Teaching and Learning

As I reflect on some of the events that transpired at work today, the one that keeps coming back to me involves some conversations I had with some of our student employees. They are incredibly hard workers, and our office simply could not survive without their efforts.

A recent shake-up in our office has led to my becoming their immediate supervisor, a role that excites me to no end, yet makes me apprehensive because I've never had such a responsibility before. I have grown concerned that our full-time staff (a total of four of us, under normal circumstances) is losing touch with the student staff. This troubles me for several reasons.

First, our full-time staff tends to get caught up in our own work that it is easy for us to forget about the responsibilities that we leave for the student staff. I'm just as guilty of this as everyone else. Second, most of our students work just a few hours per week. Some of the projects we ask them to do are ongoing ventures that require cooperation from all of them. Occasionally it is difficult for one student to determine how to pick up the project from where the last student left off. Last, they are amazingly astute, observant individuals. We rely on them to be our eyes and ears, to pick up on trends and campus buzz and then report it back to us. Communication among everyone is critical!

A complete list of reasons why I admire our students would necessitate another blog post. But one that truly blows me away is how bright these people are. Before I began chatting with them today, I anticipated that I would learn a few things from them. But they surpassed my expectations. All of them were incredibly generous with the way they listened to my ideas and expanded them and then regurgitated the concepts in a millenial-generation context. Their input didn't just leave me enlightened, it left me inspired. What terrific resources they are!

Aside from their clever twists to some of the ideas I pitched to them, their ability to paint me a picture of the positives and negatives of my original thoughts truly fascinated me. I spent a lot of time talking about a variety of communication tools, from things like text messaging, Facebook & Twitter, and email, to more primitive modes like a notepad and scratch paper. Some of the most brilliant ideas that these students gave me involved a pen and paper, not cell phone and keypad.

They also wonderfully gave me a glimpse into the life of a typical college student at Drake. Two that I talked to were first-year male students, and another was a female who plans to graduate in May. I was schooled in the basics of Facebook (for which I do not have an account) and learned that I have a lot more to learn. Another demonstrated her support for being environmentally responsible. I see reminders virtually everywhere to "save trees" and recycle some of my waste, but those messages typically are broadcast by our administration. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to witness one of our own students do a quick analysis of our level of "green."

Another concept that all of the students revealed to me--in a subtle, body-language sort of way, for the most part--is just how overloaded they can become. College is a place where young (and old!) adults can discover themselves, of course, and I have found that most of them are rather heavily involved in student and/or professional organizations outside of the classroom. This is something that I support in almost every circumstance. However, I become concerned when anybody--not just students--spread themselves too thin and find themselves in over their heads.

It seems that at least one of our student-employees has fallen victim to this phenomenon, and I suspect that it's true for the rest of our student staff to varying degrees. Two of the students I spoke with today clearly were sleep-deprived (I don't miss that about my college days!), and the third student has shown signs of struggling to balance his or her activities this semester.

I'm comforted that if an individual is to feel overloaded with responsibilities--class, work, outside projects, etc--then the college days seem like a logical time to experience it. How can I not admire them for involving themselves so enthusiastically? It makes me wish that I could go back to that period of my life and try things that I wouldn't have normally involve myself with. And if all of these things turn out to be too much, then so what? We don't know unless we give it a shot. If we have to take a step back and clear our plate a little, then so be it. At least then we have a better sense of our own comfort level.

From an ethical perspective, the challenges that most college students are forced to deal with are mostly a matter of choice. Some would argue that their need to hold a paying job and study late into the night is a necessary evil that they are predetermined to battle. Some are rewarded with their hard work by graduating with honors or with the sense of pride they feel as they walk across the stage during commencement or the solid job that they secure upon graduation. Others hold on to the things that they have learned about themselves along the way, and I sure hope that they appreciate their own accomplishments. As the wise, wise Miley Cyrus says, "It's not about how fast you get there. It's not about what's waiting on the other side. It's the climb."

And I just quoted Hannah friggin Montana. Now I KNOW that I have had a long day and that my brain has revolted against me and sputtered into oblivion.