Learning From Debate Club

I am attempting to organize a debate club as a continuation of my class. Actually, I suppose it's all organized and ready to go. I'm just having a problem getting people to attend.
Right now I have one consistent attendee. Four others have shown up in varying degrees of consistency.
So I have been fairly upset about the whole situation, because it seems like whenever I try to do things like this with people they do not care at all after a few days.
I was talking to my mentor about this, and he asked, "Do you think anything valuable has come out of the experience, or are you mostly just bummed that it hasn't gone well?"
It has helped me. Situations come up in life all the time where we have to do good things, even if other people aren't as engaged as we are. If I have to deal with that problem throughout life anyway, I might as well start with something fairly insignificant, like this group. Yeah, it hurts me when people choose to stop being involved. But that's okay. I am learning how to cope with is.

This is something that is a huge thing to work on. I have a long way to go. But at least I've started.

The Purpose of Education

The purpose of education isn't to be like great men who have gone before. It is, rather, simply to be great. To find light. To improve the world through greatness bestowed by the original source, rather than just taking as true what great men have said.

Emerson, in his essay The American Scholar, said,

"Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books.

Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the bookworm. Hence, the book-learned class, who value books, as such; not as related to nature and the human constitution, but as making a sort of Third Estate with the world and the soul."

We each have something to contribute to the world. Why would we want to be somebody else? Why would we want to be a copy of somebody who has already come and gone?

What I'm Learning From Mentoring

You know how I mentioned a few months back that I was starting Ninniachel Mentoring? Well, I still am working on that. I actually have a couple of students now. It took me a long time, but finally I have some people to help.

This has brought me an increased awareness of my strengths and weaknesses as a mentor. 

So, let's start with my weaknesses:

It turns out I am really bad at remembering to prepare for lessons. Sometimes it will be a lesson day and I will have to prepare as quickly as I can in the few minutes before we start the actual lesson.

This is completely remediable, and also a grievous fault that I should correct. 

Next, I tend to think that everybody has the same attention span that I have. This doesn't work so well with my 6 year-old student. At all.

Third, I get a little bit upset when people don't finish their homework or seem like they are listening. I don't show it, but I am working on not even feeling it. (It does give me more appreciation for how my mentors must feel when I sometimes don't submit things for a couple of weeks after they are due. Oops.)

Now, my strengths:

I love people. I love getting to know them more as people and working on individualizing their curriculum. I am teaching writing to my 11 year-old cousin right now, and seeing her individual writing style (as well as her personality traits) has been awesome.

I love the subject matter. Right now I am teaching writing and piano, and I am thrilled to be able to share these.

I am committed to actually teaching, instead of giving up. Yeah, I could improve on my consistency a little bit, but I think that is mainly because my current students are family and it seems impossible to develop a schedule with them.

I am passionate.

This has been an adventure so far. It has really shown me how much I don't know, and I want to work on that. I am so excited to continue.

Baby Dearest

"I think Annabelle was created to make pain," my 6 year-old cousin told me today.
I couldn't disagree more. This sweet little baby girl was created for an entirely different, entirely more glorious purpose.
She was created to bring joy. She was created to smile and laugh. To inspire us,  to be happy, to become even better every day.
She is beautiful. She is amazing. And I love her so much. It amazes me every day.

Divisions

The other day I was with a group of friends, and one of them was talking about how somebody she has a crush on is choosing to skip college and move straight on to farming instead. And the other people started making fun of him. (Maybe they weren't actually. Maybe I just imagined it, because I do that sometimes. But it seemed pretty harsh.)

How is somebody's choice to skip college something to be mocked? What does it even matter?

A little after this, I reread Emma, by Jane Austen And you know what everybody does in this novel? Judge people based on social status. That Mr. Martin, he is far too low for people of the likes of Emma Woodhouse to associate with. And the Coles, trying to associate with the really genteel classes even though they only gained their standing through trade. How awful.
(As a note, I do realize that Emma's society was based upon these class distinctions.)

Do we really want these divisions in our lives? Do we really want to assume things about people based merely on the outward 'evidences' that we can see? Do we want to assume that we are better than others, and that others are better than we are, based merely upon these silly things?

I don't, anyway. And though I do sometimes make judgments on initial introductions still, I am trying not to. because I want a better, happier life. I hope you do, too.