Commentary By Ashley McCleery

The North Jefferson News



Several weeks ago, I had the privilege of eating lunch with one of my professors from Samford. Although she is such a Godly woman, I never expected to actually be friends with her.

I still remembering trembling, quite literally, before I entered her class freshman year. She wasn’t scary or mean, but her red pin was. Every paper I turned in for her class was covered in red ink.

For every misplaced comma, she deducted five points. For a misspelled name, she automatically bumped grades down 25 points. And every sentence merited a comment of some sort.

After receiving my third 60 on a paper (for an A student, this seemed like the end of the world), I begged her to sign my drop form. I told her that I could drop the class now, and then take it next semester when I was better prepared.

She looked at me, and defiantly threw the form in the trash. That was the end of that. With tears in my eyes, I went back to my computer and began typing my next assignment.

To this day, I still don’t know why she wouldn’t let me drop the class. I probably would have changed my major if she had let me drop that “weed-out” class. Maybe she realized the extent of my frustration and didn’t want to give me the chance to bail out. Maybe she saw more potential in me than I saw in myself.

Sitting across the table from her at lunch, I couldn’t believe how much had changed in four years. As a freshman, she encouraged me to endure the difficult assignments and the criticism of her red pen.

Now, she encourages me to follow the Lord, wherever He may take me. Despite an illness, she still found the strength to encourage me, and now she’s not even getting paid to.

Over the course of four years, I was able to befriend several professors who were just as willing to tell me exactly what I was doing wrong, where I needed to improve, but more importantly, encourage me.

Since I’ve graduated, I’ve learned that most of my professors weren’t trying to add stress lines to my brow or load me down with work. Instead, they were teaching and enlightening me with their knowledge and wisdom. And I am very grateful for them.

I must be crazy. Seriously, I was such a stress ball in college because of them. Sometimes I’d laugh hysterically for 30 minutes, cry for another 30 minutes and then return to my books. That’s how I dealt with their workload.

But it was worth it. I’m only five months removed from the college environment, and I now appreciate every red mark, comment and encouraging word. Teachers are truly priceless.

“What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero