Throughout my adult life I’ve strived to embody the word “dedication.” In sports I worked hard, in college I worked harder, and in my career I have sacrificed immeasurably. Dedication by definition is a commitment to a purpose or task. The definition is rather simple, but its application can be quite complicated. We can, after all, be dedicated to anything. So, when we hear people say “wow! they’re dedicated” we have to consider context and many times we have to consider if it is really what we mean at all (it is often times confused with determination).
Dedication has a value but this value is qualitative. This qualitative value is usually measured using 2 metrics. The first metric is our expectations on performance and whether it is consistently achieved and/or exceeded, the second is the value of the sacrifice given to achieve it. Like most positive human attributes the value of dedication is also determined by our need and/or desire for it. Some of us value dedication over other attributes such as intelligence or loyalty. However, I think it is important for us to understand that not all dedication should be valued.
The context of, and for, dedication is important. One can be dedicated to video games, sports, their career, and their spouse but not all of them should carry equal weight. One can also be dedicated to something for pride, lust, and greed, all of which are inherently negative. So how then does one assess dedication? I assess it through service. Through service not only are we able to see the positive application of dedication but we can see its impact. Through service, dedication becomes measurable by the individuals impacted as well as the usual metrics listed above.
Starting in year one of my career I have been consistently told that “no one gets tenure for their service.” This quote speaks to the undervaluing of dedication to service in academia, which in many ways is a service industry (the U.S. Government labels professors at public institutions “public servants”). It is in service that the construct of academia is fortified through committees, administrative roles, and advisory positions. It is in a faculty member’s service that a student’s college experience is enriched and made memorable through such things as student organization advising and trip/event planning. So in effect it can be argued that academia is made great not by its intellect, but by its selfless dedication.
In the classroom, students are almost always, to a certain degree, selfish. To be fair, they’re just learning to swim, they can’t save anyone else yet until they can keep themselves afloat. This is why it is important as educators (and if you’re a student reading this, you too) to recognize their selfless dedication. As educators we should also encourage it, through any means necessary. By encouraging this selfless dedication we encourage our students to step up and to aid us, their classmates, and their campus (or wider) community. If academia is made strong, enriching and memorable by an educator’s sacrifice imagine then the outcome on society when we begin to produce a multitude of empowered selfless students.
