For My Educational Friends in Those Educational Years...

“Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself
How it's strange that some rooms are like cages.
Sonny's yearbook from high schooI's down from the shelf
And he idly thumbs through the pages--
Some have died...
Some have fled from themselves...
Or struggled from here to get there.
Sonny wanders beyond his interior walls
Runs his hand through his thinning brown hair.

Well I'm accustomed to a smoother ride...
Maybe I'm a dog that's lost his bite.
I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more
I don't expect to sleep the night.
Some people say a lie is just a lie,
But I say the cross is in the ballpark,
Why deny the obvious child?”
--Paul Simon, Obvious Child.

I like school, although I am not really sure when I started liking it, but I like school. With that, I love education and grad school was a place where my true education began.

I miss my old comrades in arms and the educational stimulation. I miss the research (History major--lots of weekends in archival sessions finding shreds of evidence in Milner library or at local historical societies or combing the tombstones at some grave sites) and the discovery associated with it.

Pictured above (ideally if the damn site works) are some friends that I spent many an evening with as we argued some vague point to a series of mindless excursions of “knowledge.” It was always conciliatory and never truly mean spirited.

First is Paul (not his real name--as he was Chinese and his name sounded like Paul so we called him Paul). He was a man we admired because of his command of two languages and his ability to research subjects in English, after having only learned it for two years. He was nothing short of remarkable.

Next is Nathan who wanted to be a college Professor. He liked the idea that I taught high school kids, but felt they would not understand his logic. He was correct, as he often spoke above the heads of his classmates and his professors.

Standing by Nathan is Don, a Junior High teacher in a local school. His students have a wonderful treasure, being taught by Don, as he was so intelligent and could relate his knowledge on their level. He also stayed true to history roots by many repeated visits to ISU.

Next is Devon “The General” as he liked to be called. He teaches up in the inner city of Chicago with a great sense of reaching students who might never have an opportunity to be reached. I often times considered him a miracle worker and a man of intense character and immense concern for the welfare of others. He gave hope and knowledge to some seemingly hopeless and ignorant situations. He reached out to those who often times many of us fail to reach.

Next is me, still content and still plugging away in my job. Yes, I am wearing a Batman tie--but there was a purpose as this picture was taken when we all spoke and gave presentations to a group of History majors and English majors and the public in general. I presented a paper on Batman. Paul’s was on Chinese/American research, Nathan’s on some historical philosophy, I believe. Don’s research was on how the Constitution ignored Slavery; the “General’s” research was how fictional accounts of history cloud the historical perspective.

The last person pictured is Kent--a former fifth grade teacher who loved teaching the younger kids. His paper was on some development in the Civil War, if memory serves. He had a “fun” perspective to the classes we took together and Kent probably shared more grad classes with me than all of the others in the shot. Kent was a positive person with an incredible sense of exploring the “why not’s” instead of the who, what, where, and when’s. His perspective was (and I imagine still is) refreshing and unique. Kent left the profession to search for the almighty capital gains and is now a textbook sales rep.

As we spent three years of debates and discovery, we gained a sense of individuality as well as social role in our group with other grad school colleagues not pictured (I think off and on through those years forty of us drifted through a maze of clases--as none of us were ever without a friend or colleague in the classes we took). We also learned to rely on one another and challenge one another to bring out the best that each of us intellectually had. We all, at some point, contemplated leaving grad school; and we all challenged each other to stay and fight the good fight.

I miss the people and those days.

A fellow educator recently remarked to me in passing that a “master’s degree is just a piece of paper.” I thought the comment was made by someone who will never attain one--and that to me is sad. Not that the educator will not be “educated,” but sad because the educator will miss out on a great, life-altering and self-fulfilling opportunity. Well, I guess a bit sad as the educator will never be as educated as she/he could be. Also a bit confused as to why the educator would make a silly comment--schooling is to an educator like a hammer is to a carpenter. Quite frankly, if educators ignore schooling or find that it is not needed, then the state of education towards the students falters. Anyone not in education reading this, honestly, should be a bit incensed by such comments by a teacher about grad school. Anyone who is an educator who reads those comments by the educator should not only grow incensed, they ought to grab a torch and prepare the stake for burning--but that is another subject for another blog.

I am a better educator for earning the degree; my students are better prepared; and I am a better person now that it is through. To my grad school partners in crime; thanks for pulling out of me the best I had to offer. I only hope I did the same for you.