In 12 years of public education, I can remember three teachers - two for being of some use to me, and one for being particularly "in the way." Most of them were intellectual roadblocks of one sort or another. When I went to Colorado State College ("the nation's number two teacher training school in America!") I finally took an Educationa…
In 12 years of public education, I can remember three teachers - two for being of some use to me, and one for being particularly "in the way." Most of them were intellectual roadblocks of one sort or another. When I went to Colorado State College ("the nation's number two teacher training school in America!") I finally took an Educational Psychology class that was rote memorization of the professor's book and fill-in-the-blanks tests, With that and having seen what they made teachers out of and now how they did it (I did some work in the campus PR office where I saw a survey that four 80% of the student body, the school wasn't in their top three choices to go to - hey, you can always be a teacher if you're too stupid to do anything else), I now understood why I had spent most of those 12 wasted years counting the days till I could get the hell out. HS graduation is still the only graduation ceremony I ever attended, because it was mandatory or you wouldn't get your graduation certificate.
two things: it's funny that you worked in your school's PR office...my father ran the CCNY PR office for 32 years (all my friends worked in that office at one point or other, and loved it), until the "professional featherbedders" (as we both called them) got him disgusted enough to leave. it had been a huge school with a "brain trust" of about six or seven people, tops. in 1970, the top-heavy administration thing took over and my dad left in '77. the other thing, which sounds like a joke, but isn't, is my own HS graduation story. we graduated in Forest Park, much too early in the morning and, as soon as it was over, I was carrying my diploma in its small manila envelope, spotted a girl I knew, and we ran together for a hug. I dropped the diploma and (IMMEDIATELY) a parks dept. guy with one of those long sticks with a nail (for spearing errant pieces of paper) stuck his nail through my diploma. both of us collapsed with laughter. the story of my trying--unsuccessfully, of course...it was 1966--to parlay the thing into a sexual opportunity is one I can easily leave out....
In 12 years of public education, I can remember three teachers - two for being of some use to me, and one for being particularly "in the way." Most of them were intellectual roadblocks of one sort or another. When I went to Colorado State College ("the nation's number two teacher training school in America!") I finally took an Educational Psychology class that was rote memorization of the professor's book and fill-in-the-blanks tests, With that and having seen what they made teachers out of and now how they did it (I did some work in the campus PR office where I saw a survey that four 80% of the student body, the school wasn't in their top three choices to go to - hey, you can always be a teacher if you're too stupid to do anything else), I now understood why I had spent most of those 12 wasted years counting the days till I could get the hell out. HS graduation is still the only graduation ceremony I ever attended, because it was mandatory or you wouldn't get your graduation certificate.
two things: it's funny that you worked in your school's PR office...my father ran the CCNY PR office for 32 years (all my friends worked in that office at one point or other, and loved it), until the "professional featherbedders" (as we both called them) got him disgusted enough to leave. it had been a huge school with a "brain trust" of about six or seven people, tops. in 1970, the top-heavy administration thing took over and my dad left in '77. the other thing, which sounds like a joke, but isn't, is my own HS graduation story. we graduated in Forest Park, much too early in the morning and, as soon as it was over, I was carrying my diploma in its small manila envelope, spotted a girl I knew, and we ran together for a hug. I dropped the diploma and (IMMEDIATELY) a parks dept. guy with one of those long sticks with a nail (for spearing errant pieces of paper) stuck his nail through my diploma. both of us collapsed with laughter. the story of my trying--unsuccessfully, of course...it was 1966--to parlay the thing into a sexual opportunity is one I can easily leave out....