Greg Ryan, associate professor of political science at Union, has a long and winding journey with learning. This path encompasses both formal education and learning through simply living life. However, before we hear his story, I think it is important to first begin by saying that his education began with Christ, and it will all circle back to be tested under Christ.
“You can always keep going back to the Bible,” said Ryan. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That’s a guide for everything else. Things you’re hearing elsewhere you should integrate with and you should test against it. I would argue the more you do that, it’s not going to erode your faith. Your faith is going to grow. To stay in the Word, it’s so important for every aspect of our lives.”
Ryan grew up in Nashville and spent all of his elementary, junior high, high school and undergraduate college years at Church of Christ institutions. While he was, of course, learning in the classroom during this time, he also took many lessons away from working. In his life, he has worked in 15 or 16 jobs: a lumber yard, the Lipscomb maintenance cutting grass, a department store, a men’s store and a part-time cleaning service just to name a few. He noted how in every job a person will ever have, they will learn something about other people, the world in general and themselves. Though they may only learn what they do not like, they are still learning.
He remained in Nashville for his undergraduate degree at Lipscomb University. Following his graduation, Ryan began his first year of learning by travel. He moved to Tuscaloosa for his master’s degree at the University of Alabama, and he would later complete his Ph.D. work at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Between these two degrees, however, he spent a year abroad in Beijing teaching English to four-year-olds.
“Travel is a window, but actually residing somewhere else, you really come to understand not a lot more about the rest of the world but then you can compare to the U.S. and see how unique the U.S. is,” said Ryan.
In this time in China joined with future years abroad, he came to realize how much everyone is shaped by their culture and their surrounding circumstances. He was able to see that while Americans believe that the rest of the world thinks like Americans, it does not. Because the circumstances everywhere are so different, the mindset and actions of the people in every country are also different. For instance, Ryan experienced a stronger value of friendship in China than in the United States.
After he completed all of his degrees, Ryan went into the navy. In Pensacola, Fla. he trained in officer candidate school. He was then sent to Japan where he traveled throughout Asia as well as out of Asia to the Middle East.
Ryan can pick out one very clear cultural difference between Westerners and the people he encountered in East Asia: karaoke. In the West, if we are thinking something, we say it. If we are feeling something, we emote. However, in East Asia emotions and actions are separate. Though it took Ryan a while to understand this, he was able to see it in action. In his time in East Asia, he discovered that karaoke is the time to express yourself.
“I’ve done karaoke in three countries: Korea, China and Japan. Never done it in the Western Hemisphere,” said Ryan.
Karaoke is the time set aside when it is OK to express yourself. Ryan realized that while karaoke in the United States may be seen as cheesy, in the East, it is an important part of cultural life and self-expression. But he would not have learned this or had those cultural experiences if he had not intentionally sought out other cultures.
“If you’re somebody that wants to learn, I would say that living abroad is such a terrific opportunity for that because you’re learning all the time,” said Ryan. “Both times I was in China, I was learning the language and had constant opportunities to practice the language, but also to observe cultural dynamics in motion.”
When he finally came back to the United States, he was stationed on a ship outside of San Diego. Spending the next two and a half years aboard the ship, Ryan received confirmation on his views of human nature especially in respect to his Biblical worldview of human nature. The stressful situation paired with the constantly crammed space revealed people’s true character. While in high school, he may have read about corruption, but this was a first-hand experience. However, he also found great kindness.
He also learned a lot about himself: how to be a leader, how much motivation matters and how much caring about other people matters in your work. The practical experience of traveling was also extremely valuable for Ryan’s future as an international relations professor.
He spent a year and a half back in Nashville, teaching at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) before returning to China for another five months to teach for a semester there. Finally, about ten years ago, Ryan arrived at Union.
Back in the world of academia, Ryan remained devoted to both educational and practical learning. He keeps up with the political science field through attending various conferences, each year presenting his own work for critique and revisions. Another way he continues to learn is simply by reading constantly.
Something very interesting to know about Ryan is that he does not have the Internet at home. Why? Because the Internet leads to surfing and surfing can lead to a lot of lost time. With this mindset, he is better able to prioritize his time.
“In the Navy, a lot of what I did, you were tracking ships and airplanes. The way you would track them is they would turn on their radar, which means that they are looking out. But you pick up their radar signal, and you know where they are,” said Ryan. “I feel like with the Internet, you’re trying to find out stuff, but everyone else is just really finding more out about you by you turning on your radar, in a sense. And at home, I just would rather not turn on the radar.”
Avoiding that radar, Ryan keeps up with the latest news through the radio or online while he is at Union. When Ryan is at home, however, he spends the majority of his time reading books especially ones that expand his historical knowledge. Historical fiction and nonfiction are both important to Ryan because he strongly believes that history gives context to current circumstances, and that contextual information is vital for communication. If you understand the background of a culture, you are better equipped to positively communicate with its people.
Building your contextual knowledge, in Ryan’s point of view, enables you to think critically and discern whether you are on the right path. If you are not comparing the circumstance to anything, how do you know that you are not, in fact, on the wrong path?
“People tend to believe, ‘well we know about the past’. Well, dig in. As you do, you’ll realize, ‘I didn’t know that,’” said Ryan. “The past is more complex, but understanding dynamics in certain types of political and social situations may give you more context for understanding the present or the near future. So that is very interesting to me, important to me.”
He encourages his students to read with this mindset so that they can arm themselves to be able to think critically. Really his main goal as a professor in the political science department is to cultivate good critical thinkers. He believes the more things that people read that are timeless or have a timeless quality, the better their chances of success will be going forward in life as critical thinkers.
One student that Ryan has especially invested in is Raymond Chahyadi, a junior economics and political science major from Indonesia. They met in Chahyadi’s freshman year and because of Ryan’s experiences in East Asia, they were better able to relate and communicate with one another. Ryan often recommends specific articles and books that will help Chahyadi grow.
“I think Dr. Ryan really helped me to not be as naïve in how I view the world,” said Chahyadi. “Just from the things we’ve talked about, it has helped me see today’s events in a different scope, in a better scope. He has taught me to look at the underlying causes, not just the things being said at the surface level. For you to be able to see the underlying causes, you have to continue to learn which I think he definitely does. So it’s definitely a great benefit to you in the future because it pushes me to want to learn more.”
Ryan does not just learn from conferences and books, he also learns from other people. If he knows a student has gone on a study abroad or GO trip recently, he seeks them out to learn what they experienced in their travels because they may have seen or had an interaction with someone that can teach Ryan. He also makes a point to get to know international students and many students from missionary families. Since these students have grown up in a foreign country, Ryan recognizes that they know much more about that country than he does. So, he asks them a lot of questions.
“I know he knows a lot of stuff, but he is also learning a lot of stuff from me,” said Chahyadi. “He asks a lot about things he doesn’t know, and so if he’s still learning, then obviously I need to continue to learn too. His desire to continue to want to learn more pushes me to continue to want to learn more.”
A Bible verse to sum up Ryan’s pursuit of understanding: Proverbs 9:9-10 says, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”
photo courtesy of union photo project
