It's more than the tests. It's more than being five minutes early. And it is certainly more than remembering the smallest detail from the smallest paragraph in the biggest book.
It is the hands-on experience. It's learning terms that are relevant to the rest of your life. It is networking. It's a lot of things that a lot of people substitute for the things it's not.
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In high school, you're taught that memorizing massive lists of words and getting an A+ on a multiple-choice test are life's only rewards. Students are told that reading countless chapters of redundant history to only remember one term will thoroughly prepare them for their future careers. In reality, this isn't what any of it is about.
Some professors haven't gotten that memo yet. But you have.
You broke the daily grind of assigning ten chapters to be read in less than 48 hours. You've decided that endless reflection papers won't teach students how to develop in-depth opinions. Instead, you've made the choice to assign one chapter a week and have us discuss it in class. Instead of ten-page tests, you give us a project that reflects the kind of work we would have in our careers.
Your door is always open, and not just for questions. You want to know how our other classes are, why we're so stressed out, what we hope to do with our lives and you even welcome us to rant about annoying social issues.
There are so many other ways you could be. You could always be late instead you're always on time if not early. You could always end class right on time, but you appreciate the beauty of a nice day or the dread of walking to the dorms in a thunderstorm. You could complain and mock students for asking a question about something you explain one hundred times. You don't. You explain it for the 101st time.
You're the professor that leaves a permanent mark on a student's confidence, ability to learn and future. You're the teacher that proves every other teacher wrong because there are no underdogs, underachievers, overachievers or slackers. We're all equal in your eyes and we all deserve the same.
It goes outside of the class too. You attend our events. You're present in school events and sports games. Not only are you present, but you encourage us to be involved. Not because it's good for our resumes or because it helps our reputation, but simply because you want us to make the most of our time in college.
There are thousands of college professors in the world, and of those thousands, there are plenty who make students and run and hide in their dorms for an entire semester. Even though those professors exist (and you probably know some as well) you aren't like them.
It's because of professors like you that so many of us strive to one day know our fields so well that we can influence our students' futures so positively. Most importantly, it's because of professors like you that we show up every day with a smile on our face, a notebook on our desk and questions in our mind. College would be college without you, but thank you for making it that much better.
