BELIEVE IN LEARNING

Dear Spike:

It's been nearly a year since I decided to take the plunge back into school. Today was the day I actually hit the water.

In deference to my unpredictable work schedule and my often sleepless nights, I've elected to enter an online program at California State University East Bay, which happens to be the same stately institution that your grandmother graduated from when I was a boy. As of midnight, I'm a Pioneer. With any luck, I'll be graduating with a master's degree in education sometime before you start college.

Your mother and I don't see eye-to-eye on everything in this life, but one thing we wholeheartedly agree on is education.

Not as a route to a job. Not as a path to more money. Not as a way to bolster our personal and professional credentials.

We believe in education just for the sake of education.

We believe in the nobility of knowledge and the sanctity of its pursuit. We believe that the very foundations of our society can be found in the relationship between teachers and students. We believe in learning.

And we expect you believe, as well.

That doesn't mean you have to spend your life in school. Although we expect you to go to college — and anticipate that you might stick around for graduate studies — you'll have free agency to make your own decisions about these matters. We will only ask you to recognize and respect the amazingly fortunate lot you've drawn in this life, and to pay heed by striving to learn as much about this world as you can.

In all things, ask questions.

In all things, seek answers.

Share your thoughts and thirst for the thoughts of others.

Explore and experience.

Read and write. Read and write. Read and write some more.

Create. Appreciate. Be.

Learn. It's what this life is for.

Love,
dad