My opinion too

[Jim Hudson]

My son just got back from DC with 21 kids. He teaches History at the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham NC
http://www.ncssm.edu/

[beaconlight]

Vern i think your way is even better for the kids than if they had to earn the money. They certainly learn mor your way. God bless you and the kids and I pray for a successful safe trip.

Bill

[cowboy]

Vern it is good to meet you I do not feel that you went on.

It is very heart waming to hear about about your students. I feel that the brain is like a muscle you have to exersize and strech it to make it grow. I have always felt that a parents job was to make them proud of themselves without being arrogent. (I know my spelling is horrible. I am much better with the hands on stuff). And that a parent is a teacher period. Well their was more I was going to write but I lost it. My brain is so much faster tham my fingeres I tend to loose things. I know what I feel and think absoultly but cannot explain it to others very well.

best whishes to you-all Billy

[Vern Campbell]

Bill, thank you for your kind words and encouragement.

Billy, it's good to meet you, too. Your children are very lucky to have a parent like you. I think you are exactly right--a parent is by far the most important and influential teacher a child has. And you express yourself just fine. If every child had a parent or role model that taught them your philosophy, the world would be a much better place.

I don't think there is a finer group of people anywhere than those I have met on this board.
Vern

[cowboy]

Thanks Vern

I don't have any children of my own but I am lucky enough to live about 20 miles from my sister and brother inlaw. With a two year old nefew and a six year old niece. What I ment by a parent is a teacher is that someone who teaches leaves somthing of their spirt with them to grow. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the look of wonder on a childs face when they learn somthing new and that remindes us of our triumphs in life. Life goes so fast now we gotto do this gotta do that, that we forget to stop and see the beauty in the world around us. I feel all children who want to learn from me weather 1 year old of 81 years old are mine after all I am only a 39 year old kid. And they teach me as much as I teach them.

[Vern Campbell]

Cowboy, you hit the nail right on the head. There is nothing like the feeling you get when you help a child to learn and succeed. I'm a 49 year old kid (till May, then the big 5-0 ) and teaching is a second career for me. I've been teaching for the last 11 years; I had a business of my own before that. I made the change because the fulfillment I was looking for in a career just wasn't there for me. Now I look forward to going to work every day for all the reasons you describe. The financial rewards are pretty limited as a teacher in Maine, but you can't put a price on the rewards I get from working with my students.

Your nephew and niece are two really lucky kids to have an uncle like you.
Vern

[beaconlight]

Vern just remember that 50 is Nifty.
If you are going to see a big deal in 50, what will you do when you get to my age 72 or my fathers 95?? Just be glad you are happy doing what you are doing and able to do it. The happy and able are equally important.

Bill

[Rudi]

Vern:

I just learned that Life Begins at 50

[JackF]

When I was in France last summer, I had the opportunity to walk the rural roads with a Philadelphia High school history teacher and his senior class students.

They too paid for all their expenses for the trip much like Vern’s students, but they started their work when they were freshmen’s in High School.

What made me take notice was; the objective of their trip was to give thanks to the WW II Veterans of their efforts to Liberate Europe 60 years prior. After walking with the students for about a day I was so proud they represented our Country.

Later in the summer, my oldest son and I returned home and a local High School student was in a conversation with my son about his trip. My son was talking about the liberation of Europe and events of 60 years ago and the young person my son was talking to, had no idea about events of 60 years prior and to some extent didn’t remembered who Hitler was.

After the conversation ended, I was furious about what I heard and I was condemning the local High School and its History teacher. My son’s reply was, “I have the same History teacher, and I consider him (the teacher) one of the best in the school”. My son went on to explain when a class is a “mandatory class” and they need it to graduate with; the students will just do enough to get by.

As a parent of three teenage children, every class they take is important. I have the utmost respect for all teachers and for their efforts to teach our feature generations. I my opinion the teacher’s hands are being tied to do things not pertaining to being a teacher.( being a baby setter to students who don’t want to learn, trying to teach students in a politically correct way, trying not to offend a student’s rights ect.)

I just can’t understand why the people in power (of the system) can let this get by. As a citizen of this Country (USA) I’m worried about its future. When a person from a third world country comes to our country , gets educated in our country and becomes a very successful person, it’s not the educator’s (teachers) fault for our country’s education crisis.

My son when in Europe lived with a family In France. Before leaving gifts of remembrance were exchanged. One of the gifts that was given to him is a saying which had to be translated to English. They told him they wanted him to translate it because they wanted him to understand every word to be successful in his life. I don’t who wrote it, but I printed it up and put it in a frame by the door that gets used the most in our house so my children see it on the way out every morning. The saying—


When the door is closed, you must learn to slide across the crack of the sill.

Human beings are creatures of habit. We do what we
know, what is comfortable and what we "think" will work.
There are, however, those occasions when "our' way is
not the" way to get us to the goal”. When "your" way doesn't work, don't be disheartened. You must be willing to try another way. Don't be discouraged when someone says, no," Be willing to ask someone else. Always be willing to start at the bottom. Being willing does not mean you will stay there. A closed door does not mean you have been cut off permanently. It is a challenge, an obstacle, a tool to be used. The keys to all doors are within you. If you have faith in yourself, practice and patience will make you a master locksmith.

I am willing to do it by any means Honorable
and necessary.

Jack Fowler

[Vern Campbell]

Rudi and Bill, I'm really not too concerned about reaching 50. I've always felt that age is relative, you're as old as you want to be. When I was a kid, I thought the day I turned 21 that I'd wake up feeling like an adult and have all the answers. Well, I'm still waiting for that to happen! I still feel like a kid inside, but the outside package doesn't look as good as it used to. One of the great things about teaching and being around young people all the time is that it does keep you young. Adopting a baby at 45, after raising 3 of my own, is keeping me young, too.

Jack, that is a great quote, and what a nice rembrance gift to be given to your son. I'm not even going to get started about what I believe needs to be done to improve the education system in this country. IMHO, our collective hands are tied in many ways, not the least by the federal NCLB program. But, as an individual teacher I try every day to excite and challenge my students and instill in them a love for learning, regardless of the changing philosophies and directives of the higher-ups. If I can accomplish this, then I feel that I am worthy of the trust parents place in me when their sons and daughters attend my classes.
Vern