A Lil Positivity: Morehouse Professor Holds Student’s Baby During Class Since He Couldn’t Get A Sitter

Source: Raymond Boyd / Getty

Professor Praised For Holding A Student’s Baby While Teaching Class

Nathan Alexander, a visiting professor at Morehouse College, said he was just trying to help when he allowed a student to bring his infant daughter to his class on Friday, also volunteering to hold the child as he taught.

Pictures of the unconventional classroom dynamic have garnered a lot of positive attention on social media, with a lot of people praising Alexander’s efforts to assist the student, Wayne Hayer, when he came to class while unable to find childcare.

“I’m not an exception,” Alexander said in a telephone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We have teachers who (assist students in similar ways) every day.”

Alexander said that he initially discussed the idea of the same student bringing his child to class a few weeks back, when Hayer said he couldn’t stay for office hours because he needed to go pick her up. Much to the surprise of the professor’s, his student took him up on his offer and Hayer arrived to algebra class with his adorable baby girl dressed in a pink outfit. 

In the beginning of the class, Alexander noticed that Hayer was distracted with watching his child, which is when he offered to hold her, saying, “Hey, I’ll take her so you can take some good notes.”

Alexander joined the Morehouse faculty in 2017 and said this was not his first experience allowing a student to bring a child to class. He recalled a student once bringing an 8 or 9-year-old to his class in the past. Nathan explained that these allowances are part of the mission of colleges such as Morehouse, the nation’s lone college for African-American men  — men finding ways to help other men.

The professor does not have any children himself, but said he believes it’s important to make such accommodations, when necessary, and knows many educators make similar decisions. “Teachers do this in their own way every day,” he said of those in his profession around the country. “This is what they do.”

Check out some reactions below from everyone who has been touched by this precious story.

Bravo, @ProfessorNaite. And to your dedicated student. https://t.co/2a7OPApTTT

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) March 2, 2019

@professornaite is one of my favorite professors!! Genuinely cares for the students and sacrifices his personal time always to help in any way possible. nothing but respect (Ps. Sorry i wasnt in class today lol)

— Q (@mustbethehype) March 1, 2019

I was married before I graduated from undergrad, and had twins a couple years into PhD. I’m only faculty now because of my advisor who was supportive like you. Thank you thank you for this.

— Cynthia Lee (@cynthiablee) March 1, 2019

from Bossip https://ift.tt/2Uiwiak