[Students] are the reason we exist as a profession. Since we’re not immortal, we have to transfer what we know to the next generation. They can be exasperating—lazy, entitled, rude—but they are also, by a wide margin, the most rewarding part of being a professor. I often wonder about the impact of my scholarship or the purpose behind endless committee meetings, but I have never doubted the value of teaching something—even something seemingly small, like the art of punctuation—to a student who sincerely wants to learn and who might benefit from what I have to teach.
— “On Gratitude in Academe,” Thomas H. Benton. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
