What if our first session with our students were to ask them where they are? To listen first, and then design programing that responds to each particular student’s situation?

--Rev. Fr. Mark Lane, CO, Director of Campus Ministry, Regis High School (NYC)

Read below for Mark's elaboration on this question.

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This is a special "What if..." week at Ed:Future. Instead of the usual Tuesday & Thursday posts, with "What if..." reserved only for Wednesday, this week we are doing three straight days of "What if's." These are not suggestions as much as provocations.

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A "What if..." from Fr. Mark Lane, Director of Campus Ministry, Regis High School (NYC)

What if we really made the student the center of learning and of our teaching?

What if each adult involved in student formation were to devote the first meeting with students to listening? To learn where students are and what they might need in order to flourish?

What if we marshalled our skills to fit their needs, rather than fitting them into our programming?

The root of the word “arrogance” is the Latin “rogare” meaning “to ask.” To be arrogant is to ask or claim for oneself (alone). What if we tried a less arrogant approach to education and formation, one that was focused on the good of the other?

What if our first session with our students were to ask them where they are? To listen first, and then design programing that responds to each particular student’s situation?