by Larry L. Carter B.S., M.C.M., and President of GLCC
What is today's college graduates' attitude toward work? How are they emotionally being prepared in college to enter the workforce?
In a book entitled, "Working", a researcher interviewed hundreds of people across the country to find out the current attitude Americans have toward work. In the foreword of his book he wrote:
"This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence - to the spirit as well as to the body. It is about ulcers as well as accidents, about shouting matches as well as fistfights, about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. It is, above all, about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us."
If this is the pervasive attitude about work it is no wonder people wear such grim expressions come Monday morning.
William Faulkner wrote, "You can't eat for eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day…all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy."
Not wanting to remain silent on the topic Mark Twain penned, "I do not like work even when another person does it."
For many people, work has become a necessary evil. It is an unhappy means to a pragmatic end. If you want to pay the bills and pursue the American dream you have to join the ranks of the working "walking wounded".
Attitude Toward Work for GLCC Grads
Work always comes to mind when students are graduating from Great Lakes Christian College. After at least four years of devoted labor and at great personal cost they are sent out to a world of work. Will they end up have the same attitude toward work?
Not if they remember the lessons we have tried to teach them. In the process of providing our students with an excellent education we have tried to instill in them a proper attitude toward work.
We have taught them the principles found in Colossians 3:23 & 24 which states,
"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men… It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." The Apostle Paul says we are to do our work "heartily".
The word "heartily" literally means "from the soul". One commentator suggested, "Whatever task we accept, whatever job we set out to do, whatever assignment is given to us, we are to do it diligently, enthusiastically, with all our heart and soul." This is the Christian's work ethic.
Our mission is to prepare students to be servant leaders for the church and world. The most important lesson we teach is not how to be servant leaders but why.
We agree with Tozer who wrote,
"It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it why he does it."
As Dorothy Sayers shared,
"Work is not primarily a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is…the medium in which he offers himself to God."
Our goal is to have graduates who, no matter what they do, work from the soul and unto the Lord.
Discover More about GLCC
To learn more about GLCC, our admissions process, programs we offer or to schedule a tour, please contact us:
Greg Stauffer, VP of Enrollment Management (On Campus)
Phone: (517) 321-0242 ext. 230
Email: gstauffer@glcc.edu
Jon Jakubowski, Director of Online and Adult Classes
Phone: 517-321-0242, ext 249
Email: jjakubowski@glcc.edu
Click here for more info on our online programs.
We can’t wait to hear from you!
This article originally appeared in Great Lakes Christian College newsletter, The Key, May 2007 edition. It was written by Larry L. Carter B.S., M.C.M., and president of GLCC.
