This School Year . . . Choose Respect, Be Different

(This was a short speech that I gave this morning to our area teachers.)

Whether you are a teacher, administrator, or staff member, you and I have much in common . . . we have both chosen to work in a field that is celebrated for its high ideals and noble endeavors. No matter your role, you and I are educators, and since Plato first laid down what would become the principles of Western educational philosophy in his book The Republic, we have been honored among mankind’s professions as the world’s “philosopher kings and queens.” . . . However, we also work in a field that’s sometimes vilified, fingered as the cause of society’s every ill, asked to be parent, priest, and police officer, and then asked to do it all without clear direction nor sufficient resources and under the most stringent of accountability measures. Given such a dichotomy of feelings, it is – at this time of the year especially – sometimes difficult to rise to meet the demands of our high calling. Yet we do it year after year and, in general, we do it with excellence and professionalism.

But it’s becoming more difficult, isn’t it? There are a lot of reasons, but I’m convinced that educators today must deal with the results of two key societal attitudes of the modern era: indifference and disrespect. I think you will agree that we increasingly see the combined effects of these symbiotic attitudes among our students, their parents and families, in community groups, and, yes, even in our co-workers and ourselves.

Among students, the voices of indifference and disrespect combine to ask questions like, “Why will I ever have to know or use this crap?” “Will this be on the test” or, my favorite (and be sure to listen for the whine . . .) “Is this really due today?” Among all of us, indifference expects everything its own way and offers up nothing in return. It expects and even demands the greatest of rewards for mediocrity, self-importance, and fitting into the latest fashionable mold of the day. As for disrespect, it taints the importance and meaning of everything we say and do in our classrooms and in the actions displayed in our board rooms, offices, hallways, playgrounds and gym floors. We, as educators, can have absolutely no positive influence when disrespect rules . . . either when it’s held by others about us, when we hold it about ourselves or our colleagues, or . . . and I want you to hear this clearly . . . when we hold it about our students.

Here are two brief anecdotes, concerning this last point: The first comes from my wife, Rita, who after college, worked as a speech pathologist at Alton (Mo.) Elementary School. As she got to know her students, she became acquainted with a kindergarten boy named Nathaniel who, she learned, had the nick-name Nate-Nate. One day, Nathaniel approached Rita and another teacher in the hallway. When Nathaniel came near to them, Rita asked him, “Nathaniel, tell Mrs. Johnson what they call you at home.” Without skipping a beat, the little boy looked up and said, “You mean ASS HOLE?”

For me, that is one of the funniest AND one of the saddest stories I’ve ever heard. I can only hope that Nathaniel knows today that he’s much more valuable than what someone led him to believe he was back in kindergarten.

My second anecdote comes from a personal experience with one of my honors students at Missouri State, a young lady I’ll call Amy. Like many honors students who come my way, Amy was bright, smiling, and a voracious learner. Socially, she was reserved and said little to her classmates. She was also attractive, of poorer means, and, as she told me, a “nobody half-breed,” part Cherokee part something else. Through our time together, I learned Amy just turned 20 years old, had a five-year-old daughter, and was living with her fourth male partner.

After completing the first semester of the honors program, Amy didn’t return. For probably two years, I heard nothing from her, nor of her . . . that is until she dropped by my office one day holding a bouquet of flowers, a Diet Dr. Pepper, a bag of my favorite peanut M&Ms, and a well used copy of what I learned was Amy’s favorite movie, A Year of Living Dangerously. As she was laying these items on my desk and with tears streaming down her face, she simply said, “I just had to thank you for helping me love myself again.” I stammered something out of my surprise, and then she, turning toward the door, said . . . “I also want you to know that I’m going to be a teacher someday. I will . . . no matter what anyone says.” And then she left.

First of all, I tell you both of these stories to remind you that these students are the students we both will soon stand before and work beside during this coming year. Nathaniel and Amy are NOT exceptional examples anymore.

Secondly, know that the attitudes of indifference and disrespect that surrounded Nathaniel and Amy were very real and very influential. But also know – and I challenge you to come to realize this on your on – that those very real influences can be offset by two powerful opposing attitudes and actions on your part. If the world is indifferent, you – as Plato’s ideal educator – must be different in that world and choose to make a difference. If the world is disrespectful, you must courageously face that disrespect and be genuinely and constructively respectful. In other words, fight indifference with difference; face disrespect with respect.

This is true when working with others, too, but it’s especially true when working with students – students who are my primary focus and concern no matter whether I’m wearing my teacher hat, my administrator hat, or my staff member hat. When I act and think with the intent to make a difference with my students, they sense it immediately and, in the base nature of the learner, they begin to mimic my actions, attitudes and thoughts. And when I show them respect, then they begin to respect me. When I respect my academic discipline, then they, in turn, move toward a deeper appreciation of those things I want them to know.

I realize this may sound very simplistic, and I may be just too naïve and too idealistic to know any better. But I know this works . . . It works with almost every one of my students – from the Nathaniels to the Amys. BUT you know, this works for me, too. For as an educator today, IF I give credence to all of the voices of indifference and disrespect out there, then I, too, can feel like an asshole and a half-breed prostituted for others’ desires.

And you know, that’s not what I am. For out of my many passions, I choose – like in the words of the Apostle Paul – to be a peculiar person – in this sense, an educator – that’s focused on every one of those individually unique minds, hearts, and souls that float through my part of the universe. I’m proud of my choice. . . and I hope you are, too.

So, today, with all due respect and with the encouragement to choose to be different in an indifferent world, I wish for each of you “a year of living dangerously”. . . I hope that this school year will truly be the best of your career so far!