ODE TO JOY

I was still thinking again about Jane as I got involved in a Linkedin discussion group about teaching.  I could hear echoes of Edgar Allan Poe:  “Blame, blame, blame.  The tintinnabulation of blame, blame, blame.”  All I can say is that when some academics, far too many academics, say “oh, those students,” they get less a than subtle snarl on their face, or slump in self-pitying resignation, or annoyed grimace without a demonstration of one scintilla of empathy.  Some, say the word “student” with such a cursedness that they should have their mouths washed with soap.

You know, our actions are actions are demonstrations of our values.  We are steeped in our imagination.  We are wrapped in our own mantra.  Every step we take is muscled by our perception.  Every breathe we take fills our lungs with assumption.  Our opinion of students is not a description of any student.  It’s a reflection of ourselves.  It’s a window into our own character, not the students’.. I don’t think pessimistic moaning and groaning changes anything or gets us anywhere except that they sap our strength, commitment, perseverance, and determination.  Too often, the seeds we plant in our perception, assumption, and imagination that spring to life in the day-to-day reality of our classroom experience are choking weeds.  And, thus we so narrow and degrade ourselves with each “ugh.”

Too many profs have a myopic tendency to blame poor performing students on being among the “letting anyone in” or the “don’t belongs” who are diluting academic rigor.  Too many academics, when they see a student in need, their first impulse is to reproach rather than help, to resist, reject or condemn any help as coddling, to attack second chances as watering down, to reject hope as fluffy, to oppose faith as soft, to criticize love as touchy-feely and weak.           Sometimes I wonder if resume, tenure, degrees act as eroding agents on compassion and empathy.  Sometimes I wonder if the length of a resume lengthens the distance between them and students.  Sometimes I wonder if the higher the degree the more blurred their vision from on high.  Sometimes I wonder if the amount of scholarship academics write quickens their inclination to write off students.

What would happen, then, if we choked the choking weeds?  What would happen if we felt a little of life’s goodness in the classroom and let that goodness be magnified throughout our being.  Do you know what would happen if we assumed the best instead of the worse, if we stopped assuming disappointment, gave the classroom a place in our lives?  Well, let me tell you a little secret.   The only things that matters in that classroom is how much you have chosen to matter in a student’s life and that you become more meaningful to both yourself and each student by giving and serving.

And, therein lies the real secret of all those teachers who make a difference.  They offer helping hands rather than pointing fingers.  The name of their game is to be game, not to blame.  They smile rather than sneer.  They regard each student as a possible.  They’re opportunists in the best sense of the word.  They stir up love, not judgment.  They smile, not sneer.  They wrap their love around each student, whatever happens, and make good things happen.  Their imagination is anchored in belief, hope, faith, and love.  They use each moment to express them.  They are a force of goodness, and live that goodness each moment.  They are beautiful in their own way, and that special beauty is a gift to each student.  And, when they say, “Oh, those students,” it is an ode to joy; it is uttered with a warm and embracing smile, not a cold and pushing away grimace.  They wake up each morning with an inner light that is brighter than the light of the day.  They walk enveloped in an aura of joy.  They are out and out optimists.  They’re a source of light.

If we truly want to judge a teacher, judge him or her by his or her hope.  If we truly want to measure a teacher, measure him or her by the size of his or her dream.  To the teacher who dreams and hopes and believe, and acts on them, there is no such person as impossible, untouchable, and hopeless.

You see, most students are touched most by those teachers who dream and hope and believe the most of them.

Louis

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About Louis Schmier

LOUIS SCHMIER “Every student should have a person who wants to help him or her help himself or herself become the person he or she is capable of becoming, and I’ll be damned if I am ever going to let one human being fall through the cracks in my classes without a fight.” How about a snapshot of myself. But, what shall I tell you about me? Something personal? Something philosophical? Something pedagogical? Something scholarly? Nah, I'll dispense with that resume stuff. Since I believe everything we do starts from who we are inside, what we believe, what we perceive, and what we do is an extension of ourselves, how about if I first say some things about myself. Then, maybe, I can ease into other things. My name is Louis Schmier. The first name rhymes with phooey, the last with beer. I am a 76 year old - in body, but not in mind or spirit - born and bred New Yorker who came south in 1963. I met by angelic bride, Susie, on a reluctant blind date at Chapel Hill. We've been married now going on 51 years. We have two marvelous sons. One is a VP at Samsung in San Francisco. The other is an artist with food and is an executive chef at a restaurant in Nashville, Tn. And, they have given us three grandmunchkins upon whom we dote a bit. I power walk 7 miles every other early morning. That’s my essential meditative “Just to …” time. On the other days, I exercise with weights to keep my upper body in shape. I am an avid gardener. I love to cook on my wok. Loving to work with my hands as well as with my heart and mind, I built a three room master complex addition to the house. And, I am a “fixer-upper” who allows very few repairmen to step across the threshold. Oh, by the way, I received my A.B. from then Adelphi College, my M.A. from St. John's University, and my Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have been teaching at Valdosta State University in Georgia since 1967. Having retired reluctantly in December, 2012, I currently hold the rank of Professor of History, Emeritus. I prefer the title, “Teacher”. Twenty-five years ago, I had what I consider an “epiphany”. It changed my understanding of myself. I stopped professoring and gave up scholarly research and publication to devote all my time and energy to student. My teaching has taken on the character of a mission. It is a journey that has taken me from seeing only myself to a commitment to vision larger than myself and my self-interest. I now believe that being an educator means I am in the “people business”. I now believe that the most essential element in education is caring about people. Education without caring, without a real human connection, is as viable as a person with a brain but without a heart. So, when I am asked what I teach, I answer unhesitatingly, “I teach students”. I am now more concerned with the students’ learning than my teaching, more concerned with the students as human beings than with the subject. I am more concerned with reaching for students than reaching the height of professional reputation. I believe the heart of education is to educate the heart. The purpose of teaching is to instill in all students genuine, loving, lifelong eagerness to learn and foster a life of continual growth and development. It should encourage and assist students in developing the basic values needed for learning and living: self-discipline, self-confidence, self-worth, integrity, honesty, commitment, perseverance, responsibility, pursuit of excellence, emotional courage, creativity, imagination, humility, and compassion for others. In April, 1993, I began to share ME on the internet: my personal and professional rites of passage, my beliefs about the nature and purpose of an education, a commemoration of student learning and achievement, my successful and not so successful experiences, a proclamation of faith in students, and a celebration of teaching. These electronic sharings are called “Random Thoughts”. There are now over 1000 of them floating out there in cyberspace. The first 185, which chronicles the beginnings of my journey, have been published as collections in three volumes, RANDOM THOUGHTS: THE HUMANITY OF TEACHING, RANDOM THOUGHTS, II: TEACHING FROM THE HEART, RANDOM THOUGHTS, III: TEACHING WITH LOVE, and RANDOM THOUGHTS, IV: THE PASSION OF TEACHING. The chronicle of my continued journey is available in an Ebook on Amazon's Kindle in a volume I call FAITH, HOPE, LOVE: THE SPIRIT OF TEACHING. There a few more untitled volumes in the works..

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