Fun tributes from teaching
John E. Peterson, Special to the Gazette
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Teaching is a very enjoyable profession. It has its problems sometimes, just as does everything else. Most of the time, however, it is a pleasant endeavor. Some of the biggest pleasures come after students have left you, when they do something which is a tribute to what you did for them. Those were the especially fun things, some of which I would tell you, if I had my way.
My teaching career began in 1946 at Jackson Junior College in Michigan. I was just out of the Navy and had no teaching experience. Hence, my assignment was to handle zoology, botany and chemistry labs. I unexpectedly also became coach of basketball and baseball. That was because the fellow who was to coach became ill and had to resign. I was asked to fill in and did so with some success.
At the start of spring semester of my first year, one of my best basketball players during the fall entered my zoology lab. He told me that I had better give him top grades or he would not play ball any longer. Then, he laughed and said that he was kidding and that I was too good a teacher and coach to do anything inappropriate. I liked that.
After four years at Jackson and three more in graduate school at Michigan State, I went to the University of Missouri in 1953. My assignment was to teach Plant Pathology and Mycology. All agriculture majors had to take my Plant Pathology in their junior or senior years. I always required written answers on tests and, when grading, I made corrections and suggestions on their writing. That had nothing to do with the grade, however.
During my first year, one student wrote that they were supposed to learn about plant diseases, not how to write better, even though my criticisms probably helped. About three years later, after my writing criticism became widely known, a student wrote on the bottom of his test that, “This has been the most interesting course I have ever took at the University of Missouri.” It was a tribute to me even though I apparently never made his English perfect.
After 18 years at Missouri, it was on to Emporia State — which was then Kansas State Teachers College, of course. Even when being dean, I taught some courses. After being dean, I taught Plant Biology, started the Honors Program and taught courses in it. Some of the tributes from those years were great.
At the halftime of a Homecoming football game, I recognized a former student running toward me. He had a young woman by the hand. As he caught me, we shook hands and he introduced the woman as his wife. He told me that he wanted her to meet me because I had been such a great teacher for him and much influence on his life.
Another time, when Merle and I were having lunch at a local cafe, a former student greeted me as we entered and passed where he was sitting with a young woman. Before long, he and his companion came to our table. He introduced her as his wife-to-be and said that she must meet me because I had been such a great teacher for him.
In my office today, I have a beautiful 8-inch by 6-inch plaque. It is a brass plate on a wooden piece. On the plate it says, “Dr. Peterson. Thank you for your friendship and guidance.” The names of two young women I had in a couple of my honors classes are on it.
Also in my office is a huge 2-foot by 3-foot card. It arrived in 1991 from Raleigh, N.C. that was about six years after the young lady who sent it was my student. She was working for Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company and pursuing a graduate degree at Duke.
The card was full of her writing about what she was doing and things she had done here at ESU. She said marvelous things about our teacher-student relationship. She said that she could not forget “My favorite prof and good friend” and other nice tributes like that. It is no wonder that I keep that big card.
One last story. I was just stepping out of my office doorway one day when a young man I had in class the year before came down the hall. He stopped and we chatted. After a bit, I noticed that he was barefoot.
I asked him what he was doing barefooted when it was only 22 degrees outside. He told me that he had never forgotten what I had told them in class about how big, tight shoes make moist chambers for fungi and bacteria to grow in the feet and cause athlete’s foot. Hence, he always took his shoes off when he came in the building. It worked, he told me.
There, then, I have shared with you a few of the fun tributes teaching has brought to me. There have been scads of other such experiences. Teaching sometimes has its problems, but it certainly has lots of rewards. It is a great life. I would still be doing it, if I had my way. Unfortunately, the aging results take that possibility away.
bharz (anonymous) says...
I've been away from Emporia and Lyon county, on a military deployment for a couple of years. I'm back now, substitute-teaching in the local district, and I see former students and colleagues every week. It's touching and uplifting to renew their friendships. Teachers may never get paid what they deserve, but the respect and love of former students is a beautiful fringe benefit.
April 3, 2009 at 11:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
I received a call one night from a former student who is now a lighting technician for a rock band. They were in New York that night. "Mrs. ____, this is _____ _____. I saw an ad on TV today about thanking a teacher for something you learned and I wanted to say thank you for letting me learn to do the lighting backstage at Olpe. It opened doors for me." Then he held up the phone so I could hear the band. Of course the lighting system at Olpe could never compare to what that kid is doing today, but I remember teaching him to conquer his fear of tweaking the lights right in the middle of a performance. I've received many calls from former students over the years, but that particular one was by far the most interesting.
April 3, 2009 at 3:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )