October 14, 2025 • 8 mins
Schools are placing tremendous efforts on test scores parents can get too caught up on scores and miss opportunities in the formation of faith. The Christian family has an opportunity when children struggle with a subject to build their faith with divine confidence.
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Episode Transcript
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Ethan (00:01):
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
This is raising joyful childrenin an angry world.
I'm Paul Osborne.
Today I want to dig into thesubject of report cards and can
report cards be deceptive In,the education system in the
United States, particularly inTexas, there's this massive
(00:25):
emphasis on testing and when thestates don't get, or the schools
don't get the results that theywant.
They'll often change the test orthe methods to get them, because
we all want a blue ribbon hightested score that shows the
greatness.
Of our school and our students.
We love test scores.
(00:45):
And yet I wanna suggest to youthat it often misses the larger
component of are you actuallygetting life skills?
Are you really learning what'simportant?
Or are you just able to absorb alot of information and then put
that information down on a testand then just leave it there and
move on?
And that's why I say reportcards don't always tell us
(01:06):
everything about what our childis learning.
And I think there's anopportunity here for parents to
bring some encouragement andpotential blessing in the
struggle.
I mean, let's say you've got twokids and one kid is a straight A
student, the other one is B andC's, and let's assume they're in
the fifth grade or higher.
(01:28):
Your assessment is likely to beif you're like a normal parent
while the A student's doing allthe hard work and that BBC
student needs to study more,sharpen their cognitive skills,
and that assessment can be rightif you have observed them sort
of fluffing off.
But if the child's putting inthe time we're, we're in a
different realm.
(01:48):
And this is where I think we canfind some encouragement and some
blessing.
Let me break this down if you'llbear with me a minute.
Psychology would, would talksabout this term of
self-efficacy, and it comes outof this theory of what is called
cognitive overload.
In other words, you've got toomany pieces of information, too
many tasks being expected tolearn at the same time, and you
(02:13):
become overloaded.
And, and people that can thendevelop what is called a
metacognitive skill.
In other words, something thatis outside the traditional or
normal way of learning.
In, in the world of psychology,they call that self-efficacy.
In other words, let's say thestudent should be able to master
(02:33):
a subject in X amount of hoursby doing the exercises in a
particular workbook and.
You're talking about that andyou go, well, that formula
didn't work.
They did the exercises, they putin the time, but they're still
struggling with the topic.
And, and all of us are going tofind with our kids and ourselves
(02:56):
some topic, uh, some skillsetthat we're gonna struggle with.
And I'm not talking about alearning disability or some
severe dyslexia or somethinglike that.
I'm just talking about, Hey,this is something that I'm
struggling with.
And the struggle forces us totap something deeper inside of
us.
And in the world of mentalfitness, this is what we call
(03:17):
the self-efficacy orself-confidence, and the
behaviorist is gonna describethis as meta cognition.
Meta before Facebook claimedthis word, it means something
beyond the physical realm,something beyond the mind and
the brain.
And, and I wanna say that the,the Christian world also sees
(03:38):
this, but it's a betterunderstanding that that struggle
with a topic.
Is is going to give us theopportunity to search for
something that is both outsideof us, God and inside of us,
right?
The Holy Spirit says he's gonnacome live with us.
This is what the spirit filledlife means, and here the child
(03:58):
gets to learn to trust God forthe power, the gifts, and the
effectiveness of overcomingsomething difficult.
This is where we find thedesire, the power, and the
promises of God.
To change the worldview of our,of our young people as a person
seeking to not to avoidobstacles, right?
(04:21):
We wanna change the person fromseeking to avoid obstacles, to a
person that sees life'schallenges as opportunities to
grow their faith.
Here's the place I hope you findyourself when you see a report
card and your son or daughter isstruggling with a particular
subject, and that is seen as anopportunity.
To reach out to God, bothexternally and internally in a
(04:46):
spirit-filled life, and toembrace the struggle and help
them see challenges asopportunities to build their
faith in God and allow God tobuild resilience in them,
something they will need inadulthood.
And I believe the starting pointof this is helping them, uh,
(05:06):
come to terms with the wordsthat Jesus uses all the time.
In fact, it it's the beginningof Christ coming to the earth.
The angels tell the shepherdsout on the fields.
Do not be afraid.
Jesus uses this term over andover, and he starts with Peter
when he first catches the fishand he says, I'm unclean.
And he says, don't be afraid.
