Retirement/re-purposing #2

A few weeks ago the students from Frost Campus suggested that, as they were about to go on placements, and that they were the last class of Social Service Worker students to be at that campus, that we should have a beer or something in the student pub to celebrate the end of classes. I have been lucky enough to teach this particular group of students in all three seminars. They are, without a doubt, my favourite class. In fact they are the only reason why I came back to teach this fall. So getting together with them after the marks were all in, was a great suggestion.

It has never been my goal to be liked by people. Yes, it is nice when they do, but being liked was never in the job description. It has always been far more important to me that I do a good job; that I hold myself and others to a fairly high standard of performance and expectations. This has meant that I have seldom if ever won a popularity contest. I think, within the school community, people see me as a relatively hard marker with a limited tolerance for bad excuses or non-performance. I have not been one of those teachers who have encouraged students to cry on my shoulder or to expect me to be their therapists. Maybe I am just being lazy, but I have never been convinced that being praised for being nice is worth the work.

However there is no doubt in my mind that the relationship between this class and me ( and  if truth be told between them and all of their teachers) was something unique and rather special. It was a good way to end my teaching career. If I was to have a retirement party - there would have been no one else I would rather have had it with.

 Last Thursday most of that class and four of their instructors gathered for a few hours in the student pub for chit chat and celebration. They had bought a Dairy Queen cake for me and even bought some lactaid pills! I think somewhere within one of our many conversations I must have mentioned that (a) I really like ice cream and (2) I am lactose intolerant. It was a very pleasant time and I am so glad that they suggested it.

The difference between the students' recognition that I was leaving and my colleagues' acknowledgement of that fact was quite remarkable. While the Chair of the department did mention to me as we passed in a hallway "good luck in your retirement" (or words to that effect) and a wrapped package rather mysteriously arrived on my desk - the college made no note of my leaving. If I had not told my office mates and a few others, I don't think anyone would have known (or cared). The package contained what may be one of the ugliest and most uncomfortable wearing college sweatshirts I have ever seen (it is also a size too small), a pen and key fob set, (do I look like a key fob type of guy?) and some sort of infuser/water bottle type thing. Perhaps most importantly - there was no offer of any sort of exit interview. In forty plus years of working, it is only the second time when the possibility of some sort of final discussion has not been suggested.

I think I will do a letter. I have a few things I want to say.................

So my desk is cleared out, my books are piled on the floor and there is nothing that I must do today or tomorrow or the next day. May be I need to have a plan..... perhaps tomorrow I will think about that.
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