New job, new home, new part of the country. After seven long years of adjuncting, I'm finally an assistant professor of music, specializing in teaching...the kazoo.
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My blog is named "Terminal Degree" because I earned a DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts), not a Ph.D, in music performance. I have to explain that a lot.
Did I mention that I can't spell? If I didn't, you'll figure it out for yourself soon enough.
MUSIC BLOGS
Monday, August 28, 2006
"I love Jesus."
That's what a student in my class announced today.
I went around the room (now that the shop-for-classes thing is dying down) and had students introduce themselves, including their names, home towns, and "one interesting fact."
We had a lot of "I'm on the football team," or "I love to shop," and a couple of "I'm left-handed" Interesting Facts. It turned into a fun icebreaker. Then we got to a student about halfway back. He spoke very simply and said, "Hi, I'm Joe Smith, and I'm from [town]. The interesting thing about me is that I love Jesus."
He wasn't bragging or preaching. He was simply stating his Interesting Fact. And suddenly, the students around him began to applaud.
Neither the statement nor the applause would have happened at my previous school, ironically an evangelical Christian college.
Was it an appropriate thing for him to say? Well, yes. I did tell them, after all, to share one Interesting Fact. I didn't say it had to be about music. But I wondered how the other students would take it. (I really need to write a post on feeling apologetic about one's beliefs, and how moving to the Bible Belt is making me take another look at my own religious practices.)
Some other students came to my office hours today, and we chatted a bit. They told me how impressed they were that a student could share his beliefs so simply, without arrogance or defensiveness. I was kind of impressed, too, frankly. I don't usually encounter that kind of honest belief, so carefully and thoughtfully articulated, from 18 year olds.
I don't think it's the kind of comment that I, as a prof, would ever make in a classroom. (For starters, I would never want to make a student worry that my belief system might be a factor in the learning or grading process. And ironically, from the way I treat sacred music history in my classes, some of my students most likely assume I'm an agnostic, which isn't the case at all.)
But I'm enjoying watching this part of the world as an outsider. I think I have a lot to learn from this place. About the students, and about me.
