A cousin sent this Journal article and I thought you might enjoy it too.
**************************************************
Trojan leader Vandermeer influenced future teacher
By NORMAN KNIGHT
KnightAug. 29, 2007
Dear Neil, I don't know if the news made it to you way out there in Idaho, but I thought you should know that our old high school principal, Mr. Vandermeer, died last week. I've just come from the visitation at Center Grove High School. It was in a wing of the school that wasn't there when we were students back in the '60s called the Hall of Excellence. Can you think of a more appropriately named place for Vandy?
You know, Neil, the older I get, the more I can see just how much my past has affected who I am. Back then, I would never have picked our principal as a big influence on me, but there you go.
Remember when we started Youth for Change? It was our homegrown version of a 1960s radical organization, sort of a cornfield Students for a Democratic Society. We were young and passionate about politics, and we wanted so much to be like the radical people whose books we read and whose protests we watched on the nightly news. We were idealistic kids.I'm not saying what we believed was less valid because we were young.
It was a good thing that we wanted to do something to change a world we thought the adults had really messed up. (We could use a little more of that these days, if you ask me.) It's just that, as a teacher with the perspective of some years, I know that young people tend to believe they have all the answers. I also know that it's hard for them to see that older people have at least a little bit of knowledge and wisdom.
I think Mr. Vandermeer had that perspective.I also believe we were itching to be part of the rebellion that was happening all over the world at the time. It was kind of hard to fire up that kind of excitement in sleepy old Center Grove back in 1969, but we gave it a shot, didn't we? Remember our sit-down strike?
Vandy could have kicked the whole crowd of us out of school for that, but he actually called the four ringleaders into his office and talked to us about the issues that led to the confrontation. He was pretty good about keeping order and at the same time giving students a bit of free rein to discover themselves. That's something I try to remember in my job. And I'll bet you've thought about that, too, in your position as a business leader.
At the visitation, I was standing in line behind a lady who graduated in 1958. She remembered Mr. Vandermeer and his wife, Margaret, chaperoning her senior class trip to Washington and spending their entire time keeping the boys and girls separate. Another former student who graduated in 1965 also had a good Vandy story.I chatted with a few others, and everyone talked as if he were a personal friend.
Each person mentioned Mr. Vandermeer as someone who really cared about him or her as an individual. He had that gift.Looking back, I realize how much my teachers taught me, not just about the causes of the Civil War or the way to punctuate a sentence, but how to relate to people. From some of them, I learned what not to do. From others I learned just what it takes to be an effective educator.
Mr. Vandermeer really changed my life for the better, just as he changed the lives of countless other students. I guess there are other ways besides starting an organization to change the world.
Well, Neil, I know you probably can't come all the way from Idaho on this short a notice, but I know you are here in spirit.
Take care. Go Trojans!
Your friend and fellow radical, NormanNorman Knight, a teacher at Clark-Pleasant Middle School, writes this weekly column for the Daily Journal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
One of Vandy's favorite stories was about a boy he had to discipline at least three times for the same problem -- being rowdy and unruly in class.
After a time, with no improvement, he mentioned the problem to the boy’s father. The father thanked him and said "I'll take care of it. You won't have any more problems with him."
Later Vandy noticed the boy was avoiding him and he asked him why. The boy said "You didn't have to tell my Dad."
Vandy always felt he had good kids at CG because they had good parents. Our parents took an active interest in us; in my case, they would have taken the teacher's side no matter what!
Most of us knew if we got in trouble at school, we would be in worse trouble at home.
Of course, we had the advantage of having more contact with our parents (and with each other) than many young kids get today.
We had breakfast and supper together, reviewing report cards was a family affair, and Friday nights meant the whole family went to a school sports event.
We weren't isolated by computers, individual TVs and phones, video games etc. We had to interact appropriately (with a little leeway) with our family and community.
Having parents, teachers and a principal who were unified, principled and caring was at the core of our upbringing.
Hey PT I just figured it out. Vandy made this guy Neil feel he was special, and Vandy's favorite. But wait, I think Hawk feels the same way. No, come to think of it I can think of many people who feel they were Vandy's favorite.......................He had everyone thinking "they" were his favorite! How cool..... HL
You are so right, HL. Plus he remembered details about each person.
I hadn't seen him since 1965. When we had the mini in Nashville, I asked him about an incident that happened way back then. I was joking because I didn't know if the incident had really happened or not. I had only heard about it 2nd or 3rd hand.
He remembered the episode AND the what happened to those involved. Because of their transgression, he had to suspend them, forcing them to miss a very important HS occasion (the prom or some graduation convocation maybe??). He still felt bad about it.
TD mentioned Mary Ella R. whose friend couldn’t believe she would drive so far for the funeral of her HS principal. Over the years, I’ve met many people who couldn’t remember their HS principal or teachers and never stayed in touch with HS friends. So sad.
Like many others, I took our HS experience for granted. I thought that every Principal was like Vandy – each school had a Miss Kivet, Miss Pinnock, Mr Colegrove, Mrs. Fulmer, Mrs. Callahan etc. I guess I thought when a school needed an English teacher, they found a “Mr. Bridges” model.
It was a great revelation for me to find that it was rare to have one such teacher/coach/principal let alone have so many in one spot.
Vandy had a lot to do with that. He coached us as students to do our best (or at least stay out of trouble) and he coached teachers to be their best too. He had a gift for knowing what kind of guidance it would take to get the best from us all.
And he like to have FUN! He had poker-playing buddies, fishing buddies, made friends wherever he went.
Ben, Neil and Hawkeye thought they were Vandy's favorite? Hmmm?? I thought I was ;))
Post a Comment