Stewardship and the SKS Core Values
Midterm Course Overview and Academic Requirements
The midterm scope includes an introduction to core values and peace education.
Progress in life of Victor R., as well as the institution's mission, vision, and goals, serves as the foundation for these topics.
Core values are integrated into all subjects and account for of the total grade for every subject.
Interaction requirements for the lesson involve responding to prompt questions on a one-whole sheet of pad paper.
The SKS Identity and Four Core Pillars
The identity of a successful student in the SKS institution is built on four strong pillars:
Stewardship: The foundational pillar and primary focus of the current curriculum.
Competence: Developing the skills necessary to be world-class or global, ensuring students are competent enough to travel and work anywhere in the world.
Academic Excellence: Rejecting the "bare minimum" mindset. It involves exerting maximum effort and extending oneself to excel academically rather than settling for mediocrity.
Social Responsibility: Recognizing one's role in society and the community to make a meaningful difference.
Conceptual Definition of Stewardship
Stewardship is defined as the responsible management and oversight of resources entrusted to someone’s care.
A steward is explicitly not the owner of the resources but is tasked with taking good care of them.
In a contemporary or "Gen Z" context, stewardship is described as having "main character energy."
This perspective encourages students to take full ownership of their resources and opportunities, ensuring they are the leaders of their own lives rather than background characters.
It involves taking charge of personal "blessings."
Metaphorically, stewardship is compared to a road trip: if you are entrusted with the car (the resources) or even just the Bluetooth speaker for the music, you have the responsibility to manage that resource for the benefit of the group and the trip.
Domain 1: Environmental Stewardship
This domain focuses on the physical world and how humans interact with it. It encompasses three specific actions:
Conservation: Protecting natural habitats, ecosystems, and biodiversity from degradation and destruction.
Restoration: Actively repairing damaged ecosystems. Examples include reforestation, wetland recovery, and soil renewal. This is a task for the current generation to repair the environmental damage caused by industrialization and waste in the past.
Sustainable Resource Management: Utilizing renewable and sustainable resources like solar or hydro energy for long-term use. Sustainability implies a focus on the long run and continuous management of resources.
Environmental stewardship can be practicing through simple acts, such as the proper disposal of trash and using reusable items like tumblers or water bottles daily to protect the environment.
Domain 2: Financial and Fiduciary Stewardship
This domain serves as a practical survival guide for managing money and preparing for professional life.
Personal Finance: Managing personal assets, debts, and investments wisely to ensure long-term stability and a lasting legacy. For a student, this includes managing a daily allowance and prioritizing educational expenses over luxury items like iced coffee or "Samgyup" (Samgyeopsal).
Fiduciary Duty: The legal and ethical obligation of board members, trustees, or financial advisers to act solely in the best interest of beneficiaries or shareholders. In a student context, this applies to student leaders (e.g., treasurers or auditors) who must protect the funds of the student body and use them for the benefit of the department.
Institutional Endowment Management: Allocating and preserving organizational funds to ensure long-term financial sustainability. This allows a business or organization to grow and ensures employees receive their benefits on time.
Trust is the central element of financial stewardship, established early by how one manages personal allowances.
Domain 3: Data and Information Stewardship
In the digital age, data is considered "gold," and information technology students are specifically tasked with protecting it.
Data Governance: Defining protocols, access controls, and quality standards for organizational data. This involves making effective use of data while keeping it protected.
Privacy and Security: Safeguarding personally identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property against unauthorized access or breaches. Practicing good security includes avoiding weak passwords (e.g., "password123") and not sharing personal identifiers like PIT or passwords with others.
Digital Preservation: Archiving historical records, software, and digital media to prevent data loss. This involves managing one's "digital footprint."
A digital footprint is permanent; posts made to years ago can still be accessed, making user curation and privacy protection online essential to maintaining peace.
Domain 4: Corporate and Organizational Stewardship
This domain focuses on how companies and individuals manage their reputation and human assets.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): Aligning business operations with societal well-being, environmental sustainability, and ethical leadership. It moves beyond simple profit to include morality.
Human Capital Stewardship: Investing in employee well-being, professional growth, safe working conditions, and equitable practices. Human capital (the workers) is the biggest asset of any company.
Brand and Reputation Management: Protecting the trust of customers to ensure the business can thrive and grow.
Poor stewardship of human capital, such as creating a toxic workplace culture that leads to employee burnout, can destroy an organization's reputation and lead to boycotts.
Domain 5: Theological and Faith-Based Stewardship
This domain views resources through a spiritual lens, regardless of specific religious beliefs.
Creation Care: Viewing nature as a divine creation that requires human care and protection rather than exploitation.
The Three T's: Management of Time, Talent, and Treasure as gifts for community service and spiritual fulfillment.
Time: Recognized as the most valuable asset for students. Managing time between study, sports, family, and social life is the ultimate test of stewardship. Students often face challenges with the "black hole" of social media (TikTok or short videos) that consumes time.
Talent: Utilizing skills provided by the Creator—such as video editing, hosting, or public speaking—to serve the community.
Treasure: Connecting back to financial stewardship, this involves using resources for the common good and supporting religious or community organizations.
Domain 6: Civic and Cultural Stewardship
This involves the management of shared public resources and history.
Public Infrastructure Stewardship: Maintaining municipal assets, parks, transportation, and civil services for future generations. This is a duty for both government officials and the citizens who use these spaces.
Cultural Heritage Preservation: Safeguarding historical monuments, arts, languages, and traditional knowledge. Acts such as vandalizing public property or historical sites are violations of this stewardship.
Questions and Discussion
Throughout the session, prompts were provided for student reflection on a sheet of pad paper:
Which of the four core values (Stewardship, Competence, Academic Excellence, or Social Responsibility) is the hardest to maintain in an online learning environment?
In one or two words, what is one thing someone could entrust to you that you would treat like absolute gold?
True or False: Do you use reusable tumblers or water bottles daily as part of environmental protection?
On a scale of to , how good are you at saving money instead of impulse buying on online shopping platforms?
Have you changed your main password for the Learning Management System (LMS) in the last few weeks?
Would you boycott or stop buying from a brand if you found out they treat their employees poorly?
Which of the Three T's (Time, Talent, or Treasure) is currently hardest for you to manage?
Name one historical site or public park in your area that deserves better care and preservation.
Reflection Assignment: The PREP Method
Students are required to choose one of the six stewardship domains where they need the most personal growth and write a paragraph of approximately to sentences using the PREP method:
Point (P): Clearly state which stewardship domain requires the most work starting today.
Reason (R): Explain why this area is currently a challenge, highlighting core concepts that apply.
Example (E): Share a specific personal habit or a real-life scenario where you recently fell short in this domain.
Point Repetition (P): Reiterate the commitment to improving this area by stating one concrete action to be taken starting this week.