May 07, 2005
A note from the Professor
by Jeff Langstraat
Hi everyone (particularly students and teachers). If your schedule looks like mine, it's time for finals. The weather in Boston makes it easier than the spring usually is...no lovely day here--highs in the 40s and raining all day. It doesn't feel like a day to sit in the park and play.
I'd like to say a few words, as a teacher, now that the academic year is almost over. I'm gonna start with these two: thank you.
I love teaching. It's why I'm becoming an academic. It's you students who keep me coming back. We teachers don't tell you that enough.
Believe it or not, I really do want you to be successful; that's a shared goal. My job is to help you realize that goal, but not to reach it for you.
It's true, sometimes you frustrate us or piss us off. Sometimes you can be annoying (especially the ones who are constantly emailing us trying to figure out how to get a good grade: engage with the material and answer the questions!). But still, we keep coming back.
It's because of how damned adorable you are when the point we've been building up to for a half-hour finds a place in your mind. I don't mean to sound demeaning, but that reaction is so cute. (I hope it's still cute when I do it, too...usually in a coffee shop.)
I think that brings me to the biggest gift you've given us, your trust.
I'm one of "those" professors. I'm not saying this to brag (my Minnesota humility won't allow me to...indeed, it's proably the reason this explanatory note exists), but I'm one of those professors who students claim change their lives. I've been getting quite a few notes to that effect lately. I'm incredibly honored to know that I've touched you, that I've played a role in changing your understanding of the world, and yourself. I'm also terrified.
It's when I receive those notes, or when students come into my office and share the personal problems they're having (from not receiving an apartment due to race to being kicked out of the house for being gay to having a mother with cancer to fighting with your parents over a career choice....) that I'm reminded of the responsibility I have as a teacher. The realization that I have the power to change how people relate to their world is a little overwhelming. I appreciate this responsibility. I do my best not to abuse your trust. Indeed, I work my ass of to ensure I'm worthy of it.
It's true, I do have a political agenda when I walk into the classroom, but it's not some silly "liberal agenda." Instead, my goal is to provide you with information and an analytical framework that you can use in your role of citizen. That's my job, to help build active citizens.
Please, never lose that joy that comes from learning something new. Never lose the excitement that comes when you've discovered something that interests you. Always keep your willingness to ask hard questions, especially of yourself.
So, as you're getting ready for finals, studying or writing, cursing our names as you do so, remember this: we're doing the same thing. But, we keep coming back and doing it, year after year...
Thanks. Now get back to work.
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Say it loud, say it proud!
Jeff, what a great post. As a retired academic, i find your thoughts most forthright; they evoke many of the intrinsic reasons that teachers teach. I strongly and passionately recommend to everyone, young, younger, old, and even older alike, that they make the effort to contact that one teacher who made a difference in their orientation to the world around them. I have been enormously blessed, in terms of being honored for this or that teaching moment. Yet none of these compare to the short clear notes or casual conversations that come from former students years later reminding you that you were valuable in their lives. To know that something you said or did--or that you connected through some scholarly endeavor with their human beingness--to make a difference in their lives along the roads of life, is a powerful motivator to work harder at being a better teacher, educator, facilitator of life long learning.
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Comment by: Brandon at May 8, 2005 06:28 PM
WHat a beautiful post... I am (was) a TA, will be back as a visiting Lecturer at Purdue..... I taught four sememsters of Freshmen English. It was wonderful, and a great learning experience. I definitely relish the opportunity. Alas... I made it my agenda in the classroom to expose students to things that they otherwise would not have been exposed to.
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Comment by: spyder at May 7, 2005 06:52 PM