With Honors

There was a time... when I was younger and more stupid... that I did not really appreciate the education I received at Hillsdale College.

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,

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.

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.

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.

Filler To The Rim

I once started a major college paper with this: "The 1960s, arguably the most turbulent decade in American history...." The rest of the sentence isn't important.

What's important, at least to me, was the lesson scrawled by my professor in the margin on the paper's right side.

"How about the 1860s? 1920s?"

Whatever. Who was I to let a Civil War, the Roaring 20s and a Great Depression stand between me and the meaningless generalization I needed to start my paper.

When I think back to my education in college, there are a few moments I really remember. This note in the margin is one of them. Words meant as "filler" in the author's mind, do have meaning in the reader's mind. And, using "filler" without thought just makes you sound dumb.

It's a lesson George Will reminded me of today.