Thursday, September 17, 2009

Teaching isn't supposed to be hard...

... in this way.

One of the things I both love and hate about my job is that we're open admissions. BNCC will take you --- no matter what.

I love it because I know that students like Sara wouldn't go to someplace more selective. Sara came to BNCC because she lived down the road -- just the other side of the campus, not much further from school than I live now. She could walk/bike/jog or catch a ride to school -- it was close, and BNCC gave her a chance at a college education.

Sara was 28 when she came back to college... she had her 29th birthday during my Intro to Philosophy course -- and her 30th about the same time as debate nationals her only year debating.

In her 29th year, Sara bloomed. She found her voice -- she transformed from a student who lacked confidence in herself and her ideas to someone who could stand up and debate some of the best teams in the country.

All of you who teach have had your own Saras... and losing one, in her prime, is hard to handle. Sara was 32 when she died.

1 comment:

What Now? said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your student's death; what a waste of life, especially when it sounds like she was really coming into her own.