Are you one of the chaps who can take his raps
And still not hit the floor;
Who’ll stick by the gun till his task is done
And then look ’round for more?
Do you grin at your work or sulk and shirk
When the job seems hard to do;
Are you there with the grit to do your bit;
Can the boss depend on you?
If your conscience clear, with nothing to fear
As you punch the clock each night;
When you leave the job, do your pulses throb
With the thought of a task done right?
Is it pleasure or dread when you pillow your head
And think of the coming day;
Do you breathe a prayer for strength to bear
Does your job mean simply pay?
Just pause a bit and see if you fit
In the class that’s pictured here–
For it’s never too late to clean the slate
And start on a record clear.
-Frank A. Collins
Pretty awesome, right?
What do you think of this one?
Now this poem is useful as well. I have a meeting with the class presidents today to talk about student morale. Without ever having to hear a word I have a pretty good idea why some of our students are simply not getting along very well right now. The academic dean tells me that class work is not being turned in on time by a number of our students and it is these same students who seem to be causing discontent in the dorms.
I think I will sneak this poem into the discussions at some point just to see the reaction.
Great idea. Let me know how it went. Also, maybe you could post up this poem somewhere that those students can see it. They *probably* won’t read it, but maybe there will be an osmosis effect coming from the ones that do read it. Any way to work it into a speech?
I am sure the world would be a better place if everyone took head of this wonderful poem you have posted here Shawn, thank you for sharing….
Take care always, Lee