motivation

I have a student who moved to the US only a few years ago, who started learning English by checking out free English language materials from the public library, and who then took English courses at the community college. I'm grading her first individual writing assignment and I gotta say, this student's writing is seriously kicking the ass of my "But I took AP English!" squealing, native English speaking, born and raised in the USA students.

Mother of god, I wish I could teach adult students who feel they have a personal stake in their education only. I might be tempted to actually stay in education if I knew I could do that.