Sex

Sex

Sex and the Robbery that takes place in our Culture

How to write this? It’s not an easy one; realising as I write that to say what I believe to be going on, in terms of robbery, will be both counter cultural and also put the backs up of those who think themselves to be ‘scientifically superior’ to other mortals.

Let  me start by saying that what is being taught educationally, and absorbed without too much question by the general population, perhaps even unknowingly absorbed, helps us to act in such a way that we are robbed.

What am I talking about? Well educationally, there is a strong push that would have us believe that we are ‘just an animal’ and when we take that on board, it becomes ‘normal’ to act like one and therefore robbery number one takes place.  We are robbed of what should really be human sexuality and its richness, and taught to settle for something a lot less valuable, and the robbery does not end there.

Another line that we are sold educationally is that we are all just part of ‘the great machine’ and therefore all sexual acts are really just the machine in process. It makes you wonder why we should take any responsibilities for any action doesn't it.  It is just the brain firing neurons that gives us the reactions; ‘ultimately no meaning’, ‘just part of the machine’, ‘luck’, ‘the accident of nature’, ’somewhat of a bad joke’, or, as they say, just an add-on of the ‘goldilocks  theory’. Again serious robbery takes place if your sexuality is only understood like this, even if you have not thought it through, but are subconsciously acting as if this were the case.

Within our current culture it is a trend to think that sex is fun, (which it is of course), and therefore does not need to be taken seriously. It encourages the belief that ‘if I have lots of one night stands and take precautions then that should be fine’.  Robbery is taking place at this point, and the whole of sexuality has been devalued, you’re robbed.

In saying that it does not take into account all the STDs that are on the increase, and for females, there are even some that do not seem to have very clear symptoms yet could cause infertility and heartache up the road.  Yes we do know that these STDs are there, and if we look we know that they are on the increase in our society, yet are we taking this seriously? The statistics suggest that we are not! Robbed again! This is probably, because we just do not take note.

So are we on the right track? Is sex just an animalistic or mechanical function... one that does not really matter? Or are we, by acting in accordance with our cultural leanings ‘everyone is doing it’, being seriously robbed?

My thesis is this.  Sex is for marriage, and it should be fun! When it takes place outside of marriage, and in terms of the mechanical or animalistic ‘fun’ approach for a night out then all sorts of other things are taking place. Never mind the risk of STDs (according to the statistics which I quote below).  What happens is quite strange.  First of all there is the creation of what I call ‘brain DVD’s’ which have the power to impinge on future sexual relationships; often detrimentally.

Then there is the real robbery, or what I call the terrible devaluation of sexual relationships.  Sex, you see, is much, much more than a physical act.  Interestingly, Biblical scripture likens the act to the relationship that is created between Christ and the Church, and pushes it up to this high level. In another part of scripture it talks about our physical bodies being linked into Christ. Why would we then like to link that to a prostitute, male or female?

1 Corinthians 6:15
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

 I hope that what you can see is that the level of sexual relationships is being ratcheted up.   It’s not simply a physical act, it’s not simply a mechanical act, and it’s not simply an animalistic act.  Within the act is a high level mystery, it has eternal symmetry, and it has clever typology built into it. There is spirituality here that, when sex is treated lightly robbery is taking place. Is it possible is that sex has a soul element to it?

My observation is that when used correctly, lovingly and of course with imagination and fun, sex in permanent, committed relationships has the ability to draw a couple together in stronger bonds of understanding and development. It goes beyond the physical act to a soul connection which can be much more satisfying and exciting. When used wrongly, I note that what frequently happens is that this act causes division, and often hatred in those who use it that way.  Robbed!

So I am probably not being very culturally correct or even politically correct, but what do you think, is robbery taking place? Are you being robbed?  If so, there is a better protection. There is a better way of believing, there is a better value system, and there is a better way.

 ..................................................................................................................................................................

*1. Goldilocks Theory of the Universe.

The Goldilocks principle states that something must fall within certain margins, as opposed to reaching extremes. When the effects of the principle are observed, it is known as the Goldilocks effect.

The thesis is this: the Universe as we know it shows a multitude of features that makes it ideal for life. As such is  mentioned the structure of atoms and molecules; the force of gravity, which is neither too great nor too small; the quantities of vital elements like oxygen and carbon, which are found in exactly the right amounts; the ready combination of oxygen and hydrogen to make water with its unique properties, and several others. It looks, almost as if the Universe had been especially designed for life. At this point there should be an interruption to ask if that was not then the logical assumption to make. Perhaps it had indeed been designed? The reply from the clever scientists though is: “Ah, no,” “You cannot allow the idea of a Designer into your thinking, because that is unscientific. Also, it merely moves the problem of the Universe back a stage. After all, who designed the Designer?”

*2 STD statistics from Avert

. Over the past decade there has been a substantial increase in diagnoses of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the UK, particularly among young people. Since 1999 the number of annual cases of chlamydia has more than doubled. In 2008 there were 123,018 new diagnoses of chlamydia in GUM (genitourinary medicine) clinics – a record number. Chlamydia can have serious side effects, one of which is Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), which can lead to infertility in women. Chlamydia can have no symptoms and therefore many people do not come forward for testing, even though the infection can be easily diagnosed and effectively treated. Cases of gonorrhea rose steadily from 1999 the number of diagnoses of syphilis has risen substantially in the past decade in the UK. In 2008 there were 11 times the number of primary and secondary diagnoses in GUM clinics, than 1999. This rise has been attributed to a number of local outbreaks, the largest of which was in London between 2001 and 2004.¹⁰ During 2008, 7,220 people were diagnosed with HIV in the UK.¹¹ Although this represents a decline from the previous three years, the number of new diagnoses has more than doubled since 1999. Between 2005 and 2006 the largest increases in new diagnoses of genital herpes were among men aged 35-44 (15%) and 45-64 (18%) and among women aged 16-19 (16%) and 20-24 (11%).⁷ London had the highest rates of diagnoses per 100,000 population, followed by the North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber. In 2008 a record number of people (28,957) were diagnosed with genital herpes in GUM clinics in the UK.⁸ Just over 60 percent of these diagnoses were among women. Source: http://www.avert.org/std-statistics-uk.htm

