Craving Connection
How Care Can Transform the Business Classroom Experience
Let me tell you a story. In the bustling heart of Madrid, amidst the historical facades that echo centuries of knowledge, Sofia, a 22-year-old business school student, finds herself trapped in a monotonous academic purgatory. Each day, she drags herself from class to class, burdened by a backpack filled with case studies, textbooks, and a laptop, dreading the ceaseless routine, the surprise tests that haunt her like childhood nightmares, and the outdated lectures as archaic as the cobblestones outside.
Sofia loathes being treated like a child, her autonomy stripped away with each patronizing rubric. She dreads the class presentations, standing vulnerable before the sneers of disinterested peers, their eyes glued to smartphones, dismissing her efforts before she even speaks. The irony? These presentations heavily influence her grades, making her academic survival seem nothing short of a miracle given her classmates’ apathy.
Amidst the frantic pace of back-to-back classes designed to cram an overly complex semester, Sofia finds little time to truly learn, to engage, to feel inspired. When I met Sofia after class one day, I was stunned by this dreary tale. What do students like Sofia crave? Care.
They yearn for mentors who see them, who recognize their challenges and nurture their individual journeys, ensuring they feel valued, understood, and genuinely supported. In the tapestry of education, care is the thread that binds student and teacher in a mutual quest. It manifests not only in how we teach, but in how we listen, how we respond to their struggles, and how we celebrate their successes. It's about creating a space where students aren't just faces in a crowd but are integral to the very heartbeat of the classroom.
I’ll always remember what one of my mentors said to me, “We don’t just fill minds; we stir souls.” Those wise words have shaped my approach, ensuring that each student I teach, much like Sofia, feels seen, heard, and inspired.