The Winter Term Begins

Leaving my last class tonight, I was struck by both the solitude of the walk to the car and how pleasant this term's classes seem to be. It is a heavy term, with 5 classes (4 preparations), but the students seem to me to be a little more serious this term. Since beginning here last year, I have been somewhat disappointed at the number of serious students I can teach. I don't wish to leave the impression that there are no serious students here, but that I just didn't seem to get them. I can't say that much followed from this realisation, but it was an idea that nagged at me.

For some reason, though, I am not disappointed. I have the same proportion of 'serious' students. There are no new courses I am teaching this term; in fact, I am teaching a couple to which I really would have preferred to leave until next year. Andi suggests that how I feel is a function of finally settling in. I am sure she is at least partially right, but I also suspect that I have come to a silent conclusion that these students are 'just as important' as any of the people I have taught in the past.

Now, this might strike someone as being a particularly callous thing to say. But, I am not saying that I ever considered my present students unimportant, just that when I was teaching students who were off to graduate and professional schools in preparation for careers in law, medicine, and research, I felt like the work was important. Last night, after a long day of first courses, it struck me that this work was just as important. These students are off on journeys of their own---just as potentially rewarding and important as any being embarked upon by any of my previous students.

It seems to me that this fact makes my work worthwhile.