Priorities

Isn't it amazing how sometimes our priorities are SO clear, other times we just THINK they are, and sometimes we're quite clear that we KNOW WE DON'T KNOW?

Of course, regardless of these things, it is not always the case that we live our lives out accordingly--that we carry out any actions based on these.

The first several weeks of my "Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Studies" course, I have my students read numerous texts that detail the priorities, goals, and objectives of the field. Without fail, my students complain that these texts are "boring" and make it clear that rather than studying the field, they'd prefer to just get onto studies in the field.

I am just as unwavering, however, in my conviction as the instructor, that they need these beginnings in order to build a strong foundation for their studies to come. By semester's end they eventually come around, but certainly it is much easier to see this at the end, rather than at the beginning.

This goes for so much more than this one part in my class. I've always known that, but I'm realizing it once again--I'm sure not for the last time!

(Let's just hope that this time around the foundation I build is that much stronger than the last.)