If you’re going to change the world, it will probably happen by the time you turn 17.
In a recent chapel talk to the students, I shared with them the reasons that I got into this profession of education in the first place. I conveyed to them many of the factors that led me down this road. But the core reason, when it comes right down to it, is that I believe passionately that if you’re going to change the world, it will probably happen by the time you turn 17.
By changing the world, I do not mean necessarily becoming a famous general, business tycoon, or politician. By changing the world, I mean choosing a life of purpose where day-in and day-out you contribute something to making the world a better place – be it large or small. The first question you have to ask, therefore, is how can you make everything you have learned at Webb, educationally and socially, work for you?
When I was a young child growing up in San Diego in the late 60’s/early 70’s, my mother taught a class in junior high school in a little town south of San Diego – less than a quarter mile north of the U.S. Mexico boarder. Basically, it was a large class of Spanish-speaking students who were attempting to cross the bridge from Spanish-speaking classes to a traditional English-speaking high school curriculum. This eighth grade program was a sort of do-or-die scenario for many of the students. If they survived it and thrived, chances are they would be successful in high school, and continue on to junior college, or maybe even traditional four-year college. If they didn’t, chances are they would go downhill from there, most probably never graduating from high school.
Many of the students in the program were actually illegal aliens – students who would literally get up at 3:00 a.m., and sneak across the border so that they could attend classes in the U.S. that day. They would then sneak back across the border that night, or stay at a friend’s home in the U.S.
Bear in mind, this was well before the hot-button political issues surrounding immigration. The U.S. had a pretty casual position on the topic, so much so that, periodically, the principal of the school would assemble the teachers, and inform them that he had been tipped off that the Federal Marshals would be paying the school a visit to do what they termed an illegal alien sweep. The teachers, including my mom, would then prepare packets for these students to take back home to Mexico for up to 3 weeks, until the coast was clear.
As a child, I remember being mesmerized by her stories of these kids. I was dumbfounded – why would students go so far out of their way to go to school? I only did it because I had to, because my parents made me; or so I thought.
Fast forward now 35 years. Several years ago, my mom and dad were on a bus going to a San Diego Charger football game. A man approached my mom and asked “are you Mrs. Stockdale?” Yes my mom said, thinking that he had recognized my dad and just wanted to say hello. You probably don’t recognize me, I was in your Southwest 8th grade class. This person was one of those who had to sneak across the border every morning to go to school. As it turns out, he is now an American citizen and after graduating from college, went on to receive an advanced degree. He is now a professor of English Literature at a university in San Diego. He went on to inform my mom that his best friend from this now acclaimed 8th grade class, who was also once a Tijuana citizen, is also now an American and, after graduating from college, now works in the San Diego Sheriff’s department.
This story is important to me for two reasons. First, I am incredibly proud of my mother and her spirit of helping everyone around her become a better person.
Second, it reinforces beautifully why I am so passionate about working with teenagers – if you want to make a real difference in the world someday, the life-changing experiences when you are young will set the stage forever. Those kids from Tijuana had an insatiable appetite to learn and to be educated. They were young and daring in one way, but very wise in another and their actions allowed them to make better lives for themselves and eventually to make a real difference in the world. All they needed was a teacher who believed in them, and who inspired them to pursue their dreams.
When hiring teachers at Webb, I certainly look at their skill sets, their educational backgrounds, and their experiences as educational leaders. But more importantly, I look for people who truly know and understand the importance of this work – that we are in the business of changing students’ lives by inspiring them to make our world a better place. How privileged I feel to be at a school with such a clear and uncompromising focus on educating honorable leaders who are destined to make the world a better place.
