Student at classical Christian schools are already on their life journey. The temptation is to think that life only begins once the student goes off to college or enters their career. A student in sixth grade feels like college is so far off that it’s not even worth talking about college. While it is true to say that a student is on the college journey, in reality this sells short what is truly going on for all of our students. Really they are on a life’s journey. The college journey is actually just a small component of the life’s journey. It just happens to be a rather momentous point on that journey. Not only is it a rather expensive point on that journey, it’s often the point when the student leaves home, where the student goes out into the world for the first time.
Making the decision about where to go to college and what to study in college has a lot of weight during the high school years. There can be a lot of anxiety and fear surrounding college choice. Students feel like if they don’t make the absolutely right decisions, they could not only ruin their chances to get into their top college, they could ruin their life. The aim of this article is to remove some of the fears surrounding college choice and redirect the energy given to the college decision process towards some meaningful projects that students can work on that will provide direction and understanding, not just about colleges, but about themselves.
What is Vocation?
So what exactly do we mean by vocation? The Latin word voco means “I call,” and from this we can say that a vocation is a calling. What one does in one’s life has this sense that God is calling someone to something. It is a pursuit that calls us forward. In the Bible, we often see moments where God specifically calls people to something, calling them to an office of kingship or prophecy. But we all can have that sense of life direction, a sense of where we’re going and what we ought to be doing with our lives. For students in high school, this can feel like a very remote experience. What does it look like to be a grown up and to have a job, to have a family, to have a sense of what to do with this life that God has given. All of this feels so far off on the horizon. How could a high school student possibly know what their calling is?
However, in my many years of working with middle and high school student, I have observed how deeply spiritual these students can be. Thus, I think it entirely possible for students to have a sense of life mission or calling. We who are guiding these young people need to shift our questions from, “What college do you want to go to?” or “What would you like to do when you grow up?” to different questions such as “How are you going to show up in the world?” and “Why has God put you on the planet?” This shift in question moves us away from occupation to vocation. It begins to address the matter of what kind of person are you becoming instead of asking what kind of job will you have. It enables the student to cast a vision for what life will be like – the kind of person will they marry, what kind of parent or grandparent would they want to be, what will people remember them for when they attend their funeral. These are really weighty questions and point to the ways in which a single life will touch hundreds, thousands, millions of other people. So we need to help students thinking ahead in different ways than has been the case in conventional college guidance. While GPA and test scores still factor in when it comes to the college journey, the questions that will best help students solidify their sense of personhood are the ones we should place before them at this critical juncture in their lives.
A Biography of an Interesting Person
The best way for students to prepare themselves for this life calling or life mission is by cultivating the right mix of passion and discipline. While I have read numerous stories of college-bound applicants who have this kind of mix, I want to spell out what this looks like with a figure in a more remote past. What we will see is a person who didn’t have it all together at first, but pursued little passions that enabled him to develop key disciplines that eventually led to a big passion.
Scottish missionary Alexander Mackay (1849-1890) grew up just outside of Aberdeen. His father was a minister in the Free Church of Scotland and a farmer in the Aberdeenshire countryside. Alexander, therefore, grew up on a farm, and what he did on that farm was tinker with all the machinery on the farm. He learned how things worked. He took things apart and put them back together. In addition, he went into town on a frequent basis and the shops in town. He worked with the shop owners to figure out how to do different things with equipment, whether it was the printer shop or the carding mill. As this young kid tinkered with things, he had the opportunity to develop a lot of little passions. At this point in his life, he didn’t have a grand vision of becoming a missionary. In fact, his father worried about Alexander’s pursuits of worldly knowledge. These little passions, however, meant that Alexander developed a set of disciplines surrounding how to work on mechanical objects.
At 18, Alexander went to the University of Edinburgh and studied engineering there. The development of mechanical disciplines paved the way for him to attend a world class university. He continued to develop disciplines in mathematics and engineering. He had developed into someone very interesting in the field of engineering through this pursuit of little passions that enabled him to develop key disciplines. In fact, after graduating from Edinburgh he was recruited by a company in Germany to help them design steam engines for farm equipment. His work there earned him recognition for the development of innovative technology. Alexander went from little passions to developing disciplines, becoming a really interesting figure in the world of engineering. But he wasn’t done figuring out his life’s mission.
While he was in Germany, he met with other Christians there. He had grown up as a warm hearted Christian, but he had devoted most of his time and energies to learning about math, science, and engineering. In Germany, he learned about missionaries going to Africa, and his heart was taken with this idea of connecting his skill in engineering with sharing the gospel in Africa. So at the age of 22, he made a decision to go to Africa, and he spent most of the rest of his life in Uganda and the interior of the African continent. Sharing the gospel and applying these engineering skills, he helped develop the infrastructure of the interior of Africa. There are hundreds of miles of roads that were designed and developed by Alexander Mackay. This life mission emerged well after Mackay had developed key disciplines. Growing up on the farm, he cultivated skills. He developed disciplines that made him renowned as an engineer. And then he found a big passion. The reason God had put him on this planet was to become an engineer on the mission field.