Adrian Hawkes

www.adrianhawkes.blogspot.com

w. 1386

Edited by: Robyn 09/12/13

Why Christian Education - History

Why Christian Education

History

We need to remember that Education was originally not a state or secular idea but rather one that those who are followers of Jesus thought of.  The invention of the so called Sunday school (1736 to 1811) was by Robert Rakes whose statute stands in such places as Victoria Embankment in London, Gloucester Town Centre and Queens Park Toronto On. Canada.

I say so called Sunday school because this was not as we often think of it today. What Robert Rakes was really doing was seeking to educate young people to read and write and do maths, and because Sunday was the only day that children in those days did not work it was, of course, called Sunday school.

By 1831, Sunday schools in Great Britain were teaching weekly 1,250,000 children, approximately 25 per cent of the population. One need to remember that there was at this time no such thing as ‘state education’ the gradual take over by the state probably began In August 1833,  when Parliament voted to provide sums of money each year for the construction of schools for poor children, the first time the state had become involved with education in England and Wales. A meeting in Manchester in 1837, chaired by Mark Philips, led to the creation of the Lancashire Public Schools' Association. The association proposed that non-denominational schools should be funded from local taxes.

What I am saying is that education was the prerogative and the initiative of people of faith long before the state thought of universal education.  Gradually the state takes over these things but does it always do a better job?

I am glad that there is education for all but I am not convinced that it carries the value system and character development that I would want for children and hope you do too.  Interestingly Martin Luther of Reformation fame in (1483 to 1546) yes way back then said of public schools "I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth". Not much has change has it?

Raison d'être 

So why have I implemented a Christian School in North London, some 30 plus years ago, not by myself of course but with the help of so many other ‘believers’ .  Really because of the opinions of people like Martin Luther, and of course other more modern proponents, and because I know that we have, as parents, real concern that we protect our children from all sorts of thing as they grow up. Things like not letting them cross the road without holding our hand, not letting them go out on their own at too young an age, in other words we protect them, and why not?  Why not also protect what is put into their heads? Why not protect the knowledge element? Is this not sensibly for the children we care about and love? Sometimes parents say things to me like, “well our children need to know the real world; the good, the bad and the ugly, they need to know what is evil as well as what is good, they will get that in school”.  For sure they will, but I cannot help thinking about what the Bible says about such things. it says things like ‘but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil’. Romans 6:19, or what the devil said to those in the Garden which sound much the same to me as we need to understand good and evil; ‘For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ Funny ending to the story though isn’t there? Genesis 3:4 - 6.

Disappointment

At the beginning of opening a Christian School in North London, as there were very few such things in those days, at least the kind we were operating, I got invited to all sorts of places in the UK to talk about education.  Many, who came to such talks, usually put on by local church groups were people involved in education or interested enough and broad minded enough to look at another way of ‘doing’ education.  After many such events, and I did do many, I got used to the standard questions, questions like: “Are you just running a hot house?” My answer would be “well you usually keep your flowers that you want to grow well in a hot house until you know they are hardy enough to survive outside”! Or “Are you not brain washing the children”, I am careful not to say that some brains need washing, however I do think it amazing that we think that any education system does not have an agenda and is putting what ‘they think’ into children’s heads for good or evil, anyone who thinks that is not happening is so naive that its frightening.

However, on my travels the greatest disappointment came as I talked with those who would say that they were followers of Jesus and that knowing God was the most importing thing in all of life. In that, my conclusion was that for all the words about the importance of knowing God, if push came to shove and it was a choice of knowing God or going to university then the university won every time.  I do not think that is the choice as I will demonstrate just now, however to think it may be the choice is somewhat frightening when you hear what people confess about the importance of knowing God.

I supposed that disappointment is sort of tinged with the story that Jesus told as recorded in Luke 14: 16 it’s the story of the great party, probably the best party, but those who were at the top of the invitation list found good reason not to come.  One had got married, another had bought land, and still another had bought a new car, sorry yoke of oxen.  So they could not come, university was a better option, sorry again, my slip they had good reasons not to take up the offer to come to the great party and so the master said…”Then the master of the house said in wrath to his servant, Go quickly into the ^[f]great streets and the small streets of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame”.  Maybe those who are not at the top of the list can be persuaded to see the advantages, and I have to say my experience so far is that they do.  Those who do not claim to be followers of Jesus, my Muslim friends for example, seem too often be more aware of what is on offer than those who should know.

But is the university impossible to such as go to a Christian School

Well actually in the UK and lots of Europe too, know.  In fact in 2010, 9 students left our school, when I say left what I mean is that they had reached full school leaving age, I of course am not counting leavers who left mid education because they move area or changed to another school or things like that these are the student that one would count because they are completers. 

But let me show you what the full age students left with.

