Well-Rounded vs. Fine-tuned

Another blog post brewing for a while.  I will do my best to flush it out in a way that is coherent for you, since you are not swimming in my head and probably will not understand my unintelligible rambling.

I am tired of schools saying that we need "well-rounded" citizens.  Why?  Why did I need Anthropology 101?  Psychology 101?  History of the American West?  Sociology 101?  Business Calc?  Etc.  These are just college courses.  How many hours did I waste in high school meeting credits to make me a well-rounded student?

For those not familiar, I am a life science major - specifically, Botany.  I love plants, always have.  I will never use my degree as I am now a dedicated house/farm wife and SAHM.  But that is another post entirely.

We are concerned with exposing our older children to everything out there so they are "well-rounded."  Those of us on this side of college and a few years of life under our belt, know that it is a load of phooey.  I have never once needed the above mentioned classes (as well as a host of others unmentioned), other than to reference what a waste of time and money college was for me.  I could have been done in half the time had I not needed those (case in point: I did not change my major to Botany until my 3rd year of college, and graduated the following summer - 2 1/2 semesters later. Why couldn't we just start with that? Why the other two years of stuff?).

The Bible says that children are like arrows in the hands of a warrior (Psalm 127:4).  Last time I checked, arrows were not well-rounded.  Instead they were finely-tuned.  Well sharpened.  Like a diamond cutter, we are supposed to study these lumps of rock we have been blessed with and carefully cut away the excess in order to make it a brilliant, shining gem.  Not adding unnecessary stuff, but taking away what isn't beneficial.  Shaping these rocks precisely so that when they are released, they will shoot straight.

Let's compare a well-rounded rock to a finely-sharpened arrow.
We're talking about weapons here, so the rock isn't just a little pebble, it must be big enough to do damage.
Rocks are more cumbersome and heavy.  They are hard to carry around.
Arrows are designed to be light, and a warrior can carry several at one time.
Rocks require a large instrument (like a catapult) that can generate a large amount of force to heave the rock far enough and fast enough to do damage.
An arrow needs a very small amount of force to be launched quickly and accurately.
Rocks are not an accurate weapon, but are large enough that they can do general damage to a target.
Arrows are a weapon of accuracy.

Think about what you are doing here, parents:
You are raising a weapon.  A weapon that will be used for God or for the enemy.
If your child is a weapon for God, Jesus is the warrior.  What kind of weapon does He want to use against the enemy?
To be fair, I believe that He will use anyone willing, be you rock, arrow, or battering ram.
But I believe as parents, we are raising our children to be arrows.

I believe that I was a boulder.  I was well-rounded, had enough knowledge of enough different things to adequately fill my brain with useless information to be interesting at a party.  I am now an adult and I am refining myself as well as my children to be more fine-tuned.  I see my target, I know my enemy.  And I want to hit my mark without fail.

So when the time comes to start getting serious about their life after leaving your home, prepare them accordingly.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about young children.  Heck, my oldest child hardly thinks about life after leaving our house, and if she does, it's usually amid tears.  Expose young children to many things, but you parents know what their 'bent' is.  You know what they're good at, what interests them.  Expose them to many things while they're young, but lean on that strength.  See where it takes them.

Then when they are older, start refining their education and training to what they will need, what they are gifted in.  Don't force them to spend hours doing things that will not truly help them succeed as an instrument for God later in life.  Step back and get a look at the big picture.

Imagine the weapon your child will become, and move accordingly.