On Seeing Ted Kooser Read

"What had happened was"

He said that numerous times during the reading, and I can appreciate that.

One of the things that really bothers me about my job is my student’s utilitarianism. They believe that everything must have an explicit, tangible relationship between the action and the result. This, of course, is particularly troubling for me since I teach English at a Community College . So when I try to explain to a Nursing student that they need to learn how to write a research paper using APA format, they are rarely able to make the connection between following complex guidelines in the process of writing a research paper and adhering to the intricacies of laws and ethics in a fluid stressful work environment.

This is the same sort of thinking that proliferates in the media around us where someone is always willing to give us 6 easy steps to fix anything. Shortcuts trick us into believing that the intricate parts of life are simple, and we lose the appreciation for the journey.

I believe that we’ve forgotten how to appreciate things that are beautiful. So my goal in teaching is to get students to question. I want them to use their own minds to interpret the world around them. Hopefully, they’re able to decide what’s beautiful and important without the influence of others.

Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

--Lord Acton