FEBRUARY FOCUS: "The Role of LOVE in Learning" In my grad program at NJCU, our fearless veteran teacher Ms. Davis, conducted this debate in my cohort: "DO YOU HAVE TO LOVE YOUR STUDENTS IN ORDER TO TEACH THEM WELL AND WISELY?" I was amazed at the controversy this question provoked. At the end of that 2005 class, I believed that YES I did have to love my students.... In December 2016, I was tested to my limits by one boy "Darren." Although we had cameras in our classroom so that our very diligent principal could see our every move (which I loved), Darren's physically disruptive choices somehow got overlooked until one fateful day when the camera caught him in a disruptive act directly, deliberately, silently... right behind me! Unless I loved that student (in the sense of AGAPE love), I never would have had the endurance to put up with as well as manage and resolve the discord that my First Grader Darren caused himself and others in my classroom. Indeed, we teachers certainly will not like each and every one of our students. Unless we love them, however, and unless we see and accept them as they are (both academically and personally), how can we ever hope to lead them to the waters of knowledge and expect them to drink?