First those 2010 9 students:

A = foundation ICCE certification, went on to work as an Estate agent after college

B = Foundation ICCE certification, onto college to take Btec in IT

C= Intermediate ICCE certification, Canterbury university, degree in Business and accounts

D= left with Foundation ICCE certification went on to an access course on to university

E= intermediate ICCE went to Kingston university to study Accounts degree

F= General ICCE certificate, went on to take level 3 NVQ CCLD and work with children

G = General ICCE certificate, went on to be a home maker

H= OCR basic certificate went on to a college course

I= General ICCE certificate then did access course studying English Now at London university doing a degree in English

Then in 2011 we had 6 student complete:

J= General ICCE certificate, went on to Music college now taking a degree course there

K = Foundation ICCE certificate, went on to do Btec in IT

L= General ICCE certificate, went on to do a degree in Photography

M= Advanced ICCE certificate, went on to Brunel university to study medicine

N= Foundation ICCE certificate, went on to do Btec in IT

O= General ICCE certificate, went on to complete a Diploma in Music

So there are our leavers for the last two years what do you think?  You cannot go to university from here, well yes of course you can but that is not my point!

Here are some comments from some of the students who have left us:

I asked one student how his first year at Canterbury University had gone. 

He responded, “I missed my London friends but the studies were fine.” 

I asked him for his opinion of our school system; here are some of his comments. 

“One of my uni modules is accounting, I had already done that subject for my Intermediate exam with International Certificate of Christian Education (ICCE), so of course I had that down as one of my options from the advanced level course.  However, when I saw the stuff at University I had to laugh and I said I wish my school studies had been this easy!”

I asked him if there was anything else he had noticed about his uni studies.

He said, “The Algebra, as with accounts, I wish that the school stuff had been as easy as the university material.”

His final comment was, “When you have been to a school using the ACE system a fundamental element that you learn is how to manage your study time and how to complete work within a given period. I am finding that my stuff gets done whereas lots of other students seem to have problems completing work and bringing it in on time.  We all have the same amount of time, and I think some of them are possibly brighter than me, but what they lack is the discipline that has been put into me over the years to complete the work on time.”

I also had the chance to talk with one of the lads who had completed his General Certificate at ICCE level, and asked him how his college studies were progressing. “Great!” he said, “but what is funny is how the other students don’t seem to be able to complete work on time, I have just handed in one of my first essays, the  lecturer said 1,000 words, I was about 400 over so I went to him and asked how critical the word count was?”

“Oh” he replied, “I only ask for 1,000 as most of the students cannot get anywhere near that number, I am happy with anything up to 2000 words, but I would be surprised if many can even achieve 800.”

I asked him if he had made any other observations since he had left school.

He said, “A friend asked me if I could help her with her GCSE material as she had to take an exam in Maths, so I said I would come around and try. I was very surprised at the level, and helped her to complete the work and showed her how to work out the material.  I then asked if I could take a copy of the paper with me.  She agreed and explained that it was an old exam paper used for practice.  I took it home to my younger sister, she is just 13 years old, and said can you do this maths? She said, ‘Oh crumbs, yes of course, I am doing that stuff now.’”

For those who know anything about the system this girl is on PACE 1083 which according to ICCE is two units below where we would say a student is who has begun General certificate work.

There was another young lady at the New Year’s Eve party who had been to a school using the ACE system, but not at one of the schools that I run; she is currently reading English at Liverpool Hope University.  I asked how she had found it, and if anything she had learnt from the system was useful in on going university studies.  Her reply was amusing, “Well,” she said, “I am the only student in my group who knows how to  break down an English language sentence into its component parts, the whole class were saying, ‘we don’t even understand what we are being asked to do.’  So I ran my own tutorial group for my friends.  They asked how I knew how to do this, and I told them that I did it all when I was quite young in my Christian school, that it was standard practice.  I am just surprised that such basic things are part of this English course at university.”

Flack or no flack, the results speak for themselves.  You might say to me, are you trying to sell your system to us?  The answer to that is; you bet I am! Even if you are one of those in the high ways and by ways of life, we have great possibility for students, both educationally and in terms of life values!

Adrian Hawkes

For whoever will Read

adrianhawkes.blogspot.com

w. 2280

10.07.13

Another coincidence

Another coincidence

Those of you who read my blog will know that for a while now I have been going on about the difference between coincidences and answers to prayer.

More recently I have been checking through my memory banks to bring to mind some of those ‘answered prayers’ / ‘coincidences’ that happen to those who pray and follow Jesus.  Looking back, I regret not keeping mementos of some of those incidents.  Perhaps from now on I will do, however in life you often just say,’ thank you God’ and move on, though I hope I am grateful and really thankful and have regard for these specific answers.

The memento I could have kept of the story I am about to tell you, could have been copies of my bank statements, and even though I didn’t its still, nevertheless, a great answer to prayer and true.

This answer to prayer (or coincidence depending on your perspective) took place before UK decimalisation, so young readers might struggle with the figures, not understanding the notion of 240 pence making one pound.  Anyway, at this time I was living in the North of England, my salary was the grand total of £8.10s or for younger readers £8.50p.  My wife was the full time secretary for a local school and earned a grand total of £5.00 per week;  to put these amounts into perspective my rent was £5.10s per week (£5.50p), as you can see there was not a great deal of financial elbow room, there was very little money left over for frivolities.

Unfortunately for us we had somehow run up a deficit at the bank to the tune of £31.12s 32d and the bank unfortunately had allowed us to go overdrawn by this amount without any permission.  Now, however, they had called me in and wanted their money back.  I, of course, had said, yes, I would sort it out.  When I arrived home I told my wife that I had no idea what to do and that we had no chance of funding the deficit.

My wife suggested writing them a cheque, explained that would not work as that was where the money came from in the first place. We agreed that we needed to pray for God to help us, we needed a £31.12s 32d miracle, and frankly I had no idea where such a miracle could come from. In these situations, I find, that you always want to provide God with the answer that you have trusted him, in prayer, to sort out; I hope you know what I mean.

Later that week, I had a letter from an old friend, he wrote to me enclosing a cheque made out to myself and Pauline; the letter went something like this.

