There aren't any roads on Tol (although there were roads during the Japanese occupation of WWII) and everyone travels by boat. We fly for 90 minutes from Guam into "Chuuk International Airport" on the island of Weno. Then we travel an hour (more or less -- depending on the conditions) by boat to Tol.
There were 24 "graduates" on Saturday -- although only three actually completed all of the work for a PIBC Diploma. However, in keeping with their communal tradition everyone "graduates" together at the completion of their three years on the campus. Most of the students will then go on to work on finishing up the requirements for an AA or BA degree -- either at the PIBC teaching facility on Weno or on the Guam campus. A few will work on completing the Diploma.
There is a bit of unrest in the ranks because we (the college administrators on Guam) are cutting the Tol program starting next year from three years to two years. The transition has to do with infrastructure and operational issues on the campus (it's hard to do a full college program and meet all of the accreditation requirements in such a remote spot -- not impossible -- but nearly so) and a shortage of qualified teachers willing to serve there. But it also has to do with how we perceive the developing needs of Chuuk. The Diploma, with little general education in the curriculum, is inadequate training for service in the schools and other future positions in Chuuk. We have developed a new curriculum sequence which will allow students to complete an AA through two-years of study on the Tol campus.
But change is hard -- especially if you live in a region where education and health services have dramatically declined over the past 25 years. So there is great suspicion of change and "reform" of any sort. To them it looks as though we're cutting services. To us it looks like we're refocusing the institutional energy in a direction that will ultimately bring great benefit. We trust that they'll understand once they see the new system in operation. But it's hard and not everyone is a happy camper.
2 comments:
Change is hard. But it is not about the idea of "cutting service" its about refocusing our energy to become like anyother Christian college in the US.
PIBC, educationally, is not even a top twenty. Spiritually it ranks among the best. That's where our investments should've been placed. The uniqueness of PIBC is Tol- a God-given retreatlike place where there are no distraction. Our focus is life not just mere education.
Building servant leaders is not about head knowledge, it is about helping to transform lives. As a former student on Guam, I fail to see that. Whereas in Tol I see it everytime I visit.
BTW, the things on my blog where they just good information or to help bring awareness?
I'm sorry that you feel that we failed you.
Whether PIBC Tol ranks high in spiritual development I couldn't say. I'm concerned, though, about a false dichotomy between spirituality and academics.
You state, "building servant leaders is not about head knowledge."
That's simply not true. Building servant leaders IS about head knowledge -- and integrating that head knowledge with heart knowledge and practice. That is at least a part of the transformational process -- not all -- but a part.
We need to develop Christian thinkers -- even among ordinary people. This is an important part of discipleship. Learning to think is a spiritual discipline.
Right now my assignment is to make sure that the school is functioning academically. So that's why I'm pushing in this particular area.
And consistent academic standards are a weakness on all of our PIBC sites.
We don't do anyone a service (nor are we being honest with the world) by saying that we're a "college" if our graduates can't even meet minimum college standards in other places. We're not pushing to become a Harvard. We're just trying to get things up to the bare minimum of what constitutes a college. If we don't want to be a college we should call ourselves something else -- and that would be fine.
Obviously, not everyone who graduates from PIBC has as full of a grasp of the world as you. :-)
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