Thinking Big

After spending the last couple of weeks at work helping with an LPN student, I am pleased at her progress, and appreciative of the time and effort that her preceptor nurse, and the whole team, have shared.
We don't get paid more to have a student. Not everyone is a good teacher. But each nurse has something to give, beyond the needs of the patient and the family, beyond the duties of being a good team member, and sharing our own OCD quirks (I call it OCD for good at work).
I was trained in a hospital in the 80's. The whole school, our instructors, all the nurses in the building, shared a guiding and nurturing (and sometimes harsh direction), over the three years. I purposely travelled to Calgary to have the opportunity to learn on the job.
As well, D has been involved in developing a trade certification for dairy herdsman. In the past, farm boys and girls have been raised with the standards and instructions of the myriad of jobs surrounding raising and milking cows. Going out to do chores was the way they learned the needs of the herd and the the milking. But more people are coming from beyond the rural areas, even from other countries.
To take years of slow training and development, and encapsulate it in an organized and  comprehensive manner is a huge undertaking.
As well, our clinic is part of the veterinary program, taking students, almost continually, to go on calls with them to the farms and learn according to their needs. They even take kids who are interested in maybe becoming vets. Many of the vets in our area have spent time with D on his calls when they were starting out.
But D is a great teacher and has some good partners.

I bring this up because, even though neither of us have chosen teaching as our vocation, our professions have teaching wrapped within it. We are so proud that Emily has a calling to be a band teacher. We both loved school and are the worst parents for always being excited about what our children are learning (except maybe now with Scott's advanced programming and math).

My ideas are sparked by this article:
http://www.economist.com/news/21566464-skills-gap-must-be-bridged-if-world-avoid-dire-consequences-argues-dominic-barton

Our friend from elementary school, and Emily's Godfather is bringing a message of opening communication and taking the time to encourage and empower the youth of today. Worldwide.

I love having students. I have been invited to do some teaching at the local university's nursing school. I need to follow this up.
As we head in to a new year, do you see yourself sharing your knowledge with the next generation? What do you wish you had known before you headed in to a new environment? Who do you see around you who could benefit from some nurturing?
And I hope that I am in the sights of someone else's wisdom.