I believe personhood is more than performance. One of my best instructors in that life lesson was my middle school teacher, Mrs. Campbell. Our class was titled “Social Studies” and we did our typical lessons from a history textbook but her leadership and inspiration was so beyond tests and grades.
This beautiful woman prioritized the raising of each of her students into good human beings, even the class clowns who gave her ridiculous grief at first.
She was vehement that we understand the purpose of government is to increase the quality of life of its citizens. We never, ever mentioned political parties much less the superiority of one political party over another. Instead, we discussed our community and how to improve it. We went on a field trip to the town hall and each of us shadowed a public servant. We went on a separate field trip to plant flowers along a community wall that was not looking as great as it once had. We went to cultural festivals that I do not think we have known existed without her introducing us to them.
She always treated us with dignity. When students were having a bad day and did not show her as much as respect as they should have, she continued to show them the high level of respect that was inherent to her character. She treated us like we were capable human beings who just needed an authority figure to guide us a little more.
She would sometimes give us the standard lectures of the time about being grateful for our education and for living in a nation that gave us the opportunity for our excellent education. But her words were so powerfully paired with her soul and her love that the lectures were not standard at all. She never lectured us to shame us or make us feel small; she was just helping us to see the reality of our advantages and all the power we had to use those advantages to make the world a better place.
Mrs. Campbell gave us amazing tools to perform well. Her insightfulness and prowess at being an educator in the highest and best sense made it easy for us to get some of the best grades of our school career in her class. But our performance on tests was only one of the many priorities that was close to her heart. Mrs. Campbell empowered us to be our best selves universally throughout all our character and development. She was an exceptional and nurturing authority figure to every single one of us in her class and we are all better for it.
The world needs a lot more Mrs. Campbells. Maybe one of them is you. You’ve got this!
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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