Over
the years, I have written occasionally about the role of being a mentor for my
students versus being a pure teacher.
Personally, I prefer to be open to mentoring for those students who
might want it. I think many of them
like knowing that there is some rather disinterested person available that they
can go to and simply say “I need some advice.”
For example, a former student wandered into my office a few days ago who was interested
in talking about Teach for America.
This was a decision that had stressed her out and she began to cry. We chatted for 10-15 minutes. She didn’t leave dancing or singing but at
least she wasn’t crying. I did not mind listening and giving my opinion.
But,
at other times, I want to be a mentor to my students without even being
asked. I want to butt into their lives just
a little bit—especially as it deals with college and their education. Without any request, I sent out the
following email yesterday. Will any of
my 61 students follow my advice? My
guess would be that 10-15 percent will actually reconsider their course
schedules. If that is true, I will have
had an impact on their lives over and beyond teaching them accounting. I love teaching accounting (it is truly a
great way to teach critical thinking) but I would like to be more of an
influence, more of a mentor—at least to some. That is how I want my career to be.
I do
this occasionally. Do you? Are your courses all about subject matter or
do you try to have more influence than that?
I prefer more influence. But,
that is a personal decision. It is your
career. What do you want it to be? That’s a personal decision but one you should
consider.
**
To
my students: (slightly edited)
I
realize registration is over for the fall semester but, of course, there is
always drop-add.
Students
occasionally come by my office and chat with me about what courses (other than
accounting) they should take. I have mixed
emotions about my own college experience – it was a lot of ups and downs (but
part of that was because I expected to wind up going to Vietnam to try to kill
people – that puts an odd spin on reading books, writing papers, and taking
tests). However, if I have one special regret,
it is the courses I chose to take outside of my major. I don’t think I quite realized how much
those courses would influence the person I became. I am sure that if I had better judged the impact on me I would have chosen those courses more carefully.
So,
what courses should you take if you have an open slot? Here’s some advice you didn’t ask for.
--I
don’t think you can ever take enough math and computer science. Think how the world is going to change over
the next 30 years. The people who are
positioned to do well are those who are ready for all those changes. I suspect that math and computer science will
be the two areas that make you most ready for the world to come in 30
years. But, for goodness' sake, don’t
take just any course – ask around and find out who is the best, most inspiring
teacher.
--For
a fulfilled life, you need to be able to find beauty in life. Take an art appreciation course or a course
in great literature. Your adult life
will be so much more wonderful if you appreciate beauty and there is nothing
that teaches us more about beauty than art and literature. And, if you now tell me, “Oh, I find that kind
of stuff boring,” I’m going to give you my worst possible insult: You are reacting like a teenager and not
like an adult. I’m convinced that art
and literature become more beautiful as you study them more deeply. But, for goodness' sake, don’t take just any
course – ask around and find out who is the best, most inspiring teacher.
--We
live in wonderfully interesting times.
Take a political science course.
How does Congress work? Why do
we only have two political parties? How
have politics evolved over the last few decades? Heck, it is hard to read the newspapers
without some basic understanding of politics.
How could any class be more relevant to your life than political
science? But, for goodness' sake, don’t
take just any course – ask around and find out who is the best, most inspiring
teacher.
--When
I talk with former students who have graduated in the last 2-5 years, it is
absolutely amazing how many of them tell me “I’m shocked by how much I have to
write and how important it is to write clearly. I never realized that grammar was so
essential to a career. Writing has
turned out to be more important to my success than anything else.” How can a person learn to write
clearly? I have had several students
over the years take Copy Editing from the Richmond Journalism Department and they have
always raved that they have finally learned how to write. Here at Richmond, the copy editing professor
is fabulous. He will teach you
something you probably do not know—how to write a clear sentence.
--Find
something you have a passion for learning.
Surely, there is something at this university (other than accounting)
that you have a passion to learn. Oh, I
hope so. It would be incredibly sad if
you said that you have no passion for any learning. If that is the case, you might as well spend
your life planting potatoes. Pick something
that you really have an interest in and then go for it. But, for goodness' sake, don’t take just any
course – ask around and find out who is the best, most inspiring teacher.
If I
had my college career to live over again, I would have chosen a course or two
differently each year. And, if I had
done that, I would be a different person now.
More importantly, I suspect I would have been a better person. Pick wisely.
