Why I am I scholar.

I am a scholar to change the world. 

Be the change you wish to see in the word, is a motto that is akin to that of my alma mater (challenge yourself change the world). These sayings resonate with me in a powerful way. To me they are motivators to act, to be, to lead. To innovate. This is somehow related to the mantra of my current institution: Think and Do. And as a colleague of mine might add, And Be.

Leadership is an essential quality of a scholar. That leadership can be conveyed in writing, and speaking, and in acting. There is always more to write. This is something that I do not allow enough time for. 

What does it mean to change the world? To empower others. To break the mold. To connect communities. To translate and link ideas. In my world, this means “linking research and practice,” an important part of NCTM’s research agenda conference report, and part of my own agenda as well.

One unknowable plan is in relation to being versus becoming. Is it one’s claim that they are a scholar, or is it in one’s being (thinking and doing) that one is a scholar. It is unknowable in that who decides. Like a proclamation that “this is art” — says who (Julia Roberts?)? Who decides who is a scholar? Maybe it is my own decision. Yet that decision is always judged by others.

I am a scholar to learn. To challenge myself. It is the pursuit I have chosen and in the thralls of.