Take Action: What it Means to Be the Difference

Nearly 500 Marquette University graduates were recognized at Marquette University’s Mid-Year Commencement on Sunday, Dec. 16, at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

The program included a keynote address by Dr. Lisa Hanson, associate professor of nursing, remarks from Marquette President Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., and featured student speaker Meghan Bachtel, a December Graduate from the College of Education.

Meghan’s message did not fall on deaf ears — in a time when the nation is struggling to make sense of tragedy, and educators everywhere are working tirelessly to make a difference in the lives of our nation’s children — she spoke to every one of us, urging us to take action.

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Faculty and administrators, family and friends, my fellow graduates and I thank you for being here today. Without your help and support, we would not be walking across this stage, and we are thrilled that you are here to celebrate with us the culmination of our college experience.

As a French major, I really connected with the words of famed French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who once said, pardon my French: “L’homme n’est pointfait pour méditer, mais pour agir” or humanity was not only created to ponder, but rather to act.

While at Marquette, we’ve all been encouraged to think critically and challenge our own worldviews. This is particularly poignant considering the unique Marquette experience of studying at a Jesuit university in the middle of such a diverse city as Milwaukee.  Instead of trying to shield us from the problems that are inherent within such a large and diverse city, Marquette encourages us to interact with and discover different worldviews in a real and impactful way.

One such example occurred my freshman year. I started out my undergraduate career as a Theatre Arts and French double major, but I found myself gravitating to the One On One Mentoring program through the YMCA. I lived in Straz Tower, and there was a group of middle-schoolers who came to a large meeting room in the basement every Monday afternoon to improve their reading and math skills. It was a fairly straightforward program with lesson plans designed to work on certain skills, but the relationship I developed with my mentee, Ciara, has forever changed both of our lives.

I remember when I first met her and she told me that her life’s ambition was to take care of the children that she would inevitably have before she was ready. She had several family members that were teenaged mothers, so she had already accepted that fate for herself at age 11. Through our three years of working together, I helped her to set the bar a little higher for herself. She also brought out more humility and honesty in me. Our experiences together made me realize how much I wanted and needed to be a teacher so that I could continue reaching out and helping others.

I have remembered those experiences throughout my student teaching, especially if I’ve seen any of my students being put down or silenced. I’d like all of you to take a moment and think about a time in your life where you felt that your voice went unheard. Were you ever bullied, pressured, threatened or somehow otherwise convinced to be silent, even when it hurt more not to speak?

I know I’ve experienced this in my life, and I have found that there is no feeling quite as daunting as the knowledge that you have a voice, but are unable to use that voice.

At Marquette, we have been encouraged to use our strengths to help give voices to those less fortunate than us through programs such as Hunger Clean-Up, Midnight Run, Mardi Gras, MAP, and Sexual Violence Awareness Week, to name a few. As Marquette Alumni, we need to continue using the voices and resources available to us to affect positive change in others’ lives. We are all leaders in our own fields coming from an academic institution such as ours, and it is because of our excellence that we have been called to serve.

A twenty-first century person of action looks a lot different than what an eighteenth-century Rousseau could even dream of. The world is becoming smaller and smaller through the Internet and other technology, which drives home the ever-growing importance of global awareness. The information age in which we live makes it pretty easy to sit back and ponder the implications of the many issues that face today’s society. Rousseau asks us to move beyond that pondering, and as Marquette graduates, I am fully confident in our abilities to act for the betterment of our world.

As a soon-to-be alumna from the College of Education, I will use my working knowledge of the world and our place in it to increase awareness amongst our youth, who, after all, will be America’s future movers and shakers. I will not be able to succeed in this task without the engineers who will have designed and built the computers and buildings necessary for my classes to even take place. They will, in turn, need the help of the future doctors and nurses whenever they become ill. No matter what college from which we graduate, or which career path we ultimately take, we all will rely on and benefit from the gifts and accomplishments of our fellow graduates.

As individuals, our potential to bring about global consciousness and affect change is limited. But together, over these past four years, we have grown to be apart of the Marquette family, which spans from the East Coast to the West Coast, and across the globe. As a part of that Marquette family, we can make a meaningful difference in our world.

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Meghan Bachtel is currently student teaching at Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha, where she will continue to teach in a substitute role for the spring semester.  Next fall she will return to the high school she attended in Akron, OH where she will be employed as a full-time French teacher.  Of special note, Meghan is the first student with an education major to be chosen as commencement speaker since we became the College of Education in 2008.  

What “Be the Difference” Really Means

By Sabrina Bong – Nate and I spent part of last week doing some classroom guidance lessons that discussed the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and how students in the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District differed from students around the nation. We try to make the lessons fun and engaging by doing little competitions and keeping student participation and enthusiasm at a high.

One of our last lessons, however, was a very sobering one.

The YRBS looks at four separate categories: mental health, school safety, alcohol and other drug abuse (AODA), and sexual behavior. When we talk about the survey, we have the students try to guess the correct answer to the questions. Most of the questions ask what percent of students do a particular thing, or have reported feeling a certain way.

