Leave it Better Than You Found It

Scouting is a lot more than selling cookies or peanut brittle.  Scouting is to help kids grow into contributing members of society.  Scouting teaches you many things.  You learn to respect our flag and to be patriotic.  You learn how to be of service to others.  You learn to work as a team.  You learn about good citizenship.  You learn about promises and working for the good of the pack.  You learn about building character.  When I was a Cub Scout in Pack 297, our adult leaders were constantly preaching to “Try to leave this world a little better than you found it.”  When we went camping, we were required to make the camp site far better than the shape it was in when we arrived.  You could tell the camp sites whose previous tenants were not scouts.  Those were easy to leave in better shape.  The challenge was improving the sites where the scouts had been. They were on top of their game…like a green dot from the growth model. Nevertheless, our Scoutmaster told us to leave it better than you found it.  Darn over-achievers.  When we did service projects, we were told to make a huge difference in the lives of others.  “Leave it better than you found it” was instilled in my head and in my heart…the stent hasn’t blocked the latter).  

In three months, a new set of teachers will take your current students.  You will receive new students from someone else.  The levels that the kids are at will vary.  Some will be high achievers and you will be challenged with the task of making them even better.  Some will be behind in their studies and you will be challenged with making them better.  Many will be average students and you will be challenged with making them better than average.  In every case, you will be challenged.  You will want to receive students who are well-prepared academically.  There is nothing wrong with this expectation.  In fact, it should be your expectation.  That’s where it goes full circle.  The expectation of your colleagues at the next level is the same.  They also want their new kids to be prepared academically.  Your task in these last eight days is to keep the expectations high.  It is to keep the kids on task and still getting after it.  Now is not the time to back off. The task now is to prepare to let go of your students better than you found them.  The new set of teachers will appreciate that, which ironically, includes you.