A Word Edgewise |
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A Word Edgewise |
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Last Updated 01/20/06
For more literature go
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Email: mjclen@our-town.com
TEACHERS BUILD BRIDGES ACROSS MANY GAPS
| Miss Oseola McCarty died this week, but she was ready. About five
years before her death at age 91, she had given her life savings to change the lives of
others. Her life savings was not a big fortune by Bill Bates standards, but as collected
one dollar or less at a time, it represented more seventy-five years of working at washing
and ironing for customers, using the wash pot in the yard in the early days. The University of Southern Mississippi, in her hometown of Hattiesburg, received Miss McCarty's gift of $150,000 to establish a scholarship fund for poor students. She had her opportunity to make a contribution "beyond the boundary of your personal concern." Leonard Pitts Jr., my favorite columnist for the Fort Worth Star Telegram, used the quoted words to describe a need he felt. He said that after a criticism he once made, some lady called to ask him what he was doing about the situation. Leonard had not given much thought until that time about his own contribution to the world to make it a better place for some. Mr. Pitts tried several things, including the Big Brother program and being a literacy tutor, but was not comfortable in those roles. Now he has found something he enjoys and that seems to satisfy the need to contribute. One morning a week he goes to a high school in his hometown in Florida, as a volunteer, and teaches a Techniques of Writing class. He said he hadn't felt that good about anything in a long time. Thinking of some of the teachers who made a difference in his life, while attending a class reunion this summer he called on two teachers to tell them of his appreciation. Of course, as a retired teacher I could anticipate the pleasure the teachers must have felt to be remembered. During those years of making preparations, wondering what my students needed, trying to find ways to make learning interesting and challenging, and fun, and demanding, and easy, and---, I often wondered if what I had to say and do made any difference inthe long run. Often, I felt that the ones for whom the teaching was most essential, in my estimation, cared the least, were just there because they had to be---and that was a true observation many times. But it was also true that many times I miss-judged the potential of the people I taught---which only goes to show the danger of making judgments about anthers' capabilities and determination. It's comforting to think of teachers as builders of bridges. As the turn of the century draws near, we hear the phrase "bridging the gap" used frequently. Gaps we have a plenty: communication gaps, technology gaps, generation gaps, intellectual gaps, economic gaps, nutritional gaps and many more. Think of any field of endeavor and there exists a gap between the haves and have-nots. Teachers try to build bridges, but the students have to do their own crossing of the gaps. A couple of years ago I went to a school reunion--and tried to tie names to faces changed by twenty or so years. Memory rewarded me with a few recollections of students in various stages of wakefulness sitting in customary places in my classroom, and I was curious about their places in life now. Several come up to tell me of their appreciation for efforts to teach them. Some said how little importance they placed at the time, on learning the prescribed curriculum, and how valuable it became when the need arose. (Teaching problem: providing the information before the need.) One that really sticks in my memory is of a man, now the owner of an automobile repair shop who said, "You taught me to enjoy reading." Now that was a gap I take pride in bridging. Leonard Pitts is changing, and Oseola McCarty changed, the world around them one brick at a time. I feel proud to have, in forty years of teaching, placed a few bricks in the bridges between gaps, and be counted with these two worthy ones. |