“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:40).
I saw the above cartoon this morning and was struck by its implications for what we do for the least of our neighbors. I immediately thought of the “accommodations” I am asked to make as a professor—both for students with documented disabilities and for students with special circumstances. Matthew 25:40 then came to mind.
At my university (and probably all universities), there is an Office of Disability Services. Nearly every term I have requests for extra testing time. Sometimes, there are requests for notetakers. This term, I have transcribers for a student with hearing loss. In addition to these requests, I have athletes with travel schedules, students with families, students with jobs, …, and I have students who will take every advantage of you. Despite the latter, I have attempted to develop my courses “with the ramp shoveled first.” Do students take advantage. Yes. Of course, they do. I record my lectures and post them on our learning management system (LMS)—a post-Covid habit. I provide pre-lecture slides with recorded audio (and transcripts—to be ahead on the needs of some) so that lecture can be about discussion and adjusting my presentation to meet the varied learning styles and need of my students. I don’t require attendance. I have continued to administer my exams via our LMS. I try to foresee student needs. There is a selfish element to this. (I don’t have to adjust my teaching every term.) It is not without headaches, and it is certainly not without students cheating the system. (What the students often fail to recognize is that their integrity and character [or lack thereof] is revealed, and this is far more important in life than a grade. They also fail to recognize the implications for the recommendations that I may or may not write when the need arises.)
I don’t believe in equality. I believe in equity. I believe that success is individualized, and it means different things for different people. I don’t believe “everyone gets a trophy.” I believe that challenge is what stimulates growth. My mentor and friend, Dr. Travis Beck, once shared what he had learned from one of his professors—“We don’t really learn something until we are first totally confused by it.” In other words, we need to struggle to learn and to grow. This does not mean that one should struggle unnecessarily or that we “teach someone to swim” by tossing them in a pool in a burlap sack. It means we get in the pool with them and let them struggle under our care and support. It never means just handing out certificates of completion. Those for whom life has given them the better tools and skill set (“privilege” is often over-used and misapplied in academia, but there is something to its existence—in exercise science, I refer to the Per Olaf Åstrand quote: “If you want to be an elite athlete, choose your parents wisely”), individuals need to challenge themselves beyond the requirements of the task at hand and make the effort to help others. Using our gifts for the benefit of others, after all, is the Purpose for having them.
We don’t need to eliminate the barriers (i.e., challenges to our success) as much as we need to help one another manage the path to Success. We need to see that clearing the path for others (i.e., being “other-centered”) “clears the path for everyone.” Our Success is not in reaching the finish line first. Success (meaningful Success) is in how we arrive at the finish line.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!!