A few years ago, I was out to dinner with a few colleagues and a candidate that we had invited to interview for an open faculty position. Everyone around the table was chatting about the research they do and the latest news and happenings in our respective fields. Then, during a brief lull in the conversation, the candidate asked me a question: “I've heard that you are an award-winning teacher, so would you mind sharing with me what you think is the most important thing you do in your classroom?”

Wow, what a question…one thing that I do, the most important thing I do…let me see…uhm. As I was quickly trying to formulate a response, a million and one possible ideas began running through my mind – use of active learning activities, focus on student-centered teaching strategies, emphasis on helping students learn how to learn, etc. Then, without my mind yet settled on an answer, out came my response: “I think the most important thing that I do is care, really care, about my students.” For a split second I felt like I wanted to take my seemingly primitive, unsophisticated response back and come up with something more impressive and pedagogically robust. But then, my mind seemed to relax and become more comfortable and satisfied with my rather spontaneous response—caring about my students, really caring, IS one of the most important things I do in my classroom. Perhaps my response was intuitive, rather than spontaneous?! The conversation busily continued around teaching and learning and soon dinner was served. However, through the rest of the evening and for many, many days and months to come, I kept thinking about how my response was connected to all the other things I do in my classroom that I also think are important…the list just kept growing. Then it dawned on me: everything good that I do as a teacher begins and ends with caring for my students. And so began my exploration of the scholarly literature about caring in higher education.

In this editorial, I would like to share with you the findings and implications of one of the articles that I came across in my search entitled, “‘If they don't care, I don't care’: Millennial and Generation Z students and the impact of faculty caring” by Miller and Mills (2019).

几年前，我和几位同事以及一位我们应邀参加空缺教师职位面试的候选人共进晚餐。桌子周围的每个人都在谈论他们所做的研究以及我们各自领域的最新消息和事件。然后，在短暂的谈话中，候选人问了我一个问题：“我听说你是一位屡获殊荣的老师，所以你介意与我分享你认为你在你的职业生涯中所做的最重要的事情吗？课堂？”

哇，真是个问题……我做的一件事，我做的最重要的事……让我看看……嗯。当我快速地试图制定一个回应时，一百万零一个可能的想法开始在我的脑海中闪过——使用主动学习活动，专注于以学生为中心的教学策略，强调帮助学生学习如何学习等等。然后，没有我的脑海里还没有定下一个答案，我的回答是：“我认为我所做的最重要的事情是关心，真正关心我的学生。” 有那么一瞬间，我觉得我想收回我看似原始、简单的反应，想出一些更令人印象深刻且在教学上更强大的东西。但后来，我的心似乎放松了，对我相当自发的反应变得更加舒适和满意——关心我的学生，真正的关心，是我在课堂上做的最重要的事情之一。也许我的反应是直觉的，而不是自发的？！谈话围绕着教学和学习忙碌地继续着，很快晚餐就端上来了。然而，在整个晚上以及接下来的很多天和几个月里，我一直在思考我的回答与我在课堂上所做的所有其他我认为很重要的事情之间的联系……这个清单一直在增加. 然后我突然明白了：我作为老师所做的一切好事都始于关心我的学生。于是我开始探索有关高等教育关怀的学术文献。在整个晚上以及接下来的许多日子和几个月里，我一直在思考我的回答与我在课堂上所做的所有其他我认为很重要的事情之间的联系……这个清单一直在增加。然后我突然明白了：我作为老师所做的一切好事都始于关心我的学生。于是我开始探索有关高等教育关怀的学术文献。在整个晚上以及接下来的许多日子和几个月里，我一直在思考我的回答与我在课堂上所做的所有其他我认为很重要的事情之间的联系……这个清单一直在增加。然后我突然明白了：我作为老师所做的一切好事都始于关心我的学生。于是我开始探索有关高等教育关怀的学术文献。

在这篇社论中，我想与您分享我在搜索中遇到的一篇文章的发现和意义，“‘如果他们不在乎，我不在乎’：千禧一代和 Z 世代学生以及教师关怀的影响”，米勒和米尔斯（2019 年）。