You Might Not Believe It

There were memorable experiences at Olympus Jr. High School...some good, others I would just as soon forget or at least not have to confess. I guess I don't have to admit to anything, I just choose to just in case you think I never yielded to temptation. I was once asked by one of my children if I ever did anything wrong in my life to which I answered, "Of course". But when I told her the first thing that came to my mind she began to laugh. You'll see why when I told her that once some friends and I got off the bus before reaching school one morning because we decided to walk. It was a beautiful morning and we just felt like walking. Of course we were late to school and had to go to the office. We were reprimanded, our parents were called, and we were sent to class. "Was that the worst thing you ever did?" my daughter asked as she began to laugh out loud. What made it bad in my mind was that I had to face my parent's disappointment in me when I got home. They expected strict obedience and conformance to rules, and I knew I had let them down. Since this was a minor infraction of the "be on time" rule, I got off "free" at home this time.

"Wasn't there anything worse than that?" I was asked. "Well.......(I tried hard not to remember) there was this one time when I got caught cheating. But I really wasn't cheating, I was just checking the answers I had already written down. (Am I rationalizing? Probably so.) It happened like this. It was in my eighth grade English class. Miss Jones was the teacher - one of the teachers I remember mainly because of this incident. Miss Jones was probably in her forties, had black hair, and a large hooked nose that you couldn't help but notice. One day she gave us a surprise quiz on grammar, one right out of the book. Since it was one of those self-help quizzes, the answers were in the back. Grammar has always been my strongest part of English, so the quiz was no problem for me. But temptation came when the teacher left the room and most of the students quickly turned to the back of the book where they knew the answers were. I had already finished the quiz, but had just turned to the back of the book to check my answers when the teacher walked in and told everyone to put their hands on the desk without turning a page in their books. Then she walked around the room to see where our books were open. I was caught! I didn't say anything to my parents about this incident until they received my report card and I had to explain why I received a "C" in citizenship. My academic grade was still an "A" which was a surprise because I really expected that would be the grade to drop. But the low grade in citizenship was just as disappointing to my parents. I can honestly say that I NEVER cheated or even gave the appearance of cheating again in my whole school experience, including college. I never wanted to feel that guilt again and I didn't want to disappoint my parents either. It's kind of like having to face our Heavenly Father knowing of all the mistakes we have made in our lives. Thank goodness for repentance! I may not have ever cheated again, but I certainly have made many other mistakes. Miss Jones was a good teacher, and I remember her also for introducing us to Shakespeare. We studied the Merchant of Venice that year and I not only understood it, I still remember it even though I haven't read it since. She must have done something right. She also taught diagramming sentences which they don't do any more. That is how I not only learned parts of speech, but the correct use of words such as "I" or "me", "they" or "them", etc. I have been known to mentally diagram a sentence to know what form to use. I think it is a great tool, and can't quite understand why they don't use it anymore. How many students today actually know what a gerund, or an infinitive is? I do because I learned to diagram.
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My very favorite science teacher ever was Mr. Todd...eighth grade science. Why? Because he made us think. He taught us science and problem solving way beyond an eighth grade level and made us believe we could do it. And we did. Have you ever felt that wonderful feeling of accomplishment when you do something beyond what you thought you ever could do? Mr. Todd made us feel that way all the time. He gave us the tools and the self confidence to try difficult things and solve difficult problems. I still remember one of those problems...kind of. He said their was a boat that sunk in X feet of water. It was lying on it's side. The deck was X number of square feet in size. We were asked to find the average pressure per square inch on the deck. I remember that so well because I was the first one to get the right answer. I know I couldn't do that now. His way of giving quizzes was to play a game that went on for at least a week. He would start by asking the first student in row one a question. If he answered it correctly the second student in that row was asked a different question. If number one answered incorrectly the second student could try and if he were right they had to change places. This would go on up and down each row, the goal being to try to move up as close to the first seat in the first row as possible. This would go on for a week or so, and at the end all those in row one would get an "A" on the test, row two "B", row three "C", etc. I'm sure he made some adjustments because those who started on the last row had less of a chance to move up as those in the first rows. Anyway, I thought it was a fun way to take a test.

My ninth grade math teacher was a "hoot". That is why I remember her. She was tall, and I mean tall. I would say about six feet one or two. She was older with wrinkles and white hair, and did I mention that she was tall? When we got a little too rowdy her favorite saying was: "If you don't settle down, I'm going to sit on you and your mother won't know you when you get home." That always got our attention even though I never saw her sit on anyone. She could be very strict, too, if it was needed. Although math has never been my strength, basic math was easy for me. And basic math is all we had in Jr. High. There was no algebra, or even pre-algebra as there is today. That didn't come until high school.

These are the teachers I remember along with Mr. Weight, my orchestra teacher, and Mr. Henefer, my art teacher. I guess I remember them mostly because I loved the subjects. Academically I was a good student, and I loved learning. I think a great deal of our attitude towards learning comes from dedicated teachers who love to teach and have a genuine interest in their students. At least that was the case with me. My hat is off to those who take on the great challenge of teaching youth today. It is much more difficult than it was back in my day. But what would we do without you?!!!!