Opinion

The end of an era

Saturday, May 5, 2007

For teachers and professors, every May is the end of an era because the graduates move on, to be replaced by a new crop of freshmen in the fall. It is just as certain as the changing of the seasons. Some of them hold great promise for the future, others you can only hope one day find their way.

 

This year has been no different. There are always a few, a precious few, that we are able to literally watch transform before our very eyes. They come as kids and they leave as adults. They come with little or no direction and leave with a purpose. A few come to class every day with their eyes bright with anticipation of learning more about the world they live in, carrying with them their hopes and plans and dreams. So many others just haven't gotten it yet and a few never will.

 

Many of our students become our friends during their short stay with us and some will remain friends forever. This is always difficult to predict because some you thought you would never hear from again stay in touch and others you were convinced would, don't. That's the uncertainty of life, not only in academe, but in the rest of the world as well. Even those who have a real knack for "reading" people often end up surprised by those very people we thought we knew better than anyone else did.

 That's why graduation day is always a sad day for those of us who have connected with our students because we know that we will never see or hear from many of them ever again. They came into our lives for a brief period of time, impacted on our lives in ways they may never know, and then one day they're gone, just as suddenly as they appeared a few years before.

 

We try so hard to prepare them for the world outside. It's important that they gain the knowledge required for the occupations and professions they will one day seek, but it's just as vital that they learn the habits of critical and analytical thought so they might equip themselves with the knowledge and the intellect that will lead them to their own investigations and conclusions rather than simply taking the word of others.

 

We try to tell them that knowledge is power and power is one of the benchmarks society uses to measure our value and our worth. Some understand the message, most do not.

 

Like parents sending their children out into the world, we also never know if the job we did as their teachers, advisors, and sometimes friends was enough. Did we prepare them well enough to compete in the most competitive society in the world? Did we boost their faith in themselves or did we detract? Were they encouraged by our words and actions or discouraged? It is often so easy to forget how just a word or even the lack of a word can have lasting, sometimes permanent effects on a young person trying to find their way in the world. It's something we try to be ever vigilant in doing but we all know that we sometimes fail as well.

 

I hope graduates everywhere look back on their high school and college days with fond memories. I hope that nothing we have said or done as educators has diminished their outlook on the world and their futures. I hope we have been roadways rather than roadblocks for their dreams. I hope they remember us and know somewhere deep in their inner soul that we wanted only the best that life had to offer for all of them.

 

I hope they know, more than anything else, that we care. And for those few in the profession who don't care, I hope you find a different career path because you can so often negate the work, the effort, and the love of those that do.

 

I salute the graduates of 2007 everywhere and wish you success and happiness as you journey down the road of life.

 

I also congratulate the Hayes Center High School Journalists for winning the Class D State Championship and especially Morgan,  (the only one I know) who captured third place in column writing and tied for second in In-Depth Newspaper Coverage. I'm proud of you.

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