And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith
unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and
servant of all.
Mark 9:35
I recently received an
email from a student which read: “I need you to gather together all of my
missing assignments and get back to me on what is outstanding.”
I had a number of
issues with this message. My first response was, “Excuse me?” The email just
rubbed me wrong. Like I was the student’s secretary. Um, no. That’s not my job
(number one). What makes you think I’ll accept late work (number two). And, keep
track of your own self (number three)…I think you get the point. I didn’t reply
for several days.
I wanted to respond.
Well, sort of. I want to be helpful and I want my students to succeed. But,
golly gee. Can you not show some respect?
I thought about my own
undergraduate professors from Portland State University. What would their
responses have been? I could imagine certain profs laughing and slamming the
door (this was before we used email) in my face for such a bald-faced demand.
But then I thought of my favorite professor and I believe she would’ve looked
past the (unintentional) slight and tried to help the student – a first
semester freshman. So I compromised and sent a short reply which parroted my
syllabus – only less helpful.
Then I went to church
and listened as the pastor preached about the attitude of serving. And certain
bible verses came to mind – convicting me of my own attitude. Let the leader become like one who serves.
If you want to be great, be a servant of
all.
And I am a servant. It
is my job to teach, not to sit (stand) on a pedestal. Not to be revered as the
source of knowledge – but to help my students learn to become better writers, grammarians,
and learners. When I taught high school, my students called me by my last name –
out of respect (maybe), but also because I would’ve flipped out at them if they
had tried calling me by my first name. As a college instructor, I want my
students to use my first name. They are adults and “respect” does not need to
be demanded of them (it is either there, or it isn’t).
So, I was convicted of
my sin – the big one: pride. The devil’s sin: wanting to be superior. It is
wrong. I humbled myself (I need to do that often) and approached the student
from her perspective – she needed help from me. She also needed me to help her
learn to communicate, and that’s my job.
* * * *
Do you see what I’m suggesting here? Do you get the implications? If you use your position (this includes your gender) to try and prove that you are “superior” to others, you don’t get it. If you
are the leader, you must be willing to serve.
“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to
tell people you are, you aren’t.” – Margaret Thatcher