 As you know some years ago I had a serious motor accident, it’s taken years for the insurance company to make a settlement to us, but finally it has come.  I wanted at this time to say thank you to friends who helped me and my wife during this awful time, and so now I have the financial settlement I thought I would like to send you all a monetary thank you.  So enclosed is a cheque.  I know you will think that this is a funny amount £31.12s.32p but just to explain that for you, I had quite a few friends who helped us at that time so what I have done is taken the amount of our settlement, deducted 10%, I then divided that 10% between all the friends who helped me at the time and so that is why it is such a funny thank you amount.

Well of course my friend wanted to explain his reasoning behind the division of the thank you money, but what my friend did not know was that that cheque was to the exact £sd (pounds, shillings and pence for younger readers) amount of my unofficial overdraft.

When I think about this, it’s totally mind boggling, how everything came together in such perfect sync; the accident years before, the insurance company taking its time, the amount of friends my friend felt had helped them at the time, the long period of time it took to sort the settlement, that my friend was writing out the cheques during the week that I was concerned about my overdraft, the prayer my wife and I prayed that week, and that very week the letter arrived containing a cheque for the exact amount. 

It’s all just coincidence I hear some say, well how about a Father God who loves his children, knows their need and answers prayer.  How about that for an answer?

Adrian Hawkes

For adrianhawkes.blogspot.com

W 800

Edited by Technicolour Text

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind  

Many years ago, when my children were only 7 and 8 years old; talking about coincidences was in vogue, it seemed that every other conversation was about this subject.   Then, as now, I would find that my coincidences’ seemed to come in answer to prayer.  With both these elements in mind, I thought I would tell you a true story. 

I am also reminded of when I lived in the North of England,  a  14 year old would constantly come and talk to me about eternal things.  He was puzzled and sometimes annoyed with my answers, particularly any that involved prayer and its results.  One day he knocked on my door at 36 Wilton Way, when  I answered the door and he looked at me with great confidence, he said he had dropped in on his way home from school and had been thinking all day about my so called answers to prayer, ‘so called’ is how young  ‘Langys’ described it.   I smiled at his enthusiasm as I looked at him though the open door, observing his obvious new found confidence.  I said, ‘oh and what is the answer then?’  He said with delight, “they’re just coincidences!” “Well,” I said, “thank you for that, but it seems funny to me that when I pray I get a coincidence, which seems like an answer to prayer to me.”

Now I am sure that there is a much more complex discussion needed than what I said to that 14 year old, however, there isn’t the space here.  But I have tried in other places to discuss this further,  what I really wanted to do this time is to just tell you one of those coincidence stories, and let you make up your own mind.

As I was saying, this is a story about my  two young children aged 7 and 8; I had signed a form to say that they could go on a school trip, the terrible thing was that today was the day I had to send the money with the children to the school.  It was breakfast time, and  both girls where looking into my face imploring  me for  £5.00 each for the school trip.  This was £10.00 which I genuinely did not have and did not know where to find it from; I was regretting that I had signed the form in the distant hope that by the time came to pay the money I would have the required tenner!  It hadn’t materialised.  What was worse,  I now had two strident little girls nagging at me, demanding to know  what I was going to do about it, and they, let me tell you, were worse than facing the school authorities  or the teacher.

I tried some suggestions, how about if I came and talked to the teacher.  They remonstrated with me; that, apparently was far too embarrassing, everyone else, so they said, had already paid!  “I tell you what,” I said humbly, “I will come and see the school secretary, perhaps I can pay a little off each week.”  That, it seemed, to the two little girls, was an even worse idea, loud cries of, “oh Dad how could you!”  Where echoing throughout our breakfast time.

 Breakfast now over, and the time for them to leave for school had arrived.  We stood ready to go, with the girls still firing off angry comments at me. I interrupted them as they stood there, angry and forlorn, coats and scarves on, school bags on their shoulders, faced with telling the teacher they had no money and could not go on the trip.   I said, “Why don’t we stop right now, pray and ask God to do something as I really don’t know what else to do as you obviously don’t like my suggestions.”  They reluctantly agreed.  We bowed our heads and I explained to the Father that I did not have £10.00 even though I had said I would pay £10.00 for the children’s school trip, and I said, “I don’t know what to do for my children, so will you please, please help me!”  I think you can see that my prayer was heartfelt, whatever the children’s position was.

So that the discussion did not re-start, I immediately said, “Okay let’s get to school!”  I opened our kitchen door to walk through our side entrance to our front door.  We still live in the same house and it’s a bit strange in that we have two front doors, the main door is accessed through a corridor. When it’s blustery, this corridor turns into a wind tunnel.  It was one of those windy November days, and as I opened the door a gush of powerful wind blew in, bringing with it all the leaves of the neighbourhood. I didn’t go out, instead I  moved the children back out of the way and asked my wife for a dust pan and brush, deciding I needed to get this mess cleared  up before I taking the children to  school.  I began sweeping up the leaves, and to my amazement, and I have to say wonderment, in the middle of the great pile of leaves was a ten pound note, swept in by the wind with the leaves. 

The children were impressed, I was Impressed we stopped and said, “thank you Lord!”  I don’t know if someone lost it, or if it was a special delivery from God, however it seemed to me a very, very immediate answer to prayer. Needless to say, they went on the school trip.

Well I don’t know how well my children remember that happening all those years ago, but what is your take on the story, another coincidence or does God answer prayer?

Adrian L Hawkes

For Blogspot.com

W 994

Edited By Technicolour Text

Advertising an Independent Sector School

Advertising an Independent Sector School

We are so persuaded by the ‘normal’ and what is perceived to be the right approach that those of us who do it differently always expect to have to swim upstream, to move against the odds to climb the mountain or whatever other metaphor you can think of to demonstrate an alternative.

