Particularly when times are tough for both us higher educators and our students, I think it is important to pause every now and then to reflect on and remind ourselves why we are in this work often called “student success.” I invite you to join me in some reflections on why are we in this work anyway? Because…
• it makes a difference for students
• it delivers on the promise of access while simultaneously maximizes resources
• it’s a way for us to repay the gift
• it keeps us learning and developing
• we see enormous progress in some of the most initially unlikely candidates for success
• it is a form of social justice
• it extends and continues the unfinished civil rights and women’s movements
• it creates for us an affinity group/network which brings us together with those of like values
• for some of us it has not only secular redeeming social value, but transcendent, spiritual worth as well
• it promotes the health of the body politic and the personal health of our citizens who by becoming college graduates have increased their probability of a longer life span
Ok, that’s why I am in this work. How about you?
-John N. Gardner
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