I want my students to change the world.
I don’t necessarily mean when they grow up. There’s tons of evidence that kids of any age can make a profound difference in this world.
But whether it’s now or later, wanting it, or even expecting it, isn’t enough.
At times, I forget that, before anything, I need to connect with them.
And connect them.
I saw the above image postered on a wall at a local church, and right away it resonated with me.
Because I have no doubt that the order of the words was purposeful.
If it had read Change the world. Grow. Connect., I wouldn’t have paid any attention to it. Because the sequencing obviously isn’t correct.
In fact, it seems downright self-righteous to want to change the world first, then connect with the people who have presumably changed.
The first thing Jesus did when he started his ministry was collect 12 friends.
Martin Luther King, Jr. met Ralph Abernathy in 1954. The Civil Rights movement started one year later.
Socrates mentored Plato, who mentored Aristotle. That’s a strong lineage right there.
If we want our students to change the world, we have to make connections with them and help them grow; I’m not sure anyone has changed the world alone.
I remember seeing this video several years back. At the 1:40 mark, Rita Pierson says her most memorable line:
“Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” (The whole video is worth a watch and on this topic of the importance of relationships.)
Well, they might learn something. Information, perhaps. Formulas or the parts of speech.
All the stuff you can Google these days.
But if we want our students to change the world in meaningful ways, it has to start with connection.