Continuing our debate on words.  Today we took up the argument of whether one would rather be known as influential or inspirational.  It’s a great question.   It resonates differently for a teacher or a musician or a writer.  I definitely have influences that didn’t inspire me or make me want to work harder.  But the teachers, musicians, and writers who’ve inspired me have undoubtedly been an influence as well as an inspiration.

Tried to keep my opinions to myself.

The debate raged for forty minutes, twenty minutes longer than I had allocated and left us with only one word identified after four days.  The best point made:

“Ain’t nobody ever been arrested for driving under the inspiration.” 

As the debate came to an end, I asked each student to write down their choice with an argument as to why.  Good to feel that even the quiet kids had full index cards.

Altruistic.

Not the word I might have come up with.  Not a word I’d heard before in all of our efforts across the years to come up with words we want to be known by.   Not a word I tend to hear students using.   Not a word I hear friends and colleagues using that often.

Yet the group loved it.   IB proposed it initially and there’s this good, sincere energy around the table about it.   Having attended a high school whose motto (Non Sibi (not for self)) was addressed by creating lawyers and finance types whose yearly donations likely dwarf my salary, I was happy to hear the students talking about what this word might mean in our classroom.  The notion of selflessness held a surprising appeal.  I hope we can live up to this word.

Follow up: Did find this video that I hope to show next week.  And I think I have a book of Peter Singer essays that might have a piece or two that’s accessible.