One of the questions was “What percent of high school respondents reported that they were forced verbally or physically to take part in a sexual activity at least once in their life?”

This question generated a lot of discussion in the classroom. It seemed as though many of the students were uncomfortable thinking about this possibility. The uneasiness seemed to intensify when we told them that it is believed that one out of four girls will be sexually assaulted at some point in her life.

There were a lot of comments from the girls about how disgusting that was, and how men were such pigs for doing such a thing. They said that it was horrible that men were doing such a thing and that they were all jerks. The boys in the class sat quietly, staring at their hands.

“We agree that this is not a good thing,” Nate said. “Obviously, no woman should have to go through that. But not all men are like this.” He paused, and then said, “I would like, right now, for all the boys in the room to vow that they would never do something like this to a girl. When she says no, it means no. Promise that you will always treat your girlfriends and wives with respect.”

It was quiet. And then, I heard many of the boys in the class saying, “I promise.” “I will.” “I will never do that to someone I’m with.”

It is tough being a teenager, especially in today’s society. More often than not, people only hear the bad things about teenagers: the drunk driving, the bullying, the riots and fights. In a time when teenagers are often given a bad reputation, it was encouraging to hear these boys humbly promise to always treat their significant others with respect. I have faith that every student in that classroom – boys and girls – will remember this lesson and treat others with the same courtesy and respect that they would like to be treated with.

At Marquette, we always told to “Be the Difference” and I have always struggled to understand what exactly that meant. Does “be the difference” mean I have to do something major, like solve world hunger? However, I saw a true example of students “being the difference” this week, and all they did was take a  simple vow to practice what we preached.

Rekindle the Light: Giving Thanks for Joyful Service

“Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.”   -Albert Schweitzer

As we gather around our Thanksgiving tables this year, let us remember – not only to be thankful for the physical blessings – but also for the remarkable individuals whose efforts have ignited a world of flame with their passion, dedication, and efforts of service.

May each of us dig deep this holiday season, when times are difficult for many, and take heed of the call to “Be The Difference” to others.  And most of all —  may we do it joyfully!

Marquette Alum, Theresa Loth's homeroom at a school in Washington D.C. give thanks

The Hero Teacher in Perspective

By Matt Parlow, Associate Professor of Law

Prologue:  I’d like to thank Dean Bill Henk for inviting me to blog about a terrific project on which we collaborated.  On Tuesday, the College of Education, the Office of the Provost’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, and the MU Law School sponsored a conference entitled “Urban Education Innovation and Reform Programs: High Success for High-Need Kids.” The event began with an engaging talk by Raj Vinnakota, Marquette’s 2010 Social Entrepreneur in Residence and the founder of The SEED Foundation (Schools for Educational Evolution and Development), and its nationally acclaimed boarding schools.  A panel with local urban innovators and reformers next discussed their pathways to high success with high-needs students here in Milwaukee.

Over the lunch hour, National Teacher of the Year Rafe Esquith talked about his experience working with inner-city kids in Los Angeles, and some of his fifth grade students — the Hobart Shakespeareans — performed Shakespearean scenes and a couple of rock n’ roll songs.  And, in the evening, Rafe and the Hobart Shakespeareans spoke to, and performed for,  an audience of education students, faculty, local educators, and interested community members (thanks to all of those at the College of Education for making the evening such a great success).

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I thought I would focus my blog post on the topic of the “hero teacher,“ particularly as it relates to Rafe.

For you see, I was one of Rafe’s students twenty-seven years ago.  And during my introduction, I labeled him “my hero.” I stand by those words, and one only need peruse the Hobart Shakespeareans’ Web site — in particular, the links on the “Press” page — to understand why.

The concept of the “hero teacher” has received much critical analysis in education scholarship…and for good reason.  Indeed, I think it is a fruitful subject for future teachers and current educators to reflect on and discuss.

The topic raises important questions: Should aspiring or current teachers emulate hero teachers?  Should we view people like Rafe as a hero?  What are the dangers in this elevated status of being a hero teacher?

For anyone who attended Rafe’s talk last Tuesday evening, you’ll know that he provides answers to all these questions.  Rafe told those in attendance that they shouldn’t do exactly what he does.  Teachers don’t need to teach Shakespeare to their students (unless, of course, it interests them to do so).  Instead, Rafe explains, teachers should take their own passions — poetry, baseball, music, etc. — and use those interests to inspire their students and instill a love of learning in them.

Listening to a hero teacher like Rafe can be overwhelming to an aspiring (or even current) teacher.  But it needn’t be.  His message to teachers is one of inspiration, not a cause for paralysis.  Indeed, in an era obsessed with standardization, Rafe’s call for creativity, passion, and authenticity in the classroom should be a freeing message to teachers.

NOTE: The entire day was a great success and furthered important discussions about education reform.  My colleague, Alan Borsuk — Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy at the Law School — has a more detailed blog post about the event that you can read by clicking here.