A new semester started today, and while my list of grievances with the current educational system is substantial and growing, there still are things I love about teaching.  There are moments from my career that are fulfilling and sustaining, and today, I want to reflect a little on those.  These are some of the things I love about teaching:

1) Seeing single moms dig down deep into themselves to find the strength, energy, and courage to improve themselves and their children’s lives.

2) Watching shy children emerge from their shells and blossom into confident young adults.

3) Contributing, however slightly, to the individual growth of people who want more for themselves.

4) Seeing the expressions people get when they have a lightbulb moment.

I could probably come up with more, but those are the big ones.  My favorite moment as a teacher happened several years ago.  I was teaching for a private college in a program designed for working adults, and as the teacher of the first series of classes they took, my role in the program was to prepare them for the academic rigor they would face and to a degree weed-out the weak.  On the first night of class, I identified one lady who was extremely rough around the edges.  She worked as a CNA in a rest home, and had lived a pretty hard life.  She was backwards, unsophisticated, and crude.  Her writing skills were barely functional, and I pulled her aside before the second meeting and told her that she either needed to dropout or get with a tutor.  From experience, I fully expected her to give up, but she called the college the next day and made arrangements.  She struggled through and earned a “C” for both Comp I and Comp II, but she made it and showed remarkable improvement.  A few months after she had finished my classes, I ran into her at Wal-Mart.  She was getting into the core of the program and was doing well.  The real difference in her, however, was with how she carried herself.  She walked with her shoulders up and her head high.  There was a self-confidence that hadn’t been there before, and she behaved with much more dignity and refinement that on that first night.  She was truly a stronger, better person, and while I won’t take much credit for her hard work, I’m proud that I did contribute a little to her betterment.  That’s what I love about teaching.

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I’m not sure why so many people are shocked by Lane Kiffin’s departure from UT.  Loyalty and decency are relics of the past, much like typewriters and cassette decks.  This is an age where Johnny Damon and Roger Clemons can go from the Red Sox to the Yankees without pause, and Brett Favre can suit up in Viking purple against his beloved green and gold.  It’s not just the athletes who no longer have loyalty.  Sports franchises will release a player without second thought if they can upgrade the position, however slightly, or sometimes even just save a buck.  I learned that lesson when the 49ers put Joe Montana out to pasture.  Sure, he was the most beloved player in the team’s history, but what had he done for them lately?

Of course, all of this is really just a symptom of the larger issue in society, which is that mega-corporations have steadily been eroding the foundation of loyalty for decades.  A friend mine’s mother worked for 19 years for one company, and when she was within just a few months of being eligible for a pension, the company laid her off and never called her back.  In her late thirties, she had to start over with a new company as a temp, making around $8 an hour.  That’s just one example of how large corporations screw working people; we all know dozens more.  In response to the “disposable workforce” mentality of the elite, workers have adopted a mercenary mentality.

That’s why it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that Lane Kiffin left UT in the lurch with no notice.  He got a better offer.  Had the roles been slightly reversed, I have no doubt Mike Hamilton and the university’s leaders would have fired him just as abruptly.  Don’t get me wrong; I’m not condoning his actions.  After making countless promises to parents about how he would take care of their boys and make sure they lived up not only their athletic potential but academic as well, he just stabbed those young men in the back and broke the commitments he made to them.  That’s despicable.  While I’m certain he won’t lose a night’s sleep over his actions, he should be ashamed at what he did to those kids.

But I’m not surprised that he did it.  We live in the Age of Greed.

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We live in an amazing age.  Yesterday, I shopped around for a printer for the poster Rob Brown designed.  I looked at one brick and mortar store here in town, and the man, while very kind, seemed confused and overwhelmed by what I wanted.  After probably fifteen minutes of discussion, he went to his office and scratched out a quote.  His price was well over what I could afford, so discouraged and disheartened, I came home, believing that I would have to wait even longer to get this beautiful artwork into print.

Then, I sat down with Google and searched for printers online.  Within minutes, I had browsed through three or four different sites, each with automated quoting systems.  The first couple were similar in price to the local shop, but a little less expensive.  Then, I found one that had an amazingly efficient system that within seconds had an affordable quote exactly to my specs.  After a few minutes of tinkering, I had a quote for twice as many at half the price.  I uploaded the file from my desk here in Tennessee to their server in LA, a file which I had downloaded from my artist in Georgia.  This morning, I awoke to a PDF proof that was a perfect match.  After a little deliberation and some second-guessing of myself, I paid for the order, and with any luck, this time next week, I’ll have the posters in hand and ready for this year’s convention schedule.  The truly amazing thing is how natural and normal the entire process felt.  Welcome to the digital age!

www.thirdaxe.com