Scrolling through social media the last 2 weeks has been a blast. Friends from across the country are taking awesome back to school pictures and posting them. Some are even comparing previous years’ pictures to show everyone growing up. Joy, excitement, and nerves can be seen on all the kids’ faces. The pictures document the beginning of another awesome year.
Taking a current “snapshot” and looking back is great to gain perspective for students and faculty. As a student, consider what you thought of law school last year at this time, and if you are a 3L, what you thought about law school before it started. You may not feel good looking in the future at the bar exam and searching for employment. However, consider your legal analysis skills now compared to a year ago. Are you better? Most likely yes, and that is the goal. Try to get a little better every day. The cumulative impact over a year makes a huge difference.
Academic Support Professionals should do the same thing. The harder bar exam and law school budgets deficits make looking in the future daunting. However, most of you are performing better and offering more to your students than before. Consider your program this year compared to last year. Is it more robust? Will it attempt to reach more students? My guess is of course it will. If you worked in ASP 5 or more years, compare your program now to over 5 years ago. Is it better? Of course it is. Small adjustments and programs over time will help more students.
Pastor Steven Furtick has a great quote about the problems of social media. He says we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel. We will always lose that comparison. Law schools have a similar trap.
Students and professors make illogical comparisons. Students compare grades, study habits, jobs, and extra-curricular activities with what other students say (or post online). They then worry about not doing enough in each area even though no student is perfect in all the areas. Class ranks perpetuate this phenomenon, and the rise of social media probably causes even more comparisons.
Academic Support Professors do the same thing. We go to conferences and see great ideas and programs. We then think our program isn’t as good because we don’t do everything. Many of us construct a mythical program in our heads with all the good ideas, and then, we wish we could be that mythical program. Good news, just because someone has a great idea doesn’t mean everything they do is perfect. They also may not be doing other programs you are doing. Everyone and every school is different. Do what is best for your program and your students.
The mythical student or mythical ASP program doesn’t exist. We will always lose the comparison with perfection. The goal is to continue to get better. Take your back to school snapshot and find the growth from last year. Ask yourself, “am I better today than yesterday, last month, and last year?” The answer is most likely yes, so keep up the progress and have a great year!
(Steven Foster)
