Yesterday I encountered two faculty members who had a big influence on my life 20-some years ago and neither one of them remembered me. I shouldn't be surprised: I don't visit or maintain contact for more than 20 years and then I pop up out of the blue and say "Remember me?" They've been working on remembering the hordes of new students they encounter in classes every semester while I've become a dim memory.
The amazing thing, though, is that professors can have a tremendous impact on their students' minds without the students making much impact on the professors' minds. If one of my current composition students shows up 20 years from now and says, "Remember me? You changed my life!" I'm sure I'll be flattered, but that doesn't mean I'll be able to remember her name. Students who take one class with me and then fade into the crowd tend to blur together in my mind; the ones I remember most are those who make some kind of trouble and those I see in several classes, primarily English majors.
Even the more memorable students graduate eventually (or if they don't graduate, at least they go away), and new crowds of students demand my attention. In the long term, how many can I possibly remember? Not many. Which is why I can expect someday to replay the scene I experienced yesterday, only in reverse: this time I'll be the befuddled prof trying to remember the name of the student whose has never forgotten the influence I had on his or her life. "Thank you," I'll say, 'Whoever you are."
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