By Douglas Thornton
Christian Brothers Conference is publishing occasional reflections on Lasallian spirituality, pedagogy and other topics. In the following reflection, Douglas Thornton, a teacher from De La Salle Institute in Chicago, explains what being a Lasallian educator means to him.
“If you want the instruction you give to be effective in drawing those you are obliged to teach to the practice of good, you must practice these same truths.” These words of wisdom were spoken by Saint John Baptist De La Salle to the Brothers, the ambassadors of Christ, who were given the charge of teaching the poor children assigned to them.
Each year the Brothers (teachers) came together for an eight-day retreat to reflect on the 16 “Meditations for the Time of Retreat” prepared for them by De La Salle under the leading of the Holy Spirit. The meditations were a reminder to the Brothers that the vocation that they were called to was orchestrated and divinely inspired by God. In other words, this was a work that selected the Brothers and not a work selected by the Brothers.
As a Lasallian educator I share that feeling that my teaching in a Lasallian school is the result of God preparing me and choosing me for such a vocation. Jesus in the Gospel of John (15:16) said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last.” The fruit I am bearing is a fruit deeply rooted in a tradition that holistically seeks to impact not only the mind of the student but the body and soul of the student as well.
In other words, the Lasallian tradition of education goes beyond teaching a student how to read, how to write and how to do arithmetic. Yes, these three components of learning are essential, and no student can function without them. The Lasallian approach to education, however, also seeks to grow the student cognitively, emotionally and spiritually — developing the whole student and not a fragmented division of a student’s being.
Saint John Baptist De La Salle viewed teaching not just as a career that a person decided to pursue but as a ministry designed and established by God. In his Third Meditation for the Time of Retreat he wrote, “Because you are the ambassadors and the ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do, you must act as representing Jesus Christ.” De La Salle’s approach to educating the youth had and continues to have a ministerial consciousness assigned to it.
The Brothers were constantly being reminded that they were more than just teachers to the youth assigned to them but that they were ambassadors of Christ representing Christ and the life of Christ in the presence of their students. The Lasallian approach to education required that the Brothers understood that their ability to teach, their ability to connect with the students and their ability to transform lives was not the result of any theory or practicum that they decided to implement but was the result of a providential God encouraging their thoughts and actions via a committed life of prayer.
As a Lasallian educator who is not of the Catholic faith this is what attracted me the most to the Lasallian approach to education. I view being an educator more than just being a disseminator of information or the specialist of content that schools deem important for students to learn and master. I view teaching as a ministry where it is my goal and my responsibility to not only teach content but to also teach life application skills, rooted in God, that will prepare a student to become an informed and productive citizen in our world.
I don’t teach math to students, I teach students math, which means my focus is student centered and not content centered. It means that I must concern myself as an educator with the student’s well-being before I can teach them any content related material. It means that my actions in the classroom toward my students must be Christ-centered and not self-centered allowing the student to see Jesus Christ through my words, actions and gestures.
Saint John Baptist De La Salle through his writings has taught me, as a person not of the Catholic faith, that through the providential leading of God I was chosen for the role of an educator in a Lasallian school. Because I was selected for such a vocation, it is my responsibility to teach in a manner that would be pleasing to God and beneficial to the student. I will end this reflection with the words of De La Salle: “Jesus Christ, seeing that you regard him as the one who can do everything in your work and yourself as an instrument that ought to be operated only by him, will not fail to grant you what you ask of him.”
Saint John Baptist de la Salle … Pray for us.
Our Lady of Lourdes … Pray for us.
Live Jesus in our hearts … Forever!
Douglas Thornton is a math and theology teacher at De La Salle Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He is currently participating in his first year in the Buttimer Institute of Lasallian Studies.