Teachers and classes you had

[Libsmasher]

The good, the bad, the ugly?

I went to ghetto schools through high school. My fifth grade teacher was Mrs. Carmody. She was about 60, and my older brother told me it was well known that she used to be a stripper back in the day.

Mrs. Carmody would have us sit there and read stuff to get us out of her hair. Every once and a while, she would sit down at a piano in the room, and start playing old-time honky-tonk stripper music. The black kids would cheer and clap along, and I'd be thinking "I don't need this."

There used to be some guy called the "art man", who went from school to school with reproductions of famous paintings and gave talks in classes - this was all the "art" we got. When he came to Mrs. Carmody's class, one painting he showed was Millet's famous Man witha Hoe:

He put it up for viewing, and said "This painting is called Man with a Hoe."

Instantly all the black kids, ie to say, everyone but me and Harold, broke out in wild laughter. Me, Harold, the art man, and Mrs. Carmody sat looking puzzled. I think Mrs. Carmody even stopped playting the piano.
The art man said "What are you laughing at?? This is one of the world's great paintings!" Then one black boy, skilled in translation from ebonics, explained that what the art man said sounded like the equivalent of "Man with a prostitute."

 

[vyo476]

I grew up in white-bred middle class suburbia.

I had all the classic issues with high school - stifling of individuality, etc. I had a few good teachers, though. Top of the list was Mr. Ames, who taught history. For one thing he was the only registered Republican to teach at the school. Even though I didn't agree with a lot of his politics, I had to respect that he was willing to look into the faces of twenty liberal-cause-Mom-and-Dad are yuppy larvae and tell them that he was a Republican. Aside from that, he was also exceptionally fair-minded - he was willing to listen and appreciate a student's point of view so long as it was original. I was even more of a liberal in high school than I am now, but he was always willing to listen and discuss the finer points of my ideas without ever putting me down.

Another of our history teachers was a twenty-nine-year-old former Marine. Whenever the class wouldn't pay attention (which wasn't often) he'd pull out his photo album and show us some old shots of him holding a grenade launcher. His Military History class, which I took when I was a senior and more or less done with my academic requirements, was one of the most informative and engaging classes I took in high school.

Then there were the less desirable teachers. I had to take an elective science class my senior year - I chose "Marine Biology." We spent several hours every week coloring. I was so bored I wound up with a B. Forgot to color the octopus.

All in all I had a decent experience in high school. If nothing else it taught me to take everything delivered to me from those in authority with a grain of salt.

 

[Libsmasher]

Another of our history teachers was a twenty-nine-year-old former Marine. Whenever the class wouldn't pay attention (which wasn't often) he'd pull out his photo album and show us some old shots of him holding a grenade launcher.

This gave me a mental flash. Did you ever see the Rodney Dangerfield movie Back to School?

Thornton Melon (Rodney) is sitting in history class. The prof (Sam Kinnison) is a vietnam vet, and they have this exchange:

[after a female student gave an opinion why America pulled out of Vietnam]

Professor Terguson: Is she right? 'Cause I know that's the *popular* version of what went on there. And a lot of people like to believe that. I wish I could, but I was *there*. I wasn't here in a class room, hoping I was right, thinking about it.
[shouting]
I was up to my knees in rice paddies, with guns that didn't work! Going in there, looking for Charlie, slugging it out with him; While
[shouts]
pussies like you were back here partying, putting headbands on, doing drugs, and
[shouts]
listening to the goddamn Beatle albums!

Thornton Melon: Hey Professor, take it easy. These kids were in grade school at the time, and as for me... I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover.

Professor Terguson: You remember that thing we had about 30 years ago called the Korean conflict? And how we failed to achieve victory? How come we didn't cross the 38th parallel and push those rice-eaters back to the Great Wall of China?
[rips a desk apart] Then take the ****ing wall apart
[shouts]
brick by brick and nuke them back into the ****ing stone age forever? Tell me why! How come? Say it! Say it!
Thornton Melon: [incensed] All right. I'll say it. 'Cause Truman was too much of a *pussy wimp* to let MacArthur go in there
[shouts]
and blow out those Commie bastards!
Professor Terguson: Good answer. Good answer. I like the way you think. I'm gonna be watching you.

