They Teach More Than Academics
Elizabeth Claydon
Issue date: 2/1/06 Section: features
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Versus Magazine Online [Image Edition]
I believe many are familiar with the saying "The people who make a difference in a life are not the richest, drive the fastest car, or have the most flashy titles to their name. The people who make the most difference in life are the people who care." In ten years all of that superficial materialism will be forgotten and obsolete. If you have not met someone who cared to an extent that they changed your life, you have experienced the greatest loss in life. Everyone needs someone to care for them and someone to care for; it is a basic human need to strive for affiliation and intimacy. At Vanderbilt, we need look no further for that someone who changes all of our lives, every single day: our teachers. Who could be more important?
Just consider, it is your first day of class and you walk into a musty corner room, sunlight streaming in the window, lighting particles of dust like an antique attic. The smell of old books enraptures your nose as you wonder how many years of learning took place in this room. Yet, the environment can only make so much of a difference to your education and life. Certainly, a warm comfy room with red padded chairs will make it easier on your rear end when you doze off to sleep during your 8:10, but to me, the person speaking is far more important.
Now visualize a teacher standing before you, ready to greet you on your first day. They could be cold, monotone-voiced, and the kind that hand you a syllabus with a smirk as if to say "Just try to pass it". But for a moment, let me give you a teacher who will make you smile, who will make you want to learn, and allow you to gain so much more than just an education.
Let me give you my high school AP History teacher. Imagine walking in to see a short stout man with graying wisps of hair, horn-rimmed glasses shoved in one breast pocket, a pointing stick in one hand, and a mischievous twinkle alighting in his eyes. He starts out your lecture in a booming voice, telling you to question everything you know, if only to learn why you believe something. He takes history and turns it into a story, making people real with motives and desires. You find yourself saying that Louis XIV was a pretty cool dude, though he lived 400 years ago. You catch yourself telling someone at lunch just why salt was important in trade hundreds and thousands of years ago. And yes, some think you are a nerd, but what is wrong with someone who has caught the flame of learning? All you require is a teacher like mine to pass that torch on; then it is up to you to keep it burning.