(09/14/04)
Tammy Allen's Convocation Address
September 8, 2004Buenas tardes. Me da muchisimo placer poder hablarles hoy y compartir con Uds. Unas perlas no de sabiduria sino de experiencia y un mensaje de mi corazon. Muchisimas gracias ala Dra. Cowan, a mi colega David y a Lauren. Y gracias al Dr. Ewers por haber organizado un momento tan especial para todos nosotros.
Okay, now you know what it must feel like to be a student in my Spanish class. Or maybe what it feels like to be a student who has landed in a strange environment where they don't know the language or the customs!
I am privileged to be a senior instructor at Miami University, and honored to teach here on the Middletown Campus. In my 18 years of teaching, I have come to know many students, and my life and teaching have been enriched by them.
Today, I want to tell you a story about one student in particular, one with whom many of you may identify.
This student was a first generation college student from a working class family. She and her family couldn't afford room and board in addition to tuition, so she lived at home and commuted to Oxford for four years. During her first year at Miami, she struggled academically and socially. Used to getting outstanding grades, suddenly she was receiving C's on assignments and papers. She would hang out in the Commuter Lounge, playing euchre and skipping her Zoo 141 class. She truly detested parking in a "special" lot far away from the buildings. She would run across campus, slip into class at the last minute, grabbing one of the last seats in a lecture hall filled with 250 students and listen to the professor read his notes from the overhead projector. Is it any wonder that this student received a "D" in the class? Imagine how she felt when she received her grades, seeing the first D she ever earned in her life?
Why tell you a story about that particular student? That student was me 25 years ago as I began my journey into higher education. I, like many, initially chose to see myself as a victim of liberal education, simply fulfilling requirements. I was not an active participant. I engaged in negative behaviors, and I paid the price for that attitude and lack of personal responsibility. That was a pivotal moment for me. It was a call to choice and action.
What did I learn from that experience that would be meaningful to share with you today?
1. We all have choices to make, even when we believe that others are controlling our destiny.
2. The ability to make connections is a vital part of the learning process.
3. Community can have both negative and positive impacts on a learner's journey.
Let me begin by talking a little bit about choice. Everyday we make choices, some more life-altering than others, and many that impact not only ourselves as individuals, but others in our lives and in our communities.
Earlier, I asked you to share with people why you chose to come to Miami. I would suspect that several of you said that it wasn't your choice Maybe it was your parents'? You can't alter the past,
just as I can't go back and change my actions or lack of action, but you CAN choose what attitude and behaviors that you will engage in from this day forward. Holocaust survivor and psychologist, Viktor E. Frankl said:
"Everything can be taken away from a man but
the last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
One question is "In this journey called education, will you choose to be a tourist or a traveler?"
Let me explain:
A tourist chooses to gather information passively, sightseeing without reflecting on his or her experiences. Tourists many times will go back to the same places out of habit, fearing change and wanting customs and foods to be the same as they were back home in their own communities, hence the need for McDonald's and KFC's on the Gran Vía in Madrid, Spain. There is little or no involvement with people from the community visited, and they will remember their experience by the digital pictures used as screensavers and souvenirs that they accumulated.
A traveler, on the other hand, gathers information by experience and often becomes involved on some level in the communities where he or she is traveling. Travelers take risks and are not only open to new experiences, customs, and foods, but they seek them out. They are able to see and experience things from different perspectives. In the words of Miriam Beard, "Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." This is why so many of us who have lived in other countries and cultures have great difficulties with the re-entry process. Travelers have undergone a transformation; they remember through their hearts and souls
they can never fully explain what they have experienced, because for them the journey was a process, not a product or gathering of products.
So, will you be an educational tourist, collecting information, choosing classes that don't challenge you or that are safe, traveling with others who share the same thoughts and opinions as you? Will you focus on the "entertainment value" of the courses you take? And will you value your education by your GPA souvenirs?
Or, will you be an educational traveler, collecting information, reflecting on your experiences and making connections to other courses and experiences that you have had? Will you seek out new people, adventures and challenges? Will you make contributions to the community and not simply take from it? As T.S. Eliot states, will you realize that "The journey, not the arrival, matters?"
