On Saturday morning, your parents may find out just how self-governing you really are. Meeting with professors for the bi-annual Parents Weekend conferences, they’ll brag gently about you, perhaps share an embarrassing anecdote — and ask about your grades and work ethic and overall success.
Their window into your life doesn’t make you less self-governing or more of a child, a complaint students often toss around about these conferences. Sure, it might lead to consequences, if you’ve already failed to govern yourself well in the first place. But for that very reason, these conferences ought to be a boon for your independence and adulthood, not a hindrance.
Wise adults seek wisdom from others. Self-governance and independence come about best through instruction and through rules that guide well. Who better to receive that from than your parents, who desire your success more than almost anyone?
For parents, this is a special opportunity. Before Parents Weekend, they may only hear bits and pieces of our lives in scattered phone calls; this is their chance to meet the people we love and learn about what makes Hillsdale College so special. Students often refer to Hillsdale as “home;” let your parents see why.
These conferences are a unique opportunity at Hillsdale, which doesn’t face the stringent limitations on parent-professor interactions wrought by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act on federally-funded schools. So if your parents come this weekend, appreciate their opportunity to chat with professors. Most likely, both care for you and have meant a lot in your life.