(This is an archive story, please refer to byline for authors name)
By Miguel Sesmas
If you’ve been wandering the halls lately, you either heard someone quote “Be the system” or seen it posted on the halls. Unless you’re in Dual Credit Chemistry, you’re most likely confused. So what does it mean to “Be the system?” Is it a cult? A simple saying?
Students first recall hearing this famous quote in Mrs. Martin’s dual credit chemistry class while studying thermodynamics. The On Ramps college professor, Dr. Laude, said that if you wanted to understand how thermodynamics works, you must learn to “Be the system.”
“It was his way of saying be the thing and see how it would affect you,” Junior Hannah Poff said. “For example, if heat is added to an ice cube is it endothermic or exothermic? I would pretend I was the ice cube and if the heat was coming towards me or adding to me then it’s endothermic.”
For some, this quote is just a simple way to understand how thermodynamics works, but for others, the quote has taken a new meaning.
“I just wanted to support my students,” Martin said. “Then it became something more than just simply being able to solve thermodynamics problems. It became more profound in terms of student engagement and support.”
But how did this quote gain so much traction? Simply put, the students just wanted to find to a way to remember Mrs. Martin’s new phrase.
“It was sort of a collected effort,” Poff said. “We were like we need a way to remember, so Martin gathered her aids and they put signs up to sort of remind us that she had our backs and supported our efforts.”
What does it truly mean to “be the system” though? For Martin, it is a means to show her everlasting support for her students.
“Everything I do is about letting my students know I support them,” Martin said. “I am also the kind of person that likes to come up with solutions to problems instead of just complaining. “Be the system” became a sort of mantra for that as well in that if we complain about the system without having an idea of a solution then we become part of the problem. If we choose instead to “be the system” then we can force change from within.”
While the message was purely positive, many were confused as to what this new phrase was all about.
“This was always from a purely positive and supportive standpoint,” Martin said. “In hindsight, it is always good to give context in a learning environment and we sometimes forget that others are not in our orbits and know what we are talking about. Everyone was able to move forward and allow “be the system” to thrive.”