Then to persuade people to join you is difficult; I always find the story of Moses and the release of the Israelite's from slavery interesting.  The Old Testament gives us a clue to some of their thinking.  They were all slaves; their next door neighbors were slaves, their friends where slaves, their wives and children were slaves, slavery was the norm.  When you have been brought up like that it’s very hard to be convinced of ‘freedom’ or for my purpose in what I am saying about education any other way of doing or thinking.  The Old Testament Scriptures tell us that they were mad with Moses for trying to set them free, what did you have in your slavery?” was Moses’ question, “well” they responded, “we had Leeks Onions and Cucumbers”.  The problem was they were not looking for freedom they were looking for bigger onions!

So when people consider putting their children into our school many of the cultural, the expected, and the ‘norm’ is not there!  How many classes do you have they say?  We don’t have class rooms, or classes, it’s an individualised method of education!  What GCSE’s do they take, is often the next question. Well, we don’t do that either, our students enter the ICCE certification.  More problems, all people really want is a bigger onion!

Does the system work, what does the school deliver, should be the next question, or from my point of view maybe the first question.  We are interested as an education establishment in not only good education for our students but also good character development.  We want them to know God, we want them to become leaders in whatever area of life they end up in, and we want them to become the best that they can.  So the big question should be do we succeed in those aims.  Not always, but let me tell you about our recent school leavers.  At the moment the school is around 40 students and growing, so I thought what I would do is look at the last two year’s leavers and tell you our results hoping that will help you to assess us and decided if we are successful or not?

So in 2010 9 students left our school, when I say left what I mean is that they had reached full school leaving age, I of course am not counting leavers who left mid education because they move area or changed to another school or things like that these are the student that one would count because they are completers.  Incidentally, in 2010 only one student left without gaining some paper qualification.  But let me show you what the full age students left with.

First those 2010 9 students:

A = foundation ICCE certification, went on to work as an Estate agent after college

B = Foundation ICCE certification, onto college to take Btec in IT

C= Intermediate ICCE certification, Canterbury university, degree in Business and accounts

D= left with nothing went on to an access course on to university

E= intermediate ICCE went to Kingston university to study Accounts degree

F= General ICCE certificate, went on to take level 3 NVQ CCLD and work with children

G = General ICCE certificate, went on to be a home maker

H= OCR basic certificate went on to a college course

I= General ICCE certificate then did access course studying English Now at London university doing a degree in English

Then in 201l we had 6 student complete:

J= General ICCE certificate, went on to Music college now taking a degree course there

K = Foundation ICCE certificate, went on to do Btec in IT

L= General ICCE certificate, went on to do a degree in Photography

M= Advanced ICCE certificate, went on to Brunel university to study medicine

N= Foundation ICCE certificate, went on to do Btec in IT

O= General ICCE certificate, went on to complete a Diploma in Music

So there are our leavers for the last two years what do you think?  Does it work?

Here are some comments from some of the students who have left us:

I asked one student how his first year at Canterbury University had gone. 

He responded, “I missed my London friends but the studies were fine.” 

I asked him for his opinion of our school system; here are some of his comments. 

“One of my uni modules is accounting, I had already done that subject for my Intermediate exam with International Certificate of Christian Education (ICCE), so of course I had that down as one of my options from the advanced level course.  However, when I saw the stuff at University I had to laugh and I said I wish my school studies had been this easy!”

I asked him if there was anything else he had noticed about his uni studies.

He said, “The Algebra, as with accounts, I wish that the school stuff had been as easy as the university material.”

His final comment was, “When you have been to a school using the ACE system a fundamental element that you learn is how to manage your study time and how to complete work within a given period. I am finding that my stuff gets done whereas lots of other students seem to have problems completing work and bringing it in on time.  We all have the same amount of time, and I think some of them are possibly brighter than me, but what they lack is the discipline that has been put into me over the years to complete the work on time.”

I also had the chance to talk with one of the lads who had completed his General Certificate at ICCE level, and asked him how his college studies were progressing. “Great!” he said, “but what is funny is how the other students don’t seem to be able to complete work on time, I have just handed in one of my first essays, the  lecturer said 1,000 words, I was about 400 over so I went to him and asked how critical the word count was?”

“Oh” he replied, “I only ask for 1,000 as most of the students cannot get anywhere near that number, I am happy with anything up to 2000 words, but I would be surprised if many can even achieve 800.”

I asked him if he had made any other observations since he had left school.

He said, “A friend asked me if I could help her with her GCSE material as she had to take an exam in Maths, so I said I would come around and try. I was very surprised at the level, and helped her to complete the work and showed her how to work out the material.  I then asked if I could take a copy of the paper with me.  She agreed and explained that it was an old exam paper used for practice.  I took it home to my younger sister, she is just 13 years old, and said can you do this maths? She said, ‘Oh crumbs, yes of course, I am doing that stuff now.’”

For those who know anything about the system this girl is on PACE 1083 which according to ICCE is two units below where we would say a student is who has begun General certificate work.

There was another young lady at the New Year’s Eve party who had been to a school using the ACE system, but not at one of the schools that I run; she is currently reading English at Liverpool Hope University.  I asked how she had found it, and if anything she had learnt from the system was useful in ongoing university studies.  Her reply was amusing, “Well,” she said, “I am the only student in my group who knows how to  break down an English language sentence into its component parts, the whole class were saying, ‘we don’t even understand what we are being asked to do.’  So I ran my own tutorial group for my friends.  They asked how I knew how to do this, and I told them that I did it all when I was quite young in my Christian school, that it was standard practice.  I am just surprised that such basic things are part of this English course at university.”

Flack or no flack, the results speak for themselves.  You might say to me, are you trying to sell your system to us?  The answer to that is; you bet I am!

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Adrian Hawkes for adrianhawkes.blogspot.com

Edited by Gena Muoria

Adrian's Blog

Adrian’s Blog

I just thought you might find it interesting to know a little more about the Blog you read.