(05:28):
Same term, he uses the amount oftransfiguration.
I don't want to get into a hugebiblical lecture here, but don't
be afraid of the struggle ofwhat the world is gonna think of
you.
If you don't get a good grade.
You, you have to move from thatfear of the world judging you to
(05:49):
now trusting in the promise ofGod.
Peter, for example, moves fromthis incredible profession that
you are the Christ, the Son ofGod, to then struggling with the
mission of Jesus towards thecross.
And here, here's what I hope wecan see when these report cards
come.
The report card is only tellingyou part of the process.
(06:10):
It only reflects oftentimes.
What comes easy and what doesnot straight a's, may not be as
beneficial as they appear, andas c may not be as detrimental
as you initially think.
If your son or daughter'sgoofing off, that's a different
story and that's a differentlesson.
Let's confess and repent of ourslothfulness, our laziness,
(06:32):
which is a valuable spiritualskill in itself.
But the report card, in my view,is an opportunity to discover
early in life what it means tolive in the world, but not of
the world.
By not fearing the judgment ofthe world and seeking God's
wisdom and power to provide us.
(06:52):
The strength to overcome theobstacles we face to be of the
world is to either condemn thepoor grade or over praise the
great grade in search ofconfidence, self-efficacy inside
the self, but to be.
Not of the world means to seelesser grades as opportunities
(07:16):
for learning to trust God.
High grades as opportunities topraise God.
And that's what we're trying tobuild from a report card.
I, I've been a substitute at mychurch for the last three weeks,
fourth grade, one week, fifthand sixth the next.
And I will tell you my greatestconcern.
(07:36):
Is what I might call familiaritywith the Bible without
understanding the greater storyand what it means for my life.
And, and this is where thisgrade, 4, 5, 6, and seven is
where this transition needs tostart taking place to see these
stories in their meaning andwhat they mean on how I see the
(07:57):
world, the lens in which Iunderstand the life and the
world that I live in.
Uh, this age is, is theopportunity, what I would call
the age of opportunity to starthelping our kids see the deeper
meanings, but for Christianchild to grasp these concepts.
We need these opportunities thatGod presents in things like
(08:19):
report cards as a means ofteaching them how the
spirit-filled life of faithworks.
Paul (08:28):
The ultimate battle for the heart and soul is a fight
for identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Paul (2) (08:41):
Until next time, let's remember the words for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
This is raising joyful childrenin an angry world.
I'm Paul Osborne.
Today I want to dig into thesubject of report cards and can
report cards be deceptive In,the education system in the
United States, particularly inTexas, there's this massive
(00:25):
emphasis on testing and when thestates don't get, or the schools
don't get the results that theywant.
They'll often change the test orthe methods to get them, because
we all want a blue ribbon hightested score that shows the
greatness.
Of our school and our students.
We love test scores.
(00:45):
And yet I wanna suggest to youthat it often misses the larger
component of are you actuallygetting life skills?
Are you really learning what'simportant?
Or are you just able to absorb alot of information and then put
that information down on a testand then just leave it there and
move on?
And that's why I say reportcards don't always tell us
(01:06):
everything about what our childis learning.
And I think there's anopportunity here for parents to
bring some encouragement andpotential blessing in the
struggle.
I mean, let's say you've got twokids and one kid is a straight A
student, the other one is B andC's, and let's assume they're in
the fifth grade or higher.
(01:28):
Your assessment is likely to beif you're like a normal parent
while the A student's doing allthe hard work and that BBC
student needs to study more,sharpen their cognitive skills,
and that assessment can be rightif you have observed them sort
of fluffing off.
But if the child's putting inthe time we're, we're in a
different realm.
(01:48):
And this is where I think we canfind some encouragement and some
blessing.
Let me break this down if you'llbear with me a minute.
Psychology would, would talksabout this term of
self-efficacy, and it comes outof this theory of what is called
cognitive overload.
In other words, you've got toomany pieces of information, too
many tasks being expected tolearn at the same time, and you
(02:13):
become overloaded.
And, and people that can thendevelop what is called a
metacognitive skill.
In other words, something thatis outside the traditional or
normal way of learning.
In, in the world of psychology,they call that self-efficacy.
In other words, let's say thestudent should be able to master
(02:33):
a subject in X amount of hoursby doing the exercises in a
particular workbook and.
You're talking about that andyou go, well, that formula
didn't work.
They did the exercises, they putin the time, but they're still
struggling with the topic.
