Success and Survival...


Enter to Learn, Depart to ServeMary McLeod Bethune

In honor of the final day of Black History Month, my blog is dedicated to the most selfless educator that I know:  Mary McLeod Bethune.  I was introduced to her early on, and began to understand why she risked her life to educate children, specifically children of color.  She is most notably the woman known for erecting the college built on prayer, vowing to rebuild each time it was torn down. 

Bethune, like many early educators understood that learning was tied to survival.  Once a child learned how to read, the world could not contain them.  For as much as this is true, Bethune also coined the phrase, enter to learn, depart to serve.  As we break apart what Bethune is asking of students, we realize that she is requiring them to serve others with the same tenacity as she served them.  This tenacity is an unyielding one; one that is found in many educators.

Bethune understood the level of service required to educate children.  She took the responsibility of arming her students with the tools necessary for survival very seriously.  I am compelled this evening to ask myself and encourage you to ask yourself what tools you are arming your students with.
When they depart or leave your classroom to serve others in whatever capacity they desire, are they prepared?  On the eve of Read Across America and the heels of Black History Month, Im pondering that very question.  Have I armed my students with the tools they need to be successful this year?  Am I preparing them for success and survival?