You are beginning a new academic year. For many, it represents hope, possibility and growth. It is an opportunity to explore new ideas, challenge previous ways of thinking and make connections with others. Will you choose to begin this adventure with an attitude of optimism or pessimism as you encounter challenges in the curriculum? Winston Churchill shares the following about attitude:
"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
How you choose to view opportunity and difficulty will have great bearing on your success during your educational odyssey. Do you see yourself as a victim with a can't do attitude simply performing assignments and going through the motions of getting things done because you are busy working and playing and you just want to get your degree so that you can get a good job?
Or do you envision your education as an exciting opportunity to grow and be challenged, to take risks, to experience other ways of knowing, to engage with other learners and to reflect and act in more informed ways that will enrich you, your community and the world that you live in?
We, the Middletown Campus of Miami University, hope that you choose to participate fully in the journey, to open your minds and hearts to new ways of thinking, and to engage in civil discourse not verbal warfare.
The poet John Donne so eloquently argued against tendencies of isolationism and addressed the connections of humankind when he wrote "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."
This journey called education is much richer when it is shared with other traveler/learners. We learn from experience and we learn from each other. There may be others who can show you a better, more efficient way of doing things. You do not have to subscribe to the theory of rugged individualism and do it all on your own. We are here to partner with you.
You have a responsibility in the partnership, as well. If you are treating your journey as a revolving door from the car to the classroom and back, then you are short-changing yourself. You, in essence are treating your educational journey like a trip to the filling station. You want us to fill your tanks and off you go. Education is not a consumer product; it is a process that involves connection and interaction. When you are invited to attend a course-related extracurricular activity and you ask is it required or if you can receive extra credit for attendance are you being an educational tourist or leaner/traveler?
What can you do to get more involved and make meaningful connections that inform your learning process? Explore the following opportunities:
* Organize study groups.
* Join a student organization that is related to your interests. Attend some campus activities - course related lectures and athletic events (Bring your families and children).
* Connect with one or two profs (especially in your major or area of interest); these people can be valuable allies and champions. They may even write letters of recommendation for you.
* Find out about internship opportunities.
If you choose to take advantage of anyone of these connections, you will have added value and meaning to your journey. You may just meet a friend or a mentor.
We are citizens of many communities and cultures. There is beauty in each of us individually, but we are spectacular when we are blended together, much like a mosaic or a symphony. We come to the university as individuals with different goals and purposes, but we transcend all of the differences to share in the common goal of improving the human condition through education. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
What can we do to improve our campus and community and change our world?
We must commit to build a more inclusive environment. Everybody should have a place at the table and a chance to tell their story. No one should be allowed to walk out of the doors of our campus and feel that they were silenced or that they were not given the opportunity to contribute and achieve. We are enriched by multiple voices and perspectives. In the current climate of divisive rhetoric of us or them, we must choose to acknowledge that is us AND them, accept that it is us AND them, and CELEBRATE that it is us and them. Be mindful. YOU can make a difference.
We need to improve our communication skills, in particular, the practice of listening. Too often we are not listening, but formulating arguments while the other person is talking. It is also important to note that in many cultures, the silence or what is not being explicitly stated is just as important.
Be mindful. You CAN make a difference.
We must get out of our turfs and territories and interact with each other more often. We become too involved in the daily grind, covering content and going to meetings and we forget what is most important - making connections, maintaining connections and nurturing the soul of the community.
Be mindful. You can MAKE a difference.
We should not take from the community more than we give. Get involved in or support one of the many service or volunteer activities that the campus has to offer. One quote by Mohammad Ali is most meaningful to me: "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth." Be mindful. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
In closing, I would like to share a quote, an affirmation that keeps me mindful of the decisions that I make and that reminds me how I can make a difference not only for myself but in the lives of others.
"This is the beginning of a new day. I have been given this day to use as I see fit. I can waste it or grow in its light and be of service to others. But what I do with this day is important, because I have exchanged a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. I hope that I don't regret the price that I paid, for it."
So,this is the beginning of a new academic year full of hope,
promise and opportunity. What choices will you make? What price will you pay for them?
Today, I invite you to make a choice. Will you be a tourist? Or
will you be a traveler and join us in the journey of a lifetime?
Thank You.
| BACK TO TOP |
| 
