Cultivating Success

7/13/15 Cultivating Success

As I drive my hands into the sun-warmed garden soil to till or sow and squish my bare toes into the cooling leaf mulch while pruning, fertilizing and watering lush plants that will yield fruits to nourish my family, I can’t help but have my soul filled, my spirit energized and my body satisfied. I know that I am making the world a better place by adding beauty and nutrients to our lives. Throughout my labor, I keep drawing analogies between the process of sowing and growing things with the work of an educator. As Liberty Hyde Bailey writes, “A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.” 

Can we avoid comparing gardening with our work as educators? Replace the word garden with “student success” and plants with “students.” Even as we think about the “difficult” students we deal with, consider Emerson’s thoughts on that, “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.”  Thus: What is an unsuccessful student? A student whose virtues have never been discovered. 

We are cultivating our students’ ambitions, critical thinking, and- really- their future. We are improving our cultural landscape by providing the necessary fertile soil of creativity and ingenuity. We are making the present and future better by growing healthier and more conscientious citizens. Grow a student today. When he blossoms, you will know you have done something amazing for the world.