The power of education

The power of education

By Mark Leitheiser

Public education, it seems, is under siege these days. Helicopter parents, hostile school board meetings, discipline issues, lagging test scores, COVID-19 restrictions and social concerns are just a handful of the myriad problems facing our schools today. If you were to focus only on the educational headlines in our newspapers and TV news, you’d likely think our public education system is a complete mess and sadly, in many cases, you’d be right.

Yet, in spite of its warts, public education still serves a valuable purpose in our communities. At its worst, it is indeed, an overbearing, tax dollar-eating monster that serves no master but itself. But at its best, public education has been and continues to be a noble institution that provides all children with the educational tools for a lifetime of service and purposeful living.

To illustrate this point, I’d like to tell you the true story about a runt of a kid. He was skinny, slow and so shy his mother was called in for a conference because he wouldn’t talk in kindergarten. When that same teacher gave him the starring role of Santa in the Christmas play, he dropped the jump rope and his reindeer ran away, leaving him stranded in a chorus of laughter.

The next six years of grade school were little more than a dress rehearsal for life as a wallflower. He learned to fit in by making people laugh but he was never much of a threat on the playground where he was an easy out in kickball or in the classroom where he was average at just about everything.

Things didn’t get much better in junior high school where he played left bench on the football team. Apparently the coaches were not impressed with skinny, slow, shy kids. When the basketball team roared out of town for its first game, he wasn’t on the bus. He wasn’t even given a jersey. Apparently the basketball coaches saw the same talent level as the football coaches.

Socially, things weren’t much better. The runt went to school dances where he mixed with the shadows falling outside the dance floor and the margins of the student body. When he finally went to watch his first varsity football game, he was so naive he had to ask an incredulous fan which was the home team. By all accounts, his life story was headed for a dusty bookshelf just behind the reference section until public education changed the narrative.

He didn’t know it then, but in spite of his struggles, this kid actually had a bit of good luck working for him: he was raised in a community with quality public schools. And in time, that changed everything, for as the years marched away so did his limitations.

It had started in elementary school where kind, caring teachers helped lay the groundwork for a solid educational foundation. The runt may have been discouraged, but his teachers were not.

At times, they gave him a literal loving pat on the back. At other times, they gave him a metaphorical loving kick in the seat of his pants. He needed both.

And even as the bus left town without him, a funny thing started to happen in junior high school. The runt began to grow, physically, socially and intellectually. His luck held again as excellent teachers encouraged and shaped this growth spurt.

He began to step away from the shadows of the dance floor and into new friendships. Some of these even involved girls. By ninth grade the “runt” was six feet tall and when someone pushed him, he pushed back. The runt had vanished. There were new friends, new ideas, new questions and new confidence. Things were changing but none of this could have happened without the steady guidance of his school teachers.

High school provided the setting for this, “late bloomer” to actually bloom. A wise coach suggested he give up his football career to try running. A quick examination of his statistics- zero yards, on zero carries over three years as a ninth-string running back made the decision fairly easy. No one would accuse him of being a superstar but the runt found that by outworking the competition he could find success and in the process, he began to find himself.

Another thought began to simmer during those high school years as well. He found that he respected and admired his teachers and coaches. Before long, he began to see himself in that role and he began to wonder: could this be a calling? Again, his teachers served as his North Star, nudging him down a path while guiding his journey.

A speech teacher taught him to have fun in front of a classroom. An English teacher encouraged him to take roll for her each day. A physical education teacher let him work as a volunteer assistant. Wonder turned to a vision and the deal was done. A track scholarship helped pay for a teaching degree which led him to the front of a classroom.

So, whatever happened to this elementary school wallflower? Well, 38 years later, he is still having fun in front of a classroom. You may know him as your teacher. You may know him as your child’s teacher. You may know him as your coach. You may know him as an announcer.

Or . . . you may know him as a columnist for a fine newspaper. Is he any good? I hope so because you are reading his article right now.

For the past 35 years I have been teaching GFW students and it has been a privilege to do so.

Yet, none of this would have happened without the help of an excellent public school system. When I look in the mirror, I see an example of the power of our schools, and I feel very lucky. I hope you do too.