Why write a BLOG, and I guess that people do it for all sorts of reason, to tell friends, to advertise their wares, to just put their thought out there.  I guess for some people it’s almost therapeutic.

But for me, well yes I would like to put my ware out there, I have six books I would like you to read, but that’s writing as well isn’t it.  I guess the real reason for writing is that I want to see change in certain things.  I also think that I would like to use the words to make the world a better place. I also actually like to introduce lots of people to ‘the Word’ because I know having met the Word, that it changes life, our outlook, our culture perspective, and our value stem in fact everything for the better.

The other thing that I though you would like to know is who reads this Blog, that is quite fascinating to me, I am sure you know that these days with the internet you can track and analyse all sorts of things, and my Blog is no exception.  Here are some of the interesting data to date, well I think it’s interesting anyway and I hope you might too.  As you would expect as I live in the UK most readers come from that area of the world, on today statistics it’s so far to date 1877 of you in the UK have had a look at it.  The next country, which probably isn't such a surprise as we speak the same language and I have many friends there, but I suppose what does surprise me is how many, as of today’s date the stats tell me that in the USA  1409 of you have taken a peek.  Not so far behind the UK. 

What really does surprise me is country number three and four a long way behind in terms of numbers but hay welcome all of you from Russia, and South Korea who have had a look Russia is 189 and South Korea is 135.  I would really love you to click that comment button and just tell me what you think. 

I will of course say thank you to those of you who have joined my discussions and journey from Germany, Brazil, Slovenia, Slovakia, Kenya, Taiwan, Netherlands, Norway, France and Switzerland.  Thank you all for joining me and for reading my comments, now all I need is for you to join the discussions. So far almost 5,000 have joined me at some point thank you for that.

It is also interesting to see what you are all reading, and the stats tell me that the most read Blog is the one put up in October 2009 on the subject of woman, and I didn’t even write that one baa!  It was written by my good friend Dan Wooding of Assist News Service, he is a professional news hound so I guess I am happy that you like to read his stuff. For those who like tit bits, he was also our best man when we got married.  Check out his news service at www.assistnew.com  it is worth the time.  It also fun to note that my second most read is the one entitled Beer and bandits which I posted in May 2010 does that tell me something about you or about what I write about?

Venezuela 

I like the fact that you are still reading those Blogs that I posted some time ago, again thank for that.

I could go on and tell you which search engines and what referring sites you use, but I won’t enough already.  Just to say again thank you, hope you enjoy, and most of all I hope together we can effect change for the better. Don’t forget would love to hear from you.

Adrian Hawkes

For Adrian Hawkes Blog spot www.adrianhawkes.blogspot.com

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Edited By: Technicolour text

Leadership - Vision

Leadership – the book, Vision

Talks for UCB 3 min

 I always  feel sad when I come the end of my chance  to talk with you. I hope you have found our times together helpful, as I have chatted about the subject of leadership. I have written a book on the subject and in it I cover many other areas that I haven’t had time  to talk to you about in this series.   I looked through all the subjects in my book, ‘Leadership and…’ to decide what to share with you during this last talk, should I tell you about decision makers or small groups of people, or perhaps the platform? Goals? Work or loyalty? And I was very tempted by the chapter on Solomon’s clothes,  there’s one I wish I had time for right now,  but as I pondered it became very clear what should I talk about  during our final time together.  I decided it has to be vision.

Scripture says that where there is no vision, people perish.  Now maybe it’s just the people I mix with but there has been a bit of a backlash against vision.  Maybe you are not aware of that and if not don’t let it worry you.  The thing is that people, and I understand why they do, react against the fact that leaders want everyone to buy into their vision, and sometimes   they exhaust people in trying to see things achieved and the vision reached, and why their vision anyway? Why not mine?

Well here are some answers; firstly do you have a vision?   People regularly   come and chat with me, seeking advice about the direction their life is taking, or not, as the case may be, they may say things like, ‘ I don’t have a vision, I really would like one, what should I do?’  I’m sorry but I have a stock answer which is, ‘get on board someone else’s vision!’  Don’t forget that scripture says, without one people perish

Secondly   as leaders, aren't we all called to lead?  Yes we are, but we are also called to follow. Scripture states that we should be under authority, and if we are all practicing servant leadership then things will work really well.  I would also hope that as a leader you are following  a vision God has given you,  one that reflects what Jesus would say,  ‘I must be about my Father’s business.’ Or let’s put it another way, the Father’s vision is what I plan to accomplish. 

So let’s think again about those who have no vision, if it is the Father’s vision that your leader is following, why not get on board? A key point to bear in mind is that the Father’s vision is broad enough to encompass other visions.  For the church community to function smoothly and effectively, you will all be following a God given vision but that does not eliminate the possibility that God can also give you a vision, at which point  you should be able to say to the leadership, ‘ hey I really want to do this and accomplish what I believe God has shown me,’   and if we are all under authority, in close relationship with the Father and his purposes, it should be equally possible for the leaders to say, ‘That’s great! That extends the vision in this area and makes things work better in that area. How  fantastic that we are going in the same direction.’   Often when we cannot respond in that way, then  perhaps what is wrong is that the vision is too small.

In many ways God has given us the broader visions, outlining them several times in scripture. He wants us to catch His vision, the top priority he give us is to ‘seek FIRST the Kingdom of God  Then we are told, ‘tell the good news.’ I know you know it, but let me say it again, the good news is about a person and that person is Jesus. He is the good news. We are told to, ‘tell it in Jerusalem, in Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world.’  That’s a big job, a big vision isn't it? 

Finally we are told to, ‘make disciples of the nations.’  I think that gives most of us enough to do for the rest of our lives don’t you?

