Who Was Your Favorite Teacher?

Across five different universities and professional schools and four degrees, I’ve had some pretty good–and some not so good–teachers. Besides the role of parents and a child’s home life, there is an apparent abundance of evidence–not to mention, common sense–which suggests that the classroom teacher is the most important ingredient in anyone’s educational experience.

Or as the late James A. Garfield–arguably America’s “most intellectually accomplished” President–put it: “Education is me on one end of the log and Mark Hopkins’ (Garfield’s beloved teacher) on the other end.”

In Chaucer’s “Prologue” to the The Canterbury Tales, the Cleric–symbol of the learned person in the Middle Ages–he is described this way: “Gladly would he learn and gladly teach.” I’ve done my share of both over the years, and from that perspective, the best teacher I ever had was when I was in the sixth grade. Even if today one might look upon the small town where and when that was and wonder how anyone might have done much teaching or learning there and then.

However, if Mrs. Sheffer was the best teacher I ever had, her husband–Mr. Sheffer, who taught me in the seventh grade–if he wasn’t the worst, he was among em’.

So what was the difference? Even in the eyes of a youngster . . .

Did I Say That?

Earlier this week, the Republicans who have so far tossed their hats in the ring, seeking their party’s nomination for President in the 2012 election, were debating on national television, sponsored by the so-called “Tea Party.”

Along the way, Minnesota congresswoman, Michele Bachmann, took a swipe at Texas governor, Rick Perry, for his executive order requiring 11 and 12-year-old Texas girls to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer. Among her accusations was that such a decision appeared to be motivated by Perry’s connection to Merck Pharmaceuticals, a major Perry contributor, which manufactures the vaccine.

At this, Perry claimed that Merck had only contributed $5,000 to one of his gubernatorial campaigns, adding: “I raised $30 million, and if you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended.”

If Bachmann inflated her claim regarding Merck’s contributions to Perry, the governor deflated his. When in fact, Merck has contributed far in excess of $5,000 to Perry campaigns, but not as much as Bachmann alleged. That sounds like a couple of competing politicians all right, where factual distortion tends to be the rule, rather than the exception.

That, however, wasn’t what caught my ear. As in the proverbial “Are you still beating your
wife?” query

Religion and Public Education

I often hear it claimed that formal education is a “right.” If, however, one seldom reads a book, how is that so? That’s like calling health care a “right,” even if one smokes two packs a day or eats as much junk food as I do.

In fact, a few years ago I read a headline in the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier declaring that in America today–according to the National Library Association–only 31% of college graduates are “functionally literate.”

My mother never went to high school, and my dad attended for only a few years; consequently, growing up in a family where education was so valued because–of economic necessity–it had been denied to my parents, I’ve ended up being educated quite beyond my intelligence. So I’ve always thought of education as a “privilege.”

In a democratic society, however, I consider education a “necessity.” Hence, the crucial role of public schools.

As president of the local chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, I also endorse “freedom from religion,” which is essential to its corollary, “freedom of religion.” The latter being, of course, my priority. Put simply: if Christianity, at least, flourishes in America in ways it doesn’t in nations that promote a “state church,” it’s because of a “wall of separation” between religion and what is publicly sanctioned (according to the likes of Roger Williams and Thomas Jefferson; the former being a conventional Christian; the latter, hardly). In other words, America is not–in any authorized sense–a “Christian nation.” And anyone who doesn’t understand that irony apparently missed school the day they taught history.

Indeed, the tension involving religion and public education has become a pressing matter of late, particularly as it involves the teaching of science and history, the issuing of tax-supported vouchers for private schools, not to mention the role of prayer in public settings. Or as one kid put it: “As long as they keep giving math tests, I’m going to keep praying.”

So I was intrigued by two recent short pieces in the latest issue of The Christian Century (9-6-11).