 

[Libsmasher]

NOBODY had any teachers to discuss, with over 300 views??? Uhhh...OK.

 

[palerider]

I graduated in the last year before the fed took over education in this country. I never had a teacher that was a member of a teacher's union. Consequently, I graduated from high school with an ability to read, to write, to do mathematics, to think critically, and to seek knowledge for the sheer joy of it.

I would estimate that my high school diploma from 1964 represents a higher level of education than a BA or possibly an MA today.

As teachers were not protected by unions at that time, I would say that I could count the bad teachers I had through high school on one hand and have a couple of fingers left over.

 

[The Scotsman]

Here you go have a giggle......me with Col Dad at my school in Scotland..... jeeeeez I must have been 17 when that was taken!

The old man was in the military thus we moved all over the world so I was sent to a boarding school in Scotland run by the military at the age of 9 I think. Anyway, there was only 250 of us in the whole school from junior right up to senior years and with the resources of the military behind us we had the time of our lives. We were sailing, shooting, climbing and playing rugby and god knows what else and when we got bored of doing that we went into lessons

One of the things we had to do though was learn to play either the bagpipes or the drums. I learned the pipes and we had an old grissled pipemajor from the Royal Scots Guards who could be a real bastard, hard as nails but was a world renowed piper - he was a great piper and great guy...RIP John Mac!! Anyway I can remember him during band practice, there would be 22 pipers in a semi-circle and he would be prowling in the centre and if you bummed a note or started getting ahead of the rest he'd come down on you like a ton of bricks.

If you were lucky enough you got to be in the band and that meant bloody hard work as we were not just "any old School band". My first engagement with the band was with you lot!! We were invited by the President to play on board the USS John F. Kennedy when she visited Edinburgh during the Bi-Centennial year in 1975. Thats when I fell in love with America!

Anyway here's a flavour of my old school Pipeband now.....

No girls when I joined................

 

[Libsmasher]

Hmmmmm....... scenes from the movie "Braveheart" just flashed in my mind.

Also made me think of when I was in band in high school. I only had a few lessons, but taught myself all the valved brass (not the french horn). The band was about half whites and half blacks. As I've said here before, I went to ghetto schools before university - about 95% black. Anyway, everyone used to drive the band director, Mr. Kline, berserk. American marches tend to have a sharp note called a "stinger" at the end. We had one march that wasn't supposed to have a stinger. He would demand before we played it not to play a stinger. Of course, everyone would play a stinger. He'd say "NO NO NO!". He was in his 40s, but over the four years I was in the band, his hair turned grey. I was stunned to learn from a former classmate, who now sings opera, that Mr. Kline had actually moved to LA, because his younger wife wanted to be a movie star, and that he died about two years ago - too bad, I would have wanted to apologize for all the hellions he had to put up with.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I had some good teachers...2 stand out in my memory

Mrs. Geoffery, grade 2--responsible for the love of reading I still have.
HS auto shop teacher, who I only remember as Mr. Z (Hungarian name with about 14 consonants)--responsible for my love of oddball cars.

One really bad one, I won't name him until I'm sure he's no longer teaching (and hopefully, no longer breathing):
Grade 9 biology, a bully, openly chauvinistic, said things like, "And once again, for the girls who didn't understand it..." Enjoyed reducing at least one girl per week to tears. Was nearly torn limb from limb when one girl was the youger sister of the captain of the wrestling team (6'3, 285lbs at age 17).

No girl in my class (about a dozen) got higher than a C+ grade, including one who was taking (and acing) SENIOR classes as a freshman. He probably cost at least one a scholarship, may have cost her Valedictorian status, and definitely cost at least three of them spots on the Honor Roll. After about 3 months, I flat-out told my GC that if he didn't get me out of that class, I was quitting school. (He did.)

Had my wife had him as a biology teacher, I am absolutely 100% certain he would not have finished the year without ending up in the ICU, and I am a long way from certain he would have survived.