For that education, I thank my parents and grandparents for paying for it and making it possible, and my professors for providing it.
Why do I say this now? Because yesterday I came across a note from a professor of mine at Hillsdale. It was part of a letter explaining my grade earned in a junior year American History seminar class.
Dear Matt,There's more in the note about the grade Dr. Willson gave me (it's not as bad as that paragraph may lead you to believe, but, as he notes, not as good as it should have been), and it concludes with a Christmas blessing to me and my family.
I guess you are going off to Washington before I can convince you to do one research project with all the energy and enthusiasm of which you are capable. I certainly understand how distracted you were for much of the semester, and I sympathize. I hope that you can learn from it all, and not be tempted too much by cynicism. The challenge of Washington is probably a good thing right now.
For fairly petty and self-destructive reasons, that semester was my worst. And while he didn't excuse it, Dr. Willson knew about it and understood it. Today, I hear stories from friends about their experiences at gigantic schools and they sound like tales from another planet. I'm willing to bet that notes like mine aren't written at too many schools these days. After all, TAs have their own classes to worry about.
Maybe sharing this makes me sound like a snob. Maybe, an elitist. Really, I'm just grateful.
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3 comments:
As an Alma College alumna and advisor to students on our tartan-cloaked campus, I can tell you that this kind of mentoring continues today at Michigan's small, liberal arts colleges.
Amazing what a little compassion and wisdom can do for young minds and lives, isn't it?
You're very right, Julie. And it gets me thinking that as we all hear consistently about the great network of Michigan's big public universities, there is an untold story of real excellence out there with chapters like Alma, Hillsdale, Calvin, Kalamazoo, Albion and many, many more.
As a faculty member and advisor at a large (13,500 students) open-admissions public university, I've written this kind of letter to my students--perhaps not as eloquently as Dr. Willson, but in the same spirit of caring guidance. Maybe it's not the size of the school but the mindset of the professor that makes the difference.
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