And, and all of us are going tofind with our kids and ourselves
(02:56):
some topic, uh, some skillsetthat we're gonna struggle with.
And I'm not talking about alearning disability or some
severe dyslexia or somethinglike that.
I'm just talking about, Hey,this is something that I'm
struggling with.
And the struggle forces us totap something deeper inside of
us.
And in the world of mentalfitness, this is what we call
(03:17):
the self-efficacy orself-confidence, and the
behaviorist is gonna describethis as meta cognition.
Meta before Facebook claimedthis word, it means something
beyond the physical realm,something beyond the mind and
the brain.
And, and I wanna say that the,the Christian world also sees
(03:38):
this, but it's a betterunderstanding that that struggle
with a topic.
Is is going to give us theopportunity to search for
something that is both outsideof us, God and inside of us,
right?
The Holy Spirit says he's gonnacome live with us.
This is what the spirit filledlife means, and here the child
(03:58):
gets to learn to trust God forthe power, the gifts, and the
effectiveness of overcomingsomething difficult.
This is where we find thedesire, the power, and the
promises of God.
To change the worldview of our,of our young people as a person
seeking to not to avoidobstacles, right?
(04:21):
We wanna change the person fromseeking to avoid obstacles, to a
person that sees life'schallenges as opportunities to
grow their faith.
Here's the place I hope you findyourself when you see a report
card and your son or daughter isstruggling with a particular
subject, and that is seen as anopportunity.
To reach out to God, bothexternally and internally in a
(04:46):
spirit-filled life, and toembrace the struggle and help
them see challenges asopportunities to build their
faith in God and allow God tobuild resilience in them,
something they will need inadulthood.
And I believe the starting pointof this is helping them, uh,
(05:06):
come to terms with the wordsthat Jesus uses all the time.
In fact, it it's the beginningof Christ coming to the earth.
The angels tell the shepherdsout on the fields.
Do not be afraid.
Jesus uses this term over andover, and he starts with Peter
when he first catches the fishand he says, I'm unclean.
And he says, don't be afraid.
(05:28):
Same term, he uses the amount oftransfiguration.
I don't want to get into a hugebiblical lecture here, but don't
be afraid of the struggle ofwhat the world is gonna think of
you.
If you don't get a good grade.
You, you have to move from thatfear of the world judging you to
(05:49):
now trusting in the promise ofGod.
Peter, for example, moves fromthis incredible profession that
you are the Christ, the Son ofGod, to then struggling with the
mission of Jesus towards thecross.
And here, here's what I hope wecan see when these report cards
come.
The report card is only tellingyou part of the process.
(06:10):
It only reflects oftentimes.
What comes easy and what doesnot straight a's, may not be as
beneficial as they appear, andas c may not be as detrimental
as you initially think.
If your son or daughter'sgoofing off, that's a different
story and that's a differentlesson.
Let's confess and repent of ourslothfulness, our laziness,
(06:32):
which is a valuable spiritualskill in itself.
But the report card, in my view,is an opportunity to discover
early in life what it means tolive in the world, but not of
the world.
By not fearing the judgment ofthe world and seeking God's
wisdom and power to provide us.
(06:52):
The strength to overcome theobstacles we face to be of the
world is to either condemn thepoor grade or over praise the
great grade in search ofconfidence, self-efficacy inside
the self, but to be.
Not of the world means to seelesser grades as opportunities
(07:16):
for learning to trust God.
High grades as opportunities topraise God.
And that's what we're trying tobuild from a report card.
I, I've been a substitute at mychurch for the last three weeks,
fourth grade, one week, fifthand sixth the next.
And I will tell you my greatestconcern.
(07:36):
Is what I might call familiaritywith the Bible without
understanding the greater storyand what it means for my life.
And, and this is where thisgrade, 4, 5, 6, and seven is
where this transition needs tostart taking place to see these
stories in their meaning andwhat they mean on how I see the
(07:57):
world, the lens in which Iunderstand the life and the
world that I live in.
Uh, this age is, is theopportunity, what I would call
the age of opportunity to starthelping our kids see the deeper
meanings, but for Christianchild to grasp these concepts.
We need these opportunities thatGod presents in things like
(08:19):
report cards as a means ofteaching them how the
spirit-filled life of faithworks.
Paul (08:28):
The ultimate battle for the heart and soul is a fight
for identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Paul (2) (08:41):
Until next time, let's remember the words for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
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