A vision keeps you fresh; it actually keeps you alive and moving forward.  I have a little saying that some puzzle over; it goes like this ‘the worst enemy of better is very good.’  The thing is that when things are bad you can usually see that there is a need for some vision to make them better, but when things are going well that can put you in the danger zone.  Unless you are alert, you could end up settling down and dying off.  Don’t do it!  We have not arrived; the kingdom has not yet come, there are still dreams to dream and a vision to have. 

Get a vision of leading, forging ahead, keeping going and kingdom seeking!  If you haven’t got one then get on board with someone who has.   There is a promised land to be possessed, there is a Kingdom to be found and we have the power to bring it to earth if we know our God, that’s why he told us to pray and work, ‘your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’  Happy seeking!  Thank you for listening God bless you as you dream and vision His plans.

Adrian Hawkes

Editor A Brookes

For UCB 3 min Script

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Leadership - Getting it Wrong

Leadership – Getting it wrong

Talks for UCB

3 min.

I hope you have remembered what I said at the beginning of this series which was that all of us are called to be leaders; or to put it in Bible language, we are prophet’s priest and kings.

Alongside this universal calling there are always several people in each church community who take special responsibility for others, and that brings with it all sorts of pressures. One of those pressures is the problem of being right.  I guess you have all seen that joke that sometimes sits on a manager’s desk which says, ‘Rule number one. The boss is always right’.  ‘Rule numbers two, if the boss is wrong, refer to rule number one’.  The reality is that being in leadership does not always mean that you are right.

That in itself presents another pressure, one of our culture and our age.  Generally people do not like or expect anyone in leadership to be wrong.  Just watch what happens when a politician tries to admit to being wrong and misses the mark; the response is rarely,   ‘that’s great they have admitted they are wrong, lets forgive them and move on’. Usually it is quite the reverse immediately there is a flurry of frantic digging in order to reveal further failings  and  we demand they resign, no that’s not enough, die, and even that is not enough, we want to dance on a their grave.

 Coupled with the possibility of being wrong, there is also the cultural pressure whereby we want our leaders to know the answer to everything.  I am a leader, and sometimes I am wrong and sometimes I do not know the answer and what is worse sometimes I can see a problem, which I am sure everyone else can see. I know this because they come and tell me, often in conspiratorial tones, ‘there is a problem’.  I know there is problem and I didn’t need anyone to tell me what I already know,  what I  need is for someone to give me an answer to the problem, as I don’t have one.

So what can we do?  Firstly I think that it is very helpful to admit we are wrong as quickly as possible and learn to put up with people’s reactions and disappointment. We should also look for help both from God and our fellow travellers; perhaps when they see us admit that we are wrong  it might encourage them in their own struggle to get things right.

Secondly all of us need to treat those who lead us with respect when they say that they do not have an answer to some particular conundrum; maybe accepting and believing that they simply do not know.

Thirdly, and this is a hard one, I am convinced we need to learn to say ‘I am sorry,’ that can be a great help to all.  But isn’t it a hard word to use? 

Let me finish by telling you a positive story to illustrate what I mean.

For more than thirty years I have been involved in running independent Christian Schools and in two of them I hold the role of principal. A while ago a young lady of around twelve years old was brought to my office for some misdemeanour, it was my job to tell her off; I did so, very sternly and the young lady ended up with tears running down her cheeks.  She left my office very, very subdued and quiet, so I thought I had down my job well.   The next day, to my horror, I discovered that I had reprimanded a totally innocent person, who was in no way guilty of any wrongdoing.  What should I do?  I asked a member of staff to find the young lady and bring her to my office as quickly as possible.  She walked in with fear in her face, I asked her to sit down and she did so, very carefully, her hands folded meekly in her lap.  I explained to her that on the previous day I had made a terrible mistake when I told her off and I said I wanted to apologise. I looked into her fearful eyes and said, ‘I’m sorry, please forgive me’.  The transformation was instantaneous, the fear disappeared and the young lady burst into the largest smile I have ever seen, I was afraid that her face would come apart if she smiled any more.

Suffice to say   she went away very happy, and I must admit that I also felt good.  Being wrong and saying sorry really made my day and I think it made her day too. I am pretty certain that the story got repeated many times to her schoolmate’s. 

Did being wrong in that case make me a lesser person?  I don’t think so; I think dealing with being wrong after the event in the right way made a positive difference don’t you?  Unlike how some of us react to our fallible politicians she didn’t want to kill me, it was just the reverse, I think she thought she had a received a fantastic present. Don’t kill people for being wrong, be like our God; full of grace and forgiveness.

Adrian Hawkes

For UCB 3 min talks

Editor A Brookes

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Leadership In The Big Wide World

Leadership 8 – In the big wide world

3 min script for            UCB

I have been looking at leadership in these short talks in the context of those who are followers of Jesus.  However I  hope that I  haven’t give the impression  that these skills of servant leadership are  only relevant and appropriate to the church community.  If I have given that impression let my try and correct that today.

I have spent a large chunk of my life establishing some independent schools, we have two in North London, one in Sri Lanka and one in Nakuru, Kenya.  When people ask me what is their purpose, I answer that I am interested in affecting the thinking of young students, but also I want to produce tomorrow’s national and international leaders.

I hope you don’t think what I say next is too strange, but even if you do, I believe it to be so. If you really are a follower of Jesus, and you are walking with him then certain things will apply.  First of all you are in touch with wisdom, I do not believe that wisdom comes from any other source but from God, he is the source of wisdom. Knowledge on the other hand can come from a variety of sources.  If you are a follower of Jesus then you should have a world view that gives great credibility to any leadership role into which you enter. Followers of Jesus also have a clear perspective about the future, where it’s all going, why we are here and what is our human purpose is.  You are also in touch with the ultimate law giver, ruler and therefore understand what it means to have a moral base.  Scripture talks about our thinking producing who and what we are, and that can, should and does reflect into the wider culture locally, nationally and internationally.

