Ashlee Kerkhoff
Stephen Donahue
ENG-099-D100
October 4th, 2014
Education at its Finest Dr. Will Ashford once said, “It’s not about getting a degree it’s about finding your passion.” By that I mean education is everything. It’s the ability to meet life’s situations. It was late Friday afternoon in his small hot office, he sat back in his chair legs crossed, hands in his lap when we began talking. Will Ashford is an Academic Advisor for Rock Valley College, we met in fall 2013. He was one of the very first people I talked to when I was beginning my college career. He helped me pick out my first couple of classes at Rock Valley, and explained to me that education is important in today’s society. Dr. Ashford dropped out of high school to join the Navy, after serving he took adult education classes, obtained his GED, and returned to college. After returning to college an instructor of his gave him the opportunity to become a part-time instructor at Rock Valley. “I wanted to work with people returning to education, not traditional students to help them reconnect with their education,” he said. He then taught a human services class from 1995 to 2013 and is still teaching today. Instructors have to care for the students and the diversity they bring to the classroom. Diversity of gender, sexual orientation, race, and religion. As well as caring for the institution and its obligation to deliver a quality of education to students attending the institution. Will said, “My goal is to help as many students as possible to realize and reach their potential for happiness.” I’ve sat down with Dr. Ashford a couple of times; the last time we sat down he helped me plan out all my classes every semester up to graduation. Will has learned that teaching is more about students learning and the more he is teaching the less the students are learning. You have to be co-learners in the classroom, students and teachers have to be on the same level. “You have to be in the same chemistry bowl as learning,” he said. Teachers have to be willing to learn from their students. He has learned from his students that they are brave, because to reenter the learning environment is fearful and challenging and they step up to the plate and accept the challenge. Many face real hardships and tough decisions but they accept the fear in the challenge and move forward. They do it for those around them, their families, and their future. He has learned to face reality, face challenges and work your way through them. He said to me, “Education has become a lot more technology driven and more like a business than a calling or passion for people that are instructing, and that the organization has given up a lot of its academic soul for the corporate bottom line.” As a college they do not worry about how well you are learning or how it’s going to improve your experience in life. They are worried about what’s your GPA and how are you going to pay for your classes and books. Dr. Ashford