Seeing with New Eyes

In pursuit of my first teaching position, I interviewed with more than a dozen school districts. Getting through that initial interview opened the door to meeting the principals who typically made the final decision. Several interviewers used the same standardized instrument where they asked a question, listened to your response, then turned to another page in the manual based on your answer. Sometimes the interview continued, other times it ended rather abruptly. It was like experiencing a “choose your own adventure” children’s story without ever knowing the ending.

I had the impression that I performed well because I received second interviews, but the district that hired me was the only one to give me a hint about what I was doing right. They said that I scored high in student empathy.

Four years later, with three years of middle school teaching experience behind me, I was an administrator at the Indiana Department of Education. Due to the role, I was placed on a state committee charged with revising teacher certification standards. As its youngest member, I was asked about my experiences fresh out of a teacher preparation program. Upon telling the story above, a veteran administrator laughed. He explained that student empathy was the only thing that instrument was designed to measure.

After three decades in education, I can validate that empathy is an essential attribute for educators. The more you understand what others are thinking, feeling, and experiencing, the better you can connect what you are teaching to their needs.

This applies more broadly than you might think. Knowing your audience is a maxim for writers, speakers, and marketeers. Furthermore, if you fail to define and meet the needs of others, it is very unlikely your business, partnership, or initiative will succeed. Before Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, a foundational text on the dependence of market economies on the human pursuit of self-interest, he authored The Theory of Moral Sentiments. He explained that in understanding one another, humans find ways to productively co-exist and thrive. American Economist and Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith noted that Adam Smith’s two best known works illustrate a single behavioral principle, demonstrating that humans engage in the exchange of goods and favors as they seek an advantage. Humans are “simultaneously self-regarding and other-regarding,” he concludes. Empathy and self-interest, it would seem, are two sides of the same coin. Finding a way to imagine walking in another’s shoes enhances social harmony and helps you in the long run as well.

At Southeast New Mexico College, we have professors who share this necessary characteristic. There is, however, another element that excellent instructors bring to the classroom. As an expert in their field, a faculty member can open their pupil’s eyes to new perspectives. Much like how the calculus of Newton and Leibniz resolved the absurdity of Zeno’s paradox two millennia after it was posed by the Eleatic philosopher, a professor can help a student see the old and familiar in the light of new ideas. While it is a quote that I have mentioned before, it bears repeating. “The real voyage of discovery,” said Marcel Proust, is “in having new eyes.”

After an otherworldly experience on his journey to Damascus, the “scales fell from the eyes” of the man who would soon become known as the Apostle Paul. Opening your mind to a different perspective can be a life-changing moment. Visit us today. You may find something new for yourself.

Kevin Beardmore, Ed.D., is President of Southeast New Mexico College. He may be reached at kbeardmore@senmc.edu or 575.234.9211