Teacher to Teacher - February 2009 - (Page 4) EvEning Out ethic. A good work ethic means doing as much as you can as well as you can with the time you have. In The Ideas Book, Sharon Beder, says, “What this world needs is not more work—it needs more wisdom. To have a culture of wisdom, we need a society in which people have time to contemplate, time to think about the problems and time to talk about the solutions.” T hat title is a double entendre. It can read “evening out,” as in having, say, a special dinner somewhere. And it can also be read as “even-ing out,” as in leveling things. Both can apply to a good work ethic. The definition of “work ethic” has slipped from its original moorings. It once referred to understanding the dignity and rightful place of work in life. It meant knowing that work was good and useful and a respected part of a balanced life. With the industrial revolution and population growth, working became the means of becoming a “self-made man.” Success follows hard work, the saying goes. And that idea has morphed into the modern interpretation of work: it defines you, measures you, gives you your worth (financially and otherwise). Of course, work is good. The Bible tells us that it is (Exodus 35:2 and I Thessalonians 4:11, for example). And we know it is, just from a human understanding. To have a job to do gives a person focus and pleasure as well as useful results. The trouble comes when, buying into work for work’s sake, a person overworks himself or others for money or prestige or pride or any other misguided reason. Then work becomes central and everything else goes out of balance. Relationships suffer, health is threatened, and—ironically—quality of work declines. There is not enough time left to reflect, enjoy, relax. Working all hours creates noise in the soul, over which it is hard to hear anything else. A good work ethic, then, is a state of mind that recognizes the value and place of work, acknowledges the appropriate slice of time it should occupy in one’s life, and resists the temptation to work beyond reasonable bounds for bad reasons. Many think that lots of overtime equals a strong work ethic. But it might just as logically signify inefficiency, a sense of indispensability, or even greed. It might, indeed, signify a misunderstanding of a good work A good work ethic means doing as much as you can as well as you can with the time you have. To do our best then, is not to overwork, but rather to work well, to use our time efficiently and wisely. We need not be fooled into thinking that slogging away is noble of us. We need rather to look to evening out our work. And maybe just to an evening out. Alice Bronson is an English teacher and a freelance writer. Sign up at bjupress.com/ enews/ to receive an email announcement each time a new edition of Teacher to Teacher is available for viewing. page 4 Teacher to Teacher | February 2009 To request a 2009 Christian School Textbook Catalog from BJU Press, call 1.800.845.5731 or write to BJU Press, Greenville, SC 29614 http://www.bjupress.com/ http://www.bjupress.com/enews/ http://www.bjupress.com/enews/ http://www.bjupress.com/enews/
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Teacher to Teacher - February 2009 Teacher to Teacher - February 2009 Teacher to Teacher - February 2009 - (Page Intro) Teacher to Teacher - February 2009 - (Page 1) Teacher to Teacher - February 2009 - (Page 2) Teacher to Teacher - February 2009 - (Page 3) Teacher to Teacher - February 2009 - (Page 4)
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