Tired of all the bashing of public education? This should lift your spirits
Doug GrowFor the last couple of decades, politicians have been pretty regularly
bashing public education and classroom teachers. What follows is a small
antidote to that steady stream of criticism.
At the start of the school
year, Ken Zieska was back at Cooper High, preparing to be a volunteer at the
Robbinsdale school from which he graduated in 1969.
Zieska, retired from
business and a career as an officer in the National Guard, spotted a plaque on
the wall honoring a former history teacher of his, Mark Welter.
"I'd like to say hi to him," Zieska told the volunteer coordinator. "Do you
suppose I could have his email address?"
Zieska was given the address and
wrote his old teacher a note, thanking him for a memorable class.
"Good
to hear from you," Welter responded. He said that he was honored that Zieska
remembered him but "can't say I remember you."
That he couldn't remember
Zieska isn't too surprising. Over his career, the 77-year-old Welter, who now
teaches history courses to seniors as a volunteer at a program offered by the
University of Minnesota, figures he's taught more than 20,000
students.
The student and the old teacher eventually got together, the
student saying that he'd applied the lessons of the world course - from the big
bang to the present - to many facets of his life.
Welter taught world
history around 12 concepts. A quick summary:
1. Has any civilization been
permanently successful?
2. Does history offer evidence for a
"superior" race, creed or culture?
3. What is the impact of
technology on culture?
4. How much unity is needed to have a culture
function well?
5. Has anything in history happened because of one
cause?
6. What is the best approach to change (revolution or
gradual)?
7. Have there always been two logical views in addressing
problems?
8. How important is a group's emphasis on learning?
9.
To what extent do poverty and lack of opportunity lead to "isms"?
10. Are
there general similarities between past and present?
11. To what extent
do geography, topography and climate shape values and social
structures?
12. To what extent do cultural values and historical
eras influence art styles and subjects?
"In business and in the military,
I'd think about how nothing that happens is isolated," Zieska recalled. "What
happens on a factory floor is not an island."
When Zieska learned
that Welter still was teaching the world history course, now to old folks
instead of adolescents, Zieska retook the course to help him with his volunteer
work at Cooper.
"What I remembered about his course was the enthusiasm he
had," said Zieska. "It was a high-energy class."
More than four decades
later, Welter has the same enthusiasm. The biggest problem Zieska had in
retaking the course, it turned out, was working out how to address his teacher.
He kept calling Welter "Mr. Welter."
"Would you please call me 'Mark,' "
Welter said.
"Yes, sir," he responded.
Zieska has tried to apply
the lessons of Welter in his volunteer work at Cooper, which is a different
place from the one when he graduated. He volunteered because Zieska is one of
those "make a difference" people.
You can, he figures, sit in the stands
and complain, or you can get involved.
He's involved at a place that's
very different from when he was there as a student. Four decades ago, the school
was filled with virtually all-white, middle-class students. Now the halls are
filled with diversity - racial (Latins, Africans, Asians, African-Americans) and
economic.
The challenges facing teachers, Zieska says, are far greater
from when he was a student. There are language issues. Students are
"over-stimulated" by the technology all around them. But the vast majority of
teachers he has seen as a four-hour-a-week volunteer seem to relish the
challenge, Zieska said. What he has seen is a far cry from the drumbeat of
political and news stories about bad teachers.
"I don't doubt that there
are teachers who have burned out," Zieska said. "You see that in any company, in
any profession. And I think it's too bad that there aren't ways for mid-career
professionals to come into teaching without having to go through all the
hoops."
Overall, though, he says, he sees the same sort of enthusiasm
among teachers that his old history teacher showed then.
Welter despises
the criticism teachers have been taking, and he abhors the emphasis on testing
that politicians have created.
"Memorize, regurgitate," he said with
contempt. "All the emphasis on math and science. ... Remembering is not
learning. A change in behavior is learning."
The pols - and media - are
pushing "left-brain"methods, Welter says. He is a "right-brain" (creative)
guy.
The old teacher and his former student were at Cooper recently,
talking together about all matter of things: education, politics and, of course,
the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"This all started with Reagan," said
Welter of the spill. "He's the guy who said, 'Get government off my back.'
"
Zieska had a quick response.
"I have to say, 'I learned once
there's no single cause for anything that happens.' "
The old teacher
laughed. That's Concept 5. His student had learned well.