The Laughing Wolf

Now I Remember Why Mom Quit Teaching

And why Georgia is often a laughingstock when it comes to education. Let me rephrase that a bit: it should read Georgia public schools, for there are a growing number of good to great private and parochial schools in Georgia. There is also a good reason for that growth.

A prime one is the current head of education in Georgia, who wants to eliminate the word “evolution” from teaching and replace it with its definition. It is only a theory, after all. Merde seems appropriate here on more than one level, since she obviously studied weasel wording and weaseling from the masters.

A second good reason has to do with this bit of racist insanity. Of course, we can’t have a highly successful black man in as a teacher, as it sets entirely unrealistic goals in the minds of the students. Heavens, they might want to actually learn and demand that we teach rather than indoctrinate. Feh.

My mother taught for many years in Georgia public schools, and did not like what she saw. She saw the changes coming, fought them as best she and others could, and when it was clear that she would no longer be able to teach and to help students learn, she quit. She went back to school and became a librarian, stopping just short of a Ph.D yet again in that new field. Never would get either Ph.D., said it wasn’t worth it even though it would have taken very little to get either of them. Instead, she put her time and energy into helping students, teaching them how to research and learn, encouraging them to read (and think), and more. Subversive as all get out, and it is something I much admire about her. She also quit the public school system and went to a private school as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, it was the one my parents sent me to, and she made my junior and senior years a living hell. The one saving grace was that she did keep me from getting expelled (greased piglet incident) my senior year.

She hated having to be a member of the NEA. She did not like the organization, what it came to stand for, and what it did. Yet, she was required to join it, almost like a union. For years after she died, I had trouble with them sending stuff to her and apparently using her name and membership as part of their efforts. It was an implied threat of legal action that finally got her dropped from their rolls, and leaves me wondering how many other dead people they represent.

She loved what she did, and it showed. Despite the hell, I was proud of her and what she accomplished.

Over the years, I was blessed with some good teachers. Annie Ruth Johnson in third grade was one of them. She knew that there was a medical reason for my poor penmanship, and therefore refused to flunk me in that subject. She worked with me on that and other problem areas, encouraged me, and even gave a swift kick when needed. It is a fond memory to this day. She was another who hated the changes in education, and I can’t remember if she retired early or was still trying to teach when the heart attack took her from us.

Stan Stavely was another, my ninth grade history teacher. I mentioned the war game he used in an earlier post. He brought history alive to myself and many others, got us enthusiastic about learning, and was soundly hated by a number of his fellow teachers as a result. Sadly, he left teaching and went to work as a security guard because of the politics and the fact that his salary went up significantly when he did so.

I also remember some of the bad ones. No names here, but there were two in a row who did nothing and taught nothing, and I am not sure I have completely made up for some of that to this day. One was so stupid and incompetent that I spent most of that year in the library reading history and other books instead of staying in class. Might have stayed all year, but she gave a 100 on a test to a student who had deliberately made a zero. Said student was fed up enough to go to the principal about it. That poor person could not fire the obvious incompetent, but was able to transfer her to another school Keep in mind that this was elementary school…

My “favorite” bad teacher was one in early high school. This creature one day decided to take me to task in front of the class. My mother had sent her a private letter, explaining some medical problems I had, some of which impacted my work. Said creature brought out this letter, discussed it in front of the class, and then proceeded to tell one and all that I had nothing wrong with me except that I was lazy. You can imagine what this does to a child in the seventh grade, or what my classmates made of this incident and the privileged information. I never said anything to my parents (until many years later), and my Mom could not figure out why I was so vehement that she stop sending those letters to my teachers.

I bring her up because that creature apparently has a modern soul sister. Cecile, you are not alone and, alas, the thing you have for an English teacher is sadly not unusual. That thing is destined for a life of mediocrity – at best – and unthinking, uncritical conformity. You can and will do much better in life, and are already on the path for that. Of course, it could be worse: you could end up with one of the English teachers I had in college freshman year. This woman not only stated that you could walk through walls, but attempted to demonstrate this trick. Yeah, I stayed on her good side, and she liked me. I did not argue that, and was very glad I did when she and another were arrested (after I was no longer in her class) for attempted murder of a male who had apparently dumped one of them.

There are good teachers and good schools out there. The trick is finding them, nurturing them, and helping them stay the course. To all the good teachers I have had, thank you. My own, limited, teaching experience drew from what they did and how they did it. I hope that I have helped pass some of that along. To all the others out there, including Cecile’s English teacher, I have but one thing to say:

Thhhhhhhppppppppppppptttttttttttt!

-30-