will worry less about how much time I give Jesus’ story and his message, and pay more attention to how I treat students because of Jesus’ message. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it is that kids can surely smell a skunk.
Bob Edgar
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