I learned a lot of my leadership skills as a follower of Jesus rather than from management training, or other training schemes. But I have discovered that it is very easy to transfer those skills into what we sometimes call the secular world, although I don’t like the word secular, as I know that the Kingdom of God can be found in every area of life and do not like the false dichotomy of secular and spiritual. I have been able to use the leadership skills obtained as a follower of Jesus in social service, education and business to name but a few.

Just the other day I was listening to a discussion about an emerging economy and they were talking about how the country could be improved by business, by politics, and by new laws.  But there was an element that was missing from the debate, there was no mention of how people think, the philosophy of a nation if you will.  In the UK, whilst I would never want to call us or think of us as a Christian nation we do have a strong Christian heritage which can be seen in our laws and the way the country works.  This heritage is, I believe, currently being rapidly squandered, but some of it is this is still there, which tends to make us generous and caring; and affect levels of honesty and corruption. If you look at national cultures in other parts of the world then you will see clear differences to the UK culture, due to the underlying philosophy, for some there is a lack of concern for others outside of their own country, some place a low value on human life and some have very corrupt systems.  Now I am sure business, law, politics and education can all help those things if they are wrong, but ultimately you don’t really change things unless you change the thinking and the underlying philosophy.

As one American president once said, ‘if you educate an evil man who was stealing from the railway, it doesn’t change his actions it just makes him clever, so instead of stealing from the railway he steals the whole system’.  What we often see as requiring a structural change actually needs a change of heart, or from my point of view, Jesus style leadership in all areas of life.  So how about you, where do you lead?

Adrian Hawkes

Editor A Brookes

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3 min Script for UCB

Difficult People - and the Leadership of Them

Leadership 7

DIFFICULT PEOPLE

UCB 3 MIN SCRIPT

Let’s be honest there are difficult people around aren’t there?   And there are people who claim to be followers of Jesus who think we need to be nice to everyone.  The problem with being nice is that sometimes nice means, in modern parlance, untruthful.   When we are untruthful we need to ask the question are we really helping the other person?

 Let me illustrate where I am going with this; Have you noticed how people who tell you they are Christians sometimes say, and usually very loudly and firmly, ‘you need to accept me  as I am because God says he accepts me just as I am and He tells us to come to him just as we are, so you should do the same’.  And that is the problem with sound bite truth. Of course what they are saying is true, but  it’s not the whole truth or the whole story, but we so love those sound bites don’t we?  The truth is that  God loves us and calls us to come to Him as we are, but then he also calls us to change. This is made clear in scriptures like, ‘be transformed by the renewing or the changing of your mind’ or ‘he plans to conform us to the image of His son Jesus’. These scriptures give us the clear understanding that although God accepts us as we are it isn’t part of His plan to leave us as He finds us.

Can I be honest?  Thank you. Sometimes when people say, ‘love me as I am,’ I’m thinking, (but of course I don’t say it),   you really are horrible and you need to change!’  Then there are people who say, ‘do you know I never have these problems at work or at my book club I only have them when I am here in the church community.’  And the first thing that goes through my head is, ‘Uh oh, they are not telling the truth’. Perhaps they think they are, but actually they are not. 

For many years I have run a school, and sometimes I have a parent sitting in front of me saying ‘do you know I never had this problem with my child in their last school.’ What they don’t realise is that I have a  file on the child from the last school describing the behaviour issues and can also read the problems that the staff at my school  are experiencing;  and I know my staff!  Sometimes, of course, people don’t realise what they are doing, at other times, let’s be totally clear, they are not being honest; they are trying to circumvent their own problems.

That leads me to my next issue with people, that of their problems. There are those who want to dump their problems on others, especially if those on who they are dumping have assumed any form of leadership role.  What happens is this, someone will share their problem with you, and because you care you really put your mind into it. After they have poured out their problems to you, they go home and sleep soundly while you toss and turn and worry about their problem.  It is not good to allow people to dump their lives on you. We need to try and help people to find ways through difficult passages in their lives, and be as helpful as possible, but ultimately it is for them, to work out a resolution.

Scripture tells us that we are to work out our own salvation. That, again, could be a sound bite but of course God is there working with those who have problems, and, no doubt if you are caring leader you also will be alongside them. But don’t allow people to make their lives your responsibility.  God wants us to grow up, to be mature and work with Him as we work through difficult periods in our life, and he promises to turn them round and help us learn from them.  Maturing us and changing our thinking.

Finally to help any of you listening who do lead, and go through those terrible times when some person you have been trying to help turns around and blames you for the problem that they have, even though the problem was there before you even met them. Or they list the terrible problems that they are having with you that sends you home feeling a complete and utter failure and a really useless leader in fact a useless person.  Here is my little formula which I hope might help you.

Ask yourself, ‘do other people have this problem with me?’ If the answer is yes then perhaps the critic is right and you do have a problem.  If the answer is no, and I have to say it usually is no, then you  need to say to yourself, ‘well now as other people do not have this problem with me then it is probably  not my problem but theirs.’

Then ask yourself, ‘in my observation of this person, do they have a similar problem with other people that I know?’ if the answer is yes, again it confirms what I have just said. It is not your problem it is theirs.   Often we end up beating ourselves up when we should not do so simply because we haven’t thought through the situation, we have just reacted negatively to critisicm, and blamed ourselves for something that is not our fault or our responsibility.

I hope today that I haven’t caused you to no longer want to lead, or help those difficult or problematic people. God does love them; I just don’t want you to live in condemnation.  Happy helping and be blessed.

Leadership Script for UCB 3 MIN

Editor A.  Brookes

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Adrian Hawkes