Go Teach … and Be Encouraged
Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 12/9/18
An
article in the Marietta Daily Journal this past Tuesday produced a parade of
personal history that marched across my brain for at least 48 hours. The article was about a former student of
mine, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton. It recounted the speech Melton gave to the
Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s First Monday Breakfast.
The
Chief Justice rode high in that parade, but allow me to leave him momentarily
after stating that in 10th grade English at Wheeler High School,
Melton was a prince of a guy with character and future success already written
all over his face.
Flashback to the parade
that led up to Harold Melton. When I was
11 and 12, I dreamed of becoming either a radio announcer or a country music
star. Radio announcer because I simply
loved radio. Country music star because
country singers rode on big buses and got to see the world as well as sing.
During
my 13th year, realism set in.
Newspapers stole my heart from radio, and Ernest Tubb and Marty Robbins
were riding so high that I decided I could never reach their heights.
During
year 14 in the 10th grade, a deeper desire began to stir. Unbeknownst to them, my teachers and coaches
at little Forest (MS) High School began to draw me to themselves. They weren’t just smart. They loved life and people. The coaches, like those I would work with
years later, were fun-loving and motivating.
Even the sterner, less outgoing teachers obviously enjoyed
teaching. With this batch of educators,
Roger Dale Chambers and Gerald Smith met their match. These teachers still believed and let us know
that the teacher should be large and in charge, not students.
History,
literature, science, agriculture, and even mathematics were all compelling, but
not nearly so much as the teachers themselves.
If they could enjoy their line of work so much, maybe …
Suffice
it to say that at age 22 I set out to be the kind of teacher my teachers
were. No such luck. My first year was heaven and hell. Let’s forget the hell. Every line of work probably has its
share. That first year produced cute
little blond headed 7th grader Lloyd Gray who became one of
Mississippi’s most well known editors at Tupelo’s Northeast MS Journal.
Three
years before the death of former MDJ editor Joe Kirby, I finally got him and
Lloyd Gray together. The two of them
enjoyed talking journalism. I listened in.
Lloyd Gray began the 52-year parade of outstanding youngsters that made
teaching a joy.
Three
years ago a bright-eyed 40-something plumber knocked on my door. We had a happy reunion. Nick Smith had enjoyed American literature and
composition at North Cobb High School, but before entering to fix my problem,
he apologized profusely for refusing to give the required talk in American
literature.
“Mr.
Hines, I was too bashful and petrified, but you’ll be glad to know I teach
12-year-old boys at my church,” he pleaded.
Unlike
the effervescent 12th grader Judge Tain Kell, Harold Melton was quiet. But you knew he had his sights set on
something. When Justice Melton spoke at
a Chattahoochee Tech graduation several years ago, he and I also had a happy
reunion.
It’s
not the Lloyd Grays, Tain Kells, Nick Smiths, and Harold Meltons who most need
the help of good teachers, however. It’s
those who are not so bright-eyed or so fortunate to have parental encouragement. More and more, suburbia is sending to our
schools children and youths who need the kind of teachers I had and the kind of
exemplary classmates like the former students I’ve named.
That’s
why the teaching profession needs the best and the brightest, not just in the
brains department but in the ability to encourage and point the way for a
generation that is not as well-anchored as the one I taught. That’s why adults who are seeking a second
career need to consider teaching and why we need to support our current
teachers who still labor hard and long. To
teach is to learn twice. Do it, adult
readers.
To his friend Richard
Rich, Sir Thomas More said, “Why not be a teacher? You’d be a fine teacher, perhaps a great
one.”
“And
if I was, who would know it?” asked Rich.
“You,
your pupils, God. Not a bad public,
that.”
Every
new generation of youth is up for grabs, and they are immensely influenced by
teachers and the likes of forward-looking classmates like Harold Melton. Therein lies much hope.
Roger Hines
12/5/18
No comments:
Post a Comment