Let’s break down the principles exemplified by Alexander Mackay. He pursued little passions, which enabled him to develop key disciplines that propelled him forward. These key disciplines led to a big passion that honored his sense of God’s call upon his life. This pattern – little passions, key disciplines, big passion – is a sound alternative to the prevailing advice given to students during their formative years. A leading thinker in this area has been Cal Newport. In his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, he spells out how the passion hypothesis (“follow your passion”) is misguided. He identifies two fallacies associated with the passion hypothesis. First, most students and young adults don’t have clearly defined singular passion to follow. This can lead to frustration if a young person takes on a career that they ultimately find they don’t really like simply because they were infatuated with a singular passion. Second, young people typically don’t have much data to support any sense of passion or interest. So they jump into a major and a career hoping for happiness, but lacking any evidence to show that they will actually find happiness following a singular passion.
Here’s where the little passions followed by key disciplines advice is far better than the passion hypothesis. Young people can flit about cultivating numerous passions: music, sports, science, literature, creative writing, computer coding, cars, economics. By trying on for size several interests, they are exploring their world in a way that matches their youthful inclinations. But accompanying the little passions is the development of key disciplines. The musician learns to practice effectively and perform before others. The athlete learns how to train efficiently and handle competition. The creative writer learns the discipline of writing regularly and delivering their work to an audience. What emerges in this little passion followed by key disciplines advice is a growing sense of life mission because they are accumulating evidence of not only what they like, but also what they are effective at doing.
Finding Opportunities to Develop Disciplines
In many respects, the journey to finding a vocation has less to do with the initial spark of interest and more to do with the development of disciplines. Consider the student who becomes interested in playing piano. Her parents sign her up for piano lessons. She is developing a small passion. That small passion is a pathway to develop discipline. The piano teacher provides coaching and mentorship. The student is not only given music to learn, but also practices scales and arpeggios. In order to perform well, there are disciplines that must be well rehearsed. And it is these well-developed disciplines that stand out when cultivated over time.
It might not be piano, but instead may be photography or computer programming. The pattern of identifying little passions that lead to opportunities to develop disciplines holds true. Learning the technical aspects of competent photography is a set of disciplines that impress others enough to be hired for a job. The aspiring computer programmer must acquire enough skill at programming so that people reach out to have their website updated or download an app. The pattern worth noting is that little passions lead to opportunities to develop disciplines. Only when disciplines have been developed do individuals get the opportunity to pursue big passions.
Now, I told the story of Alexander McKay to develop the pattern – little passions, key disciplines, big passion. This pattern, though, is not a thing of the past. I have seen this carried out by students who have been guided by these principles.
Consider a young person who in high school became really passionate about architecture. She spent time making architectural sketches, from high rises to houses to cathedrals. Her passion about architecture, drawing and design led her to develop disciplines in math and science. She ended up majoring in mechanical engineering at a Christian liberal arts college. The skills she developed enabled her to excel as an engineer after graduating from college.
Other students have followed a similar pathway. One student became interested in police work. After signing up for a ride along with a police officer at the local station, this student joined an internship program through the police station. When it came time to apply to colleges, her direct involvement in police work made her application stand out as she applied to several Christian liberal arts college. Choosing a criminal justice major is not the start of her journey, but simply the next step towards her sense of mission in life. Her interest was matched with opportunities to develop disciplines even as a high schooler to confirm her sense of vocation.
Flipping the Script
When it comes to conventional college guidance, I think we’re getting it all wrong. We often think about college guidance as completing the steps to get into the best possible college. What we need to do instead is flip the script. If we enable students to understand their sense of vocation or calling – if we disciple young people to discover why it is that God has placed them on this planet – we can encourage them to think differently about college. Instead of trying to accumulate a number of activities to stack a resume in order to become as attractive as possible to colleges, a better approach is to find these little passions that will enable them to develop disciplines in a few areas that make them an interesting candidate to a number of colleges.
When they develop one or two passions into disciplines, they are able to then demonstrate to these colleges that they have the ability to go deep in a those areas. They not only can articulate a sense of calling and direction in life, but they already have a proven track record of meaningful and tangible experiences. It all comes through a dynamic of connecting these little passions and these developing disciplines into a relationship with God where students are asking God on a regular basis, where are you going to take these things?
So college guidance is actually about helping students discover a big vision of what their life might be like. Here’s the reality, though. It’s impossible to be certain about a grand life vision at such a young age. This is why little passions are the best place to begin, because they can lead to a set of disciplines that point in the direction of one’s vocation.
