Just as exciting, last night Buddy and I went to dinner at Nozomi with two of my students from three years ago. It's scary how fast time passes, but it was so nice to sit and talk over good food and hear what they both had been up to lately. They are marching toward a new phase in their lives, and it makes me feel...well, frankly, it makes me feel old. But regardless, I like the idea that the classroom brought us together at one point, and that the lessons we learned there might bring us together again in the future.
I wonder if this is why some people choose to become teachers—not just the "teaching" and the "learning" ("Oh, I learn so much from my students," blah blah), but the possibilities of seeing people not within relations of teachers/students but...look, we have this time that we spend together in this room that's meant for learning, education, discipline...and yes, at the end of the day I will give you a grade and you cannot change or challenge it...but I know things that you don't, and you know things that I don't, and maybe we can take a few moments each time we meet and share them, so that we come out a little bit wiser, a little bit stronger, because of it all.
Who knows. We can't all be O Captain! My Captain! like Robin Williams, but I suppose some of us can choose to aim for that. At the least I am ecstatic that I am not teaching in a country that mandates a very clear (and oppressive) hierarchy between teachers and students. Yes, Japan. I am talking about you.
So, the above is a photo of one of my students, or at least, it's a photo of her fist. She hates pictures but I wanted to take one, so we arrived at a compromise. Like what any teacher/student relationship should be all about.
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