Culture’s Original Source

As spring break approaches—my seventeenth now as a teacher—I can say with certainty that the academic calendar is like no other.  So swiftly it moves, rushing headlong like a wild child.  Knowing what lies ahead doesn’t assuage the nerves nor the anxious excitement associated with the rites of school, from morning assembly to greetings at the start of class.  Still, once class actually begins, the performance of it all takes hold, and the challenge of trying to connect is, indeed, a social and emotional test of utmost purpose, fulfillment, and joy.

Mastering the so-called “emotional quotient” existing within oneself, not to mention among those constituting a body of people (and young people at that!), demands the constant auditing of one’s human skills and the development of one’s sensitivities and sensibilities—and even one’s quality of heart—as levers towards personal evolution.

And it’s the emotional connections hinged together into a single and unifying organism that constitutes the resulting classroom culture—vital, alive, and dynamic.  Culture wins the day!  The athletic director at the school where I teach reiterated this notion during his remarks to the coaching staff at the start of the year.  More than wins and losses, players are affected by human connections forged along the way.  That when the season comes to an end, players ought to cry not because of a final win or loss, but because the end marks the last time they will all have a chance of competing together.

Though it might be difficult to imagine students crying over their Econ or Algebra class coming to an end, it’s still a worthy goal, for what I remember most in any setting where other people happened to be involved—settings academic, athletic, spiritual, or collective in any way—were the relationships cultivated in collaboration with peers.

In any classroom setting, culture indeed wins the day, dictating the flow of everything else, including content delivery; and culture, in turn, finds original source in the world of human connections and relationships.