The “Superstar” Thesis
A figure who helps to amplify the process described here is Cal Newport, professor of computer science at Georgetown University. In 2010, Newport published the last of his student books, a series of paperbacks oriented to providing advice to high school and college students. The title How to Be a High School Superstar may sound like clickbait. However, Newport packs the book with sound advice that hints at the ideas he unpacks in later works such as “deep work,” “craftsman mindset,” and even “digital minimalism.” Newport explains how the high school rat race to get into prestigious colleges entails excessive activities that make admissions candidates unimpressive while they work themselves into burnout. The alternative – the “superstar” thesis – is to do less while pursuing accomplishments that are “hard to explain.” Let’s unpack this a little further.
Newport delineates three laws that can be put into practice by students during their high school careers. These laws can be expressed in three words: underscheduling, focus and innovation. He writes:
“As my research into the relaxed superstars progressed, I began to notice three big-picture ideas popping up again and again:
The Law of Understanding – Pack your schedule with free time. Use this time to explore.
The Law of Focus – Master one serious interest. Don’t waste time on unrelated activities.
The Law of Innovation – Pursue accomplishments that are hard to explain, not hard to do.
These were the general laws that most of the students I interviewed seemed to follow on their path from average to standout.” (Cal Newport, How to Be a High School Superstar, xix)
I think these laws map well on the pattern spelled out earlier – little passions, key disciplines, big passion. Students need time to explore to find little passions. Then they need to take on the mastery mindset like a craftsman to gain skills and disciplines. These will then lead to something bigger in the accomplishments that can be difficult to explain. Let’s spell this out further.
Advising High School Students
The first message students need to hear is that they should give themselves the gift of free time. Sit down with your students and look over their weekly schedule. Identify pockets of time that can become opportunities for broad exploration. They need time to freely explore interests that could draw them into opportunities to develop disciplines. One word of caution, though. Free time cannot get absorbed into the internet. By underscheduling the student is using free time to cultivate interests, and social media and gaming will eat up all of that ability to cultivate interests. Instead of spending time on the internet, advise students to go outside and play. Just like Alexander went outside and played with farm equipment. He took things apart. He figured out how it worked. Advise students to read books. Find books at the library or at a local bookstore. The idea is to find things that genuinely interest the student.
The second message students need to hear is that they should remain cognizant of their time. It’s too easy to become overly involved in activities that will not help them to develop disciplines. Help make the connection between a few areas of interest and the skills they can develop within those. It could be that your role is to help them find specific opportunities to connect with an outside organization that takes interns. There may be mentors or coaches that you can help the family to find. The goal is to find interesting opportunities for the student to gain skills.
The third message students need to hear is that the modern economy has opportunities for them to share their gifts with others. Help your students to discover ways to share their interests through forums both within the school and more broadly. Consider how a student who starts a blog or a podcast or a YouTube channel can own their area of interest in ways that are unique and interesting. Most of the tools available in the marketplace are available to high school entrepreneurs.
The ultimate message students need to hear is that God is at work to accomplish his purposes through his people. When we cultivate our interests and disciplines within an understanding that God created us for his good purposes, it can ignite our passions to envision a life of service to him. Already in high school, students can develop a sense of gifting and calling while exploring interests and developing disciplines. As a counselor, continue to ask the question, “What do you think God is doing through this?” or “What’s your sense of what God is drawing you to?”
Putting It All Together
The goal of college guidance should actually have nothing to do with college at all. The guidance we provide aims at a life well lived. Our work with students ought to enable them to consider their own vocation or calling. Far from being a fanciful self-reflection, students who are guided to explore exciting interests that lead them to develop deep disciplines will gain real insights into themselves and their relationships with God and others. While it might be impossible to truly know one’s calling as a high schooler, I firmly believe that students who undertake these steps will have a greater ownership of their college choices and a fuller sense of what they are interested in pursuing in their lives.
If you have enjoyed these thoughts, be on the lookout for our upcoming podcast with Tami Peterson, founder of Life Architects. She and I discuss a wide range of ideas pertaining to college guidance. Subscribe to the Educational Renaissance Podcast on Spotify to catch all the latest episodes.
Training the Prophetic Voice by Dr. Patrick Egan is a must-read for classical Christian educators seeking to build a robust rhetoric program. Grounded in biblical theology, this insightful book provides a framework for developing students’ prophetic voices – the ability to speak with wisdom, clarity, and conviction on the issues that matter most.
As an experienced educator, Dr. Egan understands the vital role rhetoric plays in shaping the next generation of Christian leaders. Through time-tested principles and practical guidance, he equips teachers to cultivate students who can articulate the truth with passion and purpose.
Whether you’re looking to revitalize your existing rhetoric curriculum or lay the foundation for a new program, Training the Prophetic Voice is an invaluable resource. Discover how to empower your students to become effective communicators, courageous truth-tellers, and agents of transformation in their communities and beyond.
Order your copy of Training the Prophetic Voice today and unlock the power of your students’ voice in your classroom.