Reflections on my first year as a Professor of History at a State (Community) College
It's always been a dream of mine to be a professor, an academic. Even as a high schooler I couldn't imagine anything more prestigious or inspiring and, unbelievably, here I stand so many decades later finally a Professor of History and Psychology for Broward College in my very own back yard Ft. Lauderdale. Don't get me wrong. I loved - absolutely loved - my years of teaching high school. And yes, I still miss the amazing students I met at Cardinal Hayes High School in the South Bronx and here at Cardinal Gibbons in Ft. Lauderdale. Many of them have gone on to be my good friends and with many of them I look forward to making friendships that last a lifetime. Those 20+ years have been a blessing in so many ways and I can't but be grateful for the fond memories and the lessons these teenagers taught me along the way to my own adulthood. For those former students reading this, I truly hope you are aware of how important you are to me and to what I've become both professionally and personally. The words "Thank You" could never suffice. "Thank You" simply fails in comparison to what you have given me.
But, the world goes on and, if we're lucky, we're called to bigger and "greater" things. This is exactly what I feel has happened to me over the past year when in August 2012 I was offered a tenure-track position with Broward College. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Broward College (formerly Broward Community College) is a state college serving Broward County (Florida) primarily. It offers a wide variety of courses in an equally wide spectrum of meta-majors (general areas that cover any number of disciplines) as students prepare for their Associate of Arts degree or meet the requirements for their future Bachelors degrees. In short, it is an inexpensive way to get a basic college education. Being a state college, however, means that the school also bears an undeserving stigma. In no way has BC reflected the view of a community college as seen on television. By no means have I experienced the number of unprepared or unmotivated students that make up the imaginations of "oh so many" university students, professors, and Harvard-wannabes. Quite to the contrary, I've been impressed day in and day out by the personalities - and the abilities - that have entered and left my classroom or lecture hall. Sometimes I feel simultaneously undeserving and edified by these people. And, it hasn't only been inside the classroom where I've felt this. My colleagues across the department and the campus have also impressed me in ways that I could only hope to touch upon in a brief reflection.
Over the last year, I've been impacted by the sheer willingness to learn of many students. I have had students fall in love with History or Psychology (two disciplines that are not always easy to teach) because of the human and trans-personal dynamics involved in both fields. I've witnessed them become enamored with Greek and Roman history, the policies of LBJ, the many military and medical revolutions of the American Civil War, and the plight of the American immigrant. I've had students learn that they could be better writers, readers, and students. But, I've also been impressed by the sheer number of laughs we've had in the classroom. I've always been one to believe that if you're not laughing and enjoying yourself in the classroom, then you're not really learning. Being able to laugh at and with yourself - and at some of the ideas that have become part of our human history - is part and parcel of assimilating what we read and what we try to teach ourselves.
But, perhaps, it's my students' human interest stories which I find most compelling; stories about adults who do what they have to do to get ahead despite all the obstacles that work, children, and spouses throw their way. I realize at these moments - when they're in my office crying or when they express their most heart-felt professional and personal desires within the classroom setting - that, as a college student I was blessed (I want to use the word privileged, but that would be socioeconomically incorect) with the opportunity to attend college full-time, to finish in the normally allotted four (4) years, and to have as my support two parents (as well as my own own high school teachers) who wanted their children to do nothing other than study before going out into the world of work. What could be more ideal?
Unfortunately, that's not the way it is for most people anymore. At least not in these economic times. So, my hat comes off to my BC students because - despite everything that goes on in your lives - you "keep on keeping on". I don't know if I'd be able to carry a full academic load of classes while also caring for children, working full-time, and having to deal with rent issues. But, somehow, you DO do it all. You put in whatever hours are needed to get that nursing degree or to finish up those credits. You read late into the night and you write even later when there is an essay due for me. This is why I consider myself blessed to be working with you. Whether you know it or not, you make those of us who teach who and what we are. Without you we don't exist. Without you there is no meaning to what we do.
So, despite what anyone says about a community or state college, keep one thing in mind. You make your education. What you do with it, how you do it, how you establish relationships with your professors and your future colleagues are all up to you and ONLY you. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this journey of yours and for making this past academic year so incredibly amazing. My friend Paul always comments on how I love my job. He's right. I certainly wish everyone could feel the way I do about what they do for a living.
