Morality or Faith

Michael Burger

Dr. Mike, as his students refer to him, began his career as a professional educator in January 1970. During the first few days teaching in a small high school in northeast Nebraska, he began to realize that the configuration of public schools in the US is not designed to help teachers provide the best educational experiences for their students. That realization persisted throughout the next 50 years working with students and educators at all levels in 48 of the 50 U.S. states and in three other nations. In his quest to make a difference in public education, he completed his masters and doctoral degrees in Educational Administration and Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nebraska between 1975 and 1983. His career includes teaching doctoral-level students in the College of Education and directing the Learning Technology Center (LTC) at Texas &M University. He believes Christian educators would be a better example to the world and better able to develop students as disciples if they did not base their instructional policies and practices on values and theories that originate with efforts to increase the efficiency of business, industry, and the military. Those policies and practices subtly stress and reinforce the importance of conforming to prevalent moralities more than they stress the importance of seeking God's will as being essential to developing each person's personal spiritual relationship with God. Mike's students, peers, and supervisors have presented him with outstanding teaching awards in each of his teaching positions because of the inspiration, care, and attention he gives to each student and for his student-centered teaching style. Dr. Mike has written five books and is in the process of making them available to a broader audience. A common theme presses for attention throughout each of the five books -- The importance of Changing Perspectives from Morality to Faith.