I know it’s summer vacation, but here’s the deal: I love school.
I loved preschool. They had this crane that used magnets to pick up blocks. I loved kindergarten. I learned to read early, which felt like a superpower. This continued all the way through college. Sitting in lectures for classes my advisor put me in, my brain exploded as I gained new perspective on things I never thought about — philosophy, botany, history. I’ve always loved learning. After a stint in the private sector, I went back to school and now teach at a community college.
Many don’t share this love. For various reasons, some people have a bad experience with school. These days, school is something of a political shorthand for liberal. And of course, school is liberal, but in the sense of the word’s actual meaning, not contemporary political rhetoric.
Modern education stems from the tradition of learning broadly from many sources, understanding how complex systems work, and preparing not just to recite facts, but to know how to think for yourself.
That’s one of the deficits in society that many people complain about, and yet we can’t seem to agree about education. Some think we need more funding, others less. Some want more acceptance and tolerance, others want restrictions. Should we be teaching the classical arts or welding? Again, there are those who disagree, accepting the false notion we must do one or the other.
These controversies existed on the Iron Range 100 years ago, but there were critical areas of agreement between conservative and liberal political forces. Somehow, people came together to turn schools serving communities that barely spoke English into one of the finest educational traditions in the United States.
This will be the subject of my next public lecture for the Northern Lights Music Festival at 7 p.m. this Monday, July 15 at the Veda Zuponcich Auditorium of the Mesabi East High School in Aurora, Minnesota. The talk is titled “Best in the Nation: How Iron Range Schools Led the Nation and Could Again.”
If you want to learn more, even begrudgingly, I’ll share more in my Saturday column in the Mesabi Tribune. Then, I’ll see you Monday!
I only wish I could be there to attend this lecture. Unlike you, I loved the early years of school then, unlike you, learned to dislike it but graduated from Grand Rapids High despite myself. I started school at Schumaker School, which, as you probably know, was located just north of you on the rangeline road. Mrs. Mandich was my first teacher. She read from a novel at the end of each school day. That began, I think, my love of books and reading.
Fast forward to eight years in the military. The GI Bill was too good to dismiss, so I began college. I finished a BA and went on to an MA at San Francisco State. Not having enough, I applied and was accepted to a doctoral program at the U of MN. By then I was married – my wife is a nurse and was teaching at a JC in MN and do prep. courses for a PhD at the U. – and, not making much money, I didn’t finish the PhD.
Jump to the next stage in our lives, we landed in Seattle where I retired as a homicide detective in the Seattgle PD. After retirement I also taught criminal law at a local college and wrote a novel, “Still Life with Badge.”
I’m a believer in the value of a liberal education. Your lecture series is a gift to the Range. I wish you success with it.
I’d love to learn more about this, since I grew. Up in Chisholm and my dad was an elementary principal in Chisholm. I didn’t realize that at the time, but I got a really good education there now I live in California where the schools are only good in the wealthy towns and very poor in other places, so many children are sent to private school let my granddaughter.
However, I don’t subscribe to that newspaper, so it would be great if you could make this information available at some point in your newsletter.
Thanks.