Prospectus update

Well, here goes again.  I think this one may really ramble; maybe even be to weird to post to the blog. I did some reading and writing from Hicks today.  He really is a brainiac (is that a word).  His vocabulary is really up there.  I guess he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford.  I think I’m understanding all his points, because I am fairly familiar with the topic, but I sure do a lot of contextual defining.  His final point or chapter before going into particulars of a curriculum was pretty interesting to me.  He proposes that Christianity crowned the education of the ancients.  I guess you could state it this way.  Ancient education was always very concerned about what man ought to be, how he ought to act, etc. and the ancients put that into words in their heroic poetry.  They either described what they thought the Ideal man would do, be, etc. or they painted a picture of a person to avoid being like.  Throughout the centuries ancient education came up short though, because while it had noble intentions, it could only look to mankind itself to achieve its goals.  It either could not achieve the goals it had because they were men, or if they did achieve the goals they had, the men became proud or elitist and no longer fit the qualities of the Ideal man.  But when Christ came he personified the “Ideal man.” (this is because he is God in flesh–incarnate)  Christianity then seized upon this hole in ancient education and filled it with what was missing – Christ.  It reminds me of the illustration of someone stating that Christ filled the empty spot in their heart that had always been there.  To me, it’s just another illustration that all of life is missing something if God is not recognized in it.  Whether individual happiness, or cultural education, the best of men still need Christ to fill the spot that can only be filled by Him. So now I’ll begin to read about Hicks’ ideas for a curriculum that supports his ideals of normative education and the ennobling of the masses.  I also am beginning to put some more text into chapter three.  This is probably where I should focus for the bulk of my time. Chapter 2 will continue to grow, probably could grow indefinitely, even after the dissertation is finished.  But I need to get chapter 3 going so that I can get my prospectus approved.  This is the chapter where you lay out what your going to do, why your going to do it that way, who else says that is the way to do it, etc.  This chapter really needs to be convincing because this is new ground for the education dissertations being done at BJU.  They are used to statistical studies and having lots of schools in the studies.  I am proposing to study just 2 schools; I’ll need to have my ducks in a row for the question, “Why only two?”  If I can do that, it will really help, because what I foresee in work just doing two schools seems gigantic.  I can’t imagine doing it at three, four or more schools.