Feeling nostalgic today so I grabbed this from Clotted Cognition. I wrote this in December of 2008.

Once again, a semester is ending. As usual, I am sad to see my students leave my classes and will miss each of them so much. Also as usual, this group of students has been remarkable. I've learned a great deal from them and will never stop caring for them.

My students this semester were equally as diverse as any other semester; Richland has made it part of its mission to create a diverse student body. The diversity I am concerned with, though, is diversity of purpose, experience and thinking. The DNA strand of their diversity was woven together randomly but efficiently, beautifully and sensibly. I am always amazed at how well people of different backgrounds can come together in a class and trust each other enough to talk about their tragedies, their joys, and their hopes. But they do, every semester. Every semester my faith in humanity and in the sublime connections we share is renewed. Believe me when I say, they represent all that we can be if we decide to trust and to hope. I wish everyone could experience these things with me, but you can't, so I hope you believe me.

This semester I had my students write journals as an informal way of putting thoughts on paper to sort of get the juices flowing. I've found that my writing and thinking has improved as I've written more (dur) and I think the same was true for my students. It was also a rare glimpse into their lives that goes further than I would normally go. I couldn't even count the number of times I had tears running down my face as I was reading those journals. Not all tears are from sadness, of course; many times I was so happy to read that they had experienced something wonderful and had trusted me enough to tell me about it. Many times I wanted to go back into their pasts and beat the crap out of the people who hurt them. How could anyone do such a thing to those little pieces of wonderful?

Two of my students are now dating; that makes me happier than I can express.  Many of my students are in love and feeling the elation that comes from knowing you have someone who loves you and you alone. A few of them are in deep despair; I desperately want to help them but I don't know how. They know how much they mean to me and they know that I am always available to them, so perhaps that is enough. One young man has been to Iraq and knows the horror of what it means to fight a war; he is profoundly kind and possesses remarkable circumspection. One student started out not liking the class very much and is now thinking of majoring in philosophy and going on for his PhD to teach. He is absolutely capable of that and would make an excellent teacher. Another student told me he took my class on a whim, not even knowing what philosophy was; he is also going to major in philosophy, now. One student rescued a woman from an abusive relationship by putting himself in grave danger. One student told the class about an addiction she had been through, something so brave, so giving. This young woman gave of her experience to the rest of the class in an attempt to help others understand the nature of addiction. She didn't have to do that, but she did it because she is a strong, amazing young woman. There are so many instances of tremendous experiences and courage that I could relate, but I would be here all day. The thing I find so remarkable about these students is how many of them expressed surprise at having made friends with other classmates. I am more than pleased that they've chosen to open their lives to each other and to become friends.

It's easy to go on and on about them and to get repetitive with my praise, but I'll leave it a bit shorter this semester. All that really needs to be expressed is this thought: if we trust the younger generations to carry us into the future, we'll be in excellent shape. They have less bias than we do, they are more open to others than we are, and they are more capable of understanding what it means to live in a society of rich variety. They are more amazing than you can possibly understand by just reading this short post, but try anyway. Live this through me: know that there is sublime promise out there and they are ready and willing to represent all that is best, all that we are capable of being that is good and courageous. They are our conscience and they are our best hope realized in action. They are the ease of laughter and the stretch toward the sky. They are the best part of us. We are lucky.