It only took a day for me to notice it - after my first round of classes at my current position in 2019, nearly all of my students thanked me before leaving the classroom. They did this on a daily basis. If I was in my office across from the band room, they shouted their thanks on the way by.

I was taken very off guard by this - something that I’m sure could be latched onto by much unhappier people as indicative of the current youth and their (lack of) respect for their elders, something like that.

I can’t be the only one - an acquaintance who spent the same year in a nearby district in our wealthy county (with a similar high-octane academic atmosphere) cited it in a newspaper interview, with a sense of surprised satisfaction.

When you get thanked several times a day with varying levels of sincerity, it can have just the smallest amount of a dulling effect.

Or, if I want to truly channel the depths of my awareness, it can make some of these gestures that much more vital.

Take for instance the student who goes out of their way to stop by my office and say thanks for helping them with something - and these days, I’m always helping someone with something, as a particularly ambitious senior class girds their loins for the college application process.

To the student who I can’t imagine to be reading this: making it a priority to thank me on your own time is appreciated. Making sure I hear and feel your gratitude at the end of class is appreciated.

Even your automated thanks as you slam the door’s lever to get out of the band room is appreciated.

Even if it feels like a bit of an obligation on your end, I choose to create the level of meaning on my own. And besides, I can think of far worse habits than thanking others.