Faculty Column: Dr. Robin Harris

Last Wednesday night, I came out of class to encounter a distressed young man unable to retrieve a book left behind in a now-locked classroom. When he walked out with an Academic Planner clutched to his chest, I recognized him as a first-semester student with passion. This student understands his personal responsibility for his own education. GC&SU provides many resources, but only students with passion for their education will seek resources out and communicate their needs to those available to assist them. Passion keeps us committed even at the most stressful of times; passion focuses us on our goal, no matter how steep the climb or the cost. A life without passion is lacking in focus and fulfillment. Some of us are fortunate enough to have meshed our passion with our career; others celebrate their passion through leisure activities.

If you have not yet identified your passion, that’s okay. Become involved; try different things, explore varied interests. Don’t worry: when you find what you really care about, you will know. You are fortunate to be at the stage in life when you can plan a career that includes your passion. Don’t let money be the driving force behind your choice of major. Money is nice, but passion is a great motivator on those mornings you really don’t want to get out of bed.

Many GC&SU faculty and staff have a passionate interest in education as a tremendous gift to share with young people that might then go out and use education in their own lives, and that of others, as a resource vital to personal well-being, professional success, and to fulfilling the responsibilities of citizenry in a democracy.

Communication is key to successfully sharing the gift of education. Faculty must clearly communicate expectations; students must clearly communicate questions, or the need for clarity or assistance. All relationships, personal or professional, rely on communication, but all-too-often we “assume” what someone else is thinking or their motivations. Such assumptions can render relationships impotent or threatening, …certainly less than fulfilling. Yet communication is a two-way street; often we find ourselves at the mercy of the perceptions and opinions of others. We really must “recognize the things we can change, and accept the things we can’t.” No matter how intense our passion, or how clear our communication, we are powerless to change someone else without their recognition of the need to change, and their willingness to do so. Sometimes recognizing our own need to change is difficult enough much less facing the insurmountable task of changing habits and patterns deeply embedded in our life…no matter how negative. Thoreau’s statement: “All men lead lives of quiet desperation” is one of my favorite reminders that life is difficult for everyone, and that those personal difficulties color not only our responses to other people, but theirs to us as well.

Things rarely just happen “to” us. Even when they do, we control our response and that determines the impact on our life, not the event itself. We must actively engage in the creation of our own lives. Sometimes that means identifying your passion, and staying with it no matter what the cost. Sometimes we must turn away from things that diminish our passion or hinder our ability to achieve the goals we have set. Sometimes we have to examine and re-examine the ways we communicate our needs and expectations to others, and accept that others might not perceive our communication in the same way we intended. Sometime we have to take responsibility for things we would like to blame on others, or for our own attitudes that allow negativity to dominate us, and our interaction with others.

Getting a college education is work: a “job” requiring at least a 40 hour a week with class time only a small part of that. College students often hear: “This is the best time in your life, so enjoy it!” Yet in reality college requires self-discipline and time management skills, and often includes disappointments, problems, and difficult hurdles.

One of the challenges of working with college age students is that youth carries an inherent sense of invincibility and infinite promise. Educators are privileged to participate in the formative process of college that influences the future of our students and of those our students will encounter, as well as the places where they will live and work. This is a grave responsibility. On the one hand, we strive to empower students by connecting them to their limitless possibilities. On the other hand, we must prepare our students for futures with no guarantees and which require their active involvement.
Find your passion. All the world lies before you. You really are the future.

Thanks for letting us be a part of it.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 3 2004. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry