An Educator and a Sage (by Kevin Hoskinson)

"Once you are my student," said Dr. Ferris Anthony, retired dean of Continuing Education at Cleveland State University, "you are my student for life." Though I had been teaching English at LCCC for more than 20 years at the time I heard this statement, these words struck me as very few others ever have. I now say these same words to my own students. They were part of a seemingly continual flow of eloquence from this silver-haired educator with the sparkling eyes. "Love your students" was another principle in his approach to adult learning. There was no hint of sentimentality in his point--rather, it was Dr. Anthony's way of telling us to value the students in our classrooms, to affirm the legitimacy of their lived experience, and to model the excellence we expected of them. Every utterance conveyed wisdom; every class was a lesson in both the professionalism and the humility required of any adult educator. You didn't need to be enrolled in one of his classes to be enlightened by him--but if you were, you considered yourself privileged.