Tomorrow is the first day of class

I love the first day of class.

The first day of class is like the first day of a new baseball season: everyone is tied for the lead. It’s the annual tabula rasa. The unmotivated will eventually stop coming to class; the unimaginative papers will materialize in due course; the lame requests for extensions are on their way.

But not tomorrow. Tomorrow every student is a good student. Everyone shows up for class and shows up on time; tomorrow everyone will listen to what I have to say, and will be caught up on the readings. In a few weeks, I will start to find out who is for real and who is going through the motions. But that’s not for a few weeks.

Tomorrow is the first day of class.