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Back in the Saddle
So who says the Pathetic Fallacy is fallacious? Do we really think that a full day of rain (and it's absolutely pouring right now) happening on the first day of classes is mere coincidence? No, it's clearly reflecting the mental state of our students, being sadly dragged kicking and screaming back to another school year.
Actually, the first day went pretty well, so far as I could tell. Lauren and I have 7 advisees who are new students, and they seemed to get through their first day just fine. I only had two classes meeting today and I thought they got off to a good start as well. I felt good about the tone that we set and I'm excited about the coming year. It's actually pretty easy to be optimistic at this point in the year: no one has offered an excuse for a missed assignment, no one has been unhappy with a grade he's received, and as far as I can tell, they'll all turn out to be brilliant scholars and interesting young men with a passion for learning.
Okay, of course, I know that they won't all turn out to be such sterling exemplars of studenthood, but that's the point: at this point in the year, I can still dream....
Of course, even though it's not a dream that will come true, with any luck an even better dream will come true as students who start off as reluctant learners or with untapped potential grow into stronger, more confident students.
Regardless of which dreams do or don't come true, the reality is that life has moved into warp speed. For the last few days, we have been welcoming the new freshmen into our dorm and getting them oriented. It shouldn't surprise me, I suppose, but freshmen take a lot of energy. Still, they seem to be a good bunch of kids and we seem to have been fortunate to get a great bunch of prefects. The next week or two will be very busy, but I'm sure it will be a whole lot smoother than it could have been with other freshmen or other student leaders--or, for that matter, with other faculty here with us. We're living with Mr. and Mrs. Kapoo, and they're great, as is our new music teacher, though he seems on the edge of overwhelmed (but then, what new teacher isn't riding that edge?).
All in all, no reason to think it won't be a great year--but I could still use a nap!