From Middle Tennessee to Southern Arizona – and many towns in between – classes begin today, signaling the start of the 2014-15 academic year and the 2014 fall semester.
Two former employers of mine get underway this week as well, with classes beginning today at Roane State. Maryville College classes begin Wednesday.
The University of Tennessee, where classes started last week, seems to be one of the early ones this year. The University of Arizona seems to be right on schedule.
In any case, over the weekend, I saw lots of Facebook notifications from parents to took their kids off to college and, naturally, many of those parents seem wistful. A funny, but poignant, cartoon posted by one parent depicts a split screen. On the left panel, a first grader is gripping a tree as the parent attempts to drag him into school; on the right side, the first-time college student is trying to escape the grip of a parent who doesn’t want to let him go.
The sentiment is understandable.
Parents in our generation have been more engaged, more involved, more emotionally invested in the day-to-day activities of their teens. In some cases, parents have been OVERLY invested. The more extreme parents – and trust me, I met a few during my time with the baseball league – are called “Helicopter Parents.“
This isn’t to say that our parents (and generations before them) didn’t care. They did. But, those were different times. By the time people my age got to the college age, we went off and did our own thing. And that was fine.
I remember my own start to college. I had a good first term. I do recall that, for whatever reason, I couldn’t get the basic English class (so that put me out of the regular cycle). The courses I had that first term: astronomy, French (now there’s a recurring them), political science and western civ – pretty standard fare for a Journalism major.
I remember the French instructor knew the mother of one of my friends, so she frequently called on me. The western civ professor was mad at the world and he made it known that he wasn’t a big fan of students. I remember enjoying both the astronomy and poli sci courses.
And, when grades came back that December, I remember I did reasonably well for a first time frosh.
My folks were interested. They wanted me to do well, of course. But, they were not overly involved.
Current times are different. Maybe we’re still reeling from the post 9/11 desire to cling tightly. Our generation of parents has always just been super-close to our kids. I experienced this as a baseball coach and a theater volunteer.
Whatever the case, I read lots of weepy posts over the weekend. I didn’t mock them. Oftentimes, I resemble them.
Don’t get me wrong. Parents our age mean well. We really do. I think that is probably true of our parents and their parents’ parents. Just as styles and customs change with generations, so do approaches to parenting.
Around here, I am happy to report, that we have not embraced the temptation to mope or cling. We have been in contact with Holly on a regular basis since she settled in out in the desert but not overly so. She completed TA orientation last week and started with a successful slate of classes today.
Meanwhile, we haven’t heard much from Paul (which is generally a good sign). He returned to campus early at MTSU to begin rehearsals for a show. His roommates have joined him, one by one, and now they, too, are ready to begin classes. His first-day report was A+!
So, today, as classes begin at MTSU and Arizona and Roane State and at all the other college campuses across the country, I wish faculty, students and staff (and parents) a great start to the fall term.
JG
Originally posted 8/25/2014
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