Salvation, Basketball, and Learning - The Centrality of Commitment to Human Thriving

CONTRIBUTOR: Jeff Hausman, AVLI Founder & President

The last full week of March is home to two important events every year, March Madness and the Feast of the Annunciation. There wouldn’t appear to be much of a connection between the two nor are they clearly connected to the underpinnings of student learning. Yet these three disparate items occupied shared space in my consciousness a few months back. 

Watch any March Madness game on television, and the broadcast will include at least one feel-good human interest story about the outsized influence of a mother, father, or grandparent and the sacrifices made to ensure a student athlete’s success. The mother with cancer who doggedly holds the family together. The father who has never missed a game or performance of any of his children. The grandmother who works two jobs to ensure that her grandchildren are safe and provided for. Similarly, we know of the substantial and often grave sacrifices Mary endured through the unfolding of Jesus’ life and ministry. In each of these circumstances, there are moments of tribulation, affirmation, sorrow, wonder, and elation. But mostly there is tedium, though unseen and often unrecognized. Much like us, these individuals rise in the morning, address the day’s activities through a combination of routines refined over time, and, having successfully navigated another day, return to bed anticipating tomorrow. 

Monotony. This is where I want to train our focus for a moment because this is where most of life is spent. It’s also where I want to tie in the Annunciation. While human interest stories emphasize sacrifice, I wonder if what we really find compelling about the stories’ protagonists is their unwavering commitment. Like our Blessed Mary, these are ordinary people leading ordinary lives who, at some point, knowingly said “yes” to something. This didn’t make their path anymore clear, it made the journey more purposeful. Thus, when setbacks occurred or obstacles were encountered, they kept moving.  

Commitment isn’t flashy, it’s enduring. Once we take ownership of a particular situation or context, our intent is to see it through no matter the difficulties or duration. This produces agency which I will define here as intention-based action.  When committed, we assess, we problem-solve, and - most importantly - we take stock (discern), metacognitively connecting our actions with our purpose.  

Sometimes the obstacles and setbacks overwhelm. It’s in these moments that the practice of discernment is most valuable in helping us find small moments of grace that affirm our purpose, produce hope, and embolden further effort. Discernment also helps us recognize when the journey associated with a particular commitment has ended, providing the consolation and peace needed to let go, grow, and, perhaps, find our next journey. 

It’s often said of the Christian faithful that we are a Resurrection people, and for those who have followed my writing over the years, you know how much I believe in fostering a hope-filled future. But as we negotiate these uncertain times, I wonder if we might also need to embrace the notion of being Annunciation people - people willing to say “yes” to something that opens us up to the experience of our continual unfolding and all that is revealed through the plodding of our daily existence.

I mention this as our AVLI team reflects on the idea of productive struggle as the pathway to learning. Spurred by AI innovation, the information age in which we live is ever growing in capacity and complexity. Traditional barriers to information have all but been removed, yet, in spite of all of this “knowledge”, uncertainty about our future has never been greater. Young people in particular feel disconnected and anxious as the traditional primary task of adolescence - schooling - is perceived to be far less relevant as the key to a successful career and future. Additionally, the transactional nature of traditional lesson delivery and assessment which has long served as the foundation of the American school system now serves as a perfunctory exercise for many students. Thus, the temptation to utilize AI as a shortcut is understandably great.

This is the paradox. The promise of AI is to advance knowledge and understanding beyond our current capacities, but for that to occur a relatively sophisticated foundation of knowledge must first be achieved. Yet many are forgoing the hard work (struggle) of acquiring that foundation due in part to the skewed incentive structures of our modern society and the ways in which AI feeds into these incentives. This is particularly detrimental to kids. As the Brookings Institute’s Rebecca Winthrop puts it, “You can only offload a skill you’ve already developed. When a child uses AI to write an essay, solve a problem, or formulate an argument, they’re not outsourcing a capability they have. They’re skipping the development of that capability entirely. The right word isn’t cognitive offloading…cognitive stunting is the more accurate description of what’s happening to kids.”

The good news is that most young people are relatively clear eyed about AI, recognizing its capacities while noting dissatisfaction with some current AI trends. They recognize the potential negative impacts and pitfalls of AI and have a generalized desire for responsible use. In other words, they possess rudimentary knowledge of artificial intelligence AND they want to do the right thing (if imperfectly as is generally the case with teens). This is the opportunity at hand! 

Coming out of the educational crisis associated with the pandemic, many in education are understandably weary of “having” to respond to another major shift in the landscape. While I have numerous reservations regarding artificial intelligence, for me, this is a shift that we “get” to respond to - one where the kids are primed and looking for us to lead. And I think the key may be in calling young people to aspire to become Annunciation people. 

I believe most people, particularly the young, want to say “yes” - to orient themselves toward something bigger than themselves and their self-interests. Additionally, I believe that inherent in the yes is a commitment to knowing. This is where the glorious struggle to learn begins.

In their efforts to unpack the practice of learning, Winthrop and her research partner Jenny Anderson describe four modes students move between when approaching their formal learning. In Resistor Mode, students actively push back, disrupt, or quietly withdraw as a way to signal that the system or lesson is not working for them. When in Passenger Mode, students passively coast through school and do the bare minimum to get by, remaining emotionally and cognitively detached even if they maintain good grades. Students in Achiever Mode strive for perfection and chase external validation like grades and accolades, which can make them highly successful but fragile under pressure. Lastly there is Explorer Mode where students are highly proactive, resilient, and internally driven by their own curiosity and personal agency to dig deeply into their learning.

There is much to consider within this framework, but my biggest take-away is the simple recognition that there is no magic bullet to learning. It’s a capricious activity we all choose to do - or not to do - many times on a daily basis. Thus, I recognize that we aren’t going to solve our educational problems through an approach that is constantly asking students to attach meaning to every conceivable educational endeavor. Still, if we can get kids to recognize the value of the process of learning, and commit to recognize its centrality to their thriving, minimally the agency they demonstrate (for or against learning) will be rooted in purpose. Then, at the end of the day, they will be in a position to better recognize how and where their daily actions matter. 

This is where the struggle is embraced. Students confront their daily moments spent in Resistor Mode, their motivations - both good and bad - behind Achiever behavior,  and the contributing circumstances of their time in Passenger Mode. Most importantly, they revisit and are affirmed by their time spent Exploring. Sometimes what is learned is unsettling or disappointing. Still, knowledge has been attained and light has been shed, revealing the next step along the often dim path of our shared future.

Here’s to becoming an Annunciation people. How we get there is the good work AVLI is pursuing.

I leave with you a lingering thought. While writing this, I was reminded of the following prayer/prose from AVLI’s namesake, Fr. Pedro Arrupe.  For me, the degree to which commitment and love are correlated is still emerging, but I’m fairly sure they are knotted together. Perhaps you have some thoughts to share… 

Nothing is more practical than

finding God, than

falling in Love

in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with,

what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.

It will decide

what will get you out of bed in the morning,

what you do with your evenings,

how you spend your weekends,

what you read, whom you know,

what breaks your heart,

and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in Love, stay in love,

and it will decide everything.

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vol 7 issue 7