I'd like to look back at some special teachers I've had over the years. Not necessarily my favorites - nor are there any of whom I can say 'changed my life' - but simply ones who were influential, or whom I still remember now, as a fifty-five year-old.
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Growing up on Long Island, New York in the 1960's-70's, I was exposed to different environments and methods. Here are a few that I still remember, lo these many years later ....
From St. Thomas's Elementary School: the only one I can recall from that far back fondly is Mrs. Finn, my 2nd grade teacher. She was a friend of my Aunt Anne and Uncle Tom (and he was in the textbook publishing business) yet she never showed any favoritism in class, just a steady presence.
From Great Hollow Junior High School - the first two male teachers I ever had (which made them noteworthy alone) were Bob Bell (social studies) and Howard Katzoff (English) from seventh grade. It seems Mr. Katzoff recently retired from teaching and from his website: indicates that my 7th grade class he taught .... was during his first year of teaching. Never would have guessed that; he seemed like a natural.
From Holy Family High School - not including statistics in college (which was open-book, applied mathematics) I never did well in math. Oh, every once-in-while I managed a B, and there were more than a few D's. But mostly I struggled to get a C.
Except for my freshman year of high school: when Jack Gunn was my algebra teacher. He was a demanding, disciplined teacher who made concepts clear - and I scored a 98 on my final exam en route to my first A in math. (As a senior, I also had him for 'consumer math' where he was much more relaxed; a different side of him). The next year, I almost failed geometry - but my dad admitted he couldn't get on my case (because he almost failed it, as well).
Talk about a chicken-and-egg situation: my junior year, the 11th grade math class was trigonometry and intermediate algebra - where I got a C+ due to my algebra proficiency, pulling up my trig deficiency. Was this due to Mr. Gunn's teaching, or was I simply attuned to algebra like no other math discipline? Probably never know.
My brother and friends ran into him years later at a park, where he told them he was now teaching at a high school some 20 miles away.
From Suffolk Community College - the only one I could point to was Richard O'Rourke, who was the department chairman of economics and who was my instructor three times. When I signed up for macroeconomics, the time slot had no teacher assigned (and so he probably filled-in as chairman when needed). When I took microeconomics, there was another instructor's name listed ... but in he walked: saying there had to be a schedule change. And when it came time to take the Money & Banking class, he was the only instructor.
I enjoyed the subject matter, got A's in the first two classes and - in a harbinger of the future - asked questions about current economic and political events (which many of my classmates wouldn't do) so he and I got on well. And it paid off: as I struggled in Money & Banking and, on the 2nd of three exams, I got a ..... 54. (I'm not sure I had ever gotten a grade like that in math, for Pete's sake). Then, when we went through the correct answers in class, I saw that he placed a large, red X through a clearly correct answer. After class I approached him, desperate for a measly 5 points.
He looked at it and said, "You're right, that is a correct answer." But instead of taking out a pen or his grade book: he simply handed the exam back to me and said, "Well, Mr. Tracey, you do well on the final .... and we'll take this into account" with a smile, before he walked away. I thought, "Hey, all of the class participation of mine finally paid off" - and I did manage to get a decent grade, in the end.
From Pace University in New York City I recall two professors: one of whom who had the luxury of small classes, and so his courses in management and organizational theory were fun. Robert Isaak was someone who often had our discussions take place in the school café, and even though I was in his class thirty-two years ago, he is still active at Pace.
The other was Business Law professor Ivan Fox - a real showman in the classroom, and I had to sign-up for a summer course in order to ensure I could get in his class, he was that much in demand. He wore well tailored and often colorful suits, and would give examples of the law in which he cited his cat Muggy as a protagonist - in fact, when I handed him my final exam, I asked if he would give my best to Muggy (which he promised to do).
When I learned of his death in 2006: the obituary mentioned that his teaching career
spanned 48 years, during which time he was awarded the Outstanding Teachers Award on three occasions and taught over 30,000 students. And it appears he was an adviser to the Stonewall Coalition on campus.
I can't find it online anymore, but just before his death: he asked that any memorial service be held not in a somber auditorium but instead in ... the school café .... and the attendees were asked to ... "wear colorful attire". Believe-you-me: that summed-up his disposition quite well.
And finally, from my graduate studies at Plymouth State University here in New Hampshire from the late 80's-early 90's: after ten years away from formal education (with tests and term papers, excluding adult education and seminars) I returned to the classroom refreshed beyond recognition. As I like to say: it was the first time in my life I went to school not because the law said I had to ... my parents said I had to ... or my employer said I had to - and it showed, as my GPA was over a point higher than as an undergraduate, since now I was in school for ... me.
I look back at Professor Bill Benoit in particular, as he was my instructor in the two truly tough courses: Operations Management and Quantitative Analysis. I recall that the Sunday newspaper was just about the only casual reading I did during those courses, they were that demanding. But he was a good instructor and made attending those classes a fun time; it was simply the outside work that was hell.
The week before my graduation (as I was taking his Quant course final exam) he asked me if I would be attending graduation in person. "Sure" I said, not thinking much of it. But before the ceremony, he gathered the students in our MBA graduating class of 65 program together, and gave out three awards for achievement ..... and to my surprise, I was one of them. I haven't encountered him since, but that's quite a lasting memory .. and as his bio states, he's now a professor emeritus.
Now, on to Top Comments:
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From commonmass:
In this morning's Cheers & Jeers subscription drive edition, BenderRodriguez had this to say:
"This subscription push...is starting to remind me of a PBS pledge drive. But hell, at least they throw in a Michael Bublé CD or a Mapplethorpe-print tote bag".
Then further down the thread, Bill in Portland Maine "appraises" his editorial opinion ...
From JanF:
nofear thinks that Benefit Corporations are pretty sexy - well, at least in citisven's great diary on the subject today (and don't miss citisven's reply).
From SwedishJewfish:
This is my first time submitting ... I have 2 nominations, from 2 different (both excellent in their own right) diaries on the horrid Gene Marks column in Forbes.
The first - from DarkLadyNyra in mallyroyal's diary - summons up the anger and disgust that this article provokes ...
... and the second - in the diary by chaunceydevega - is from Shahryar who sums up the logical absurdity of the whole thing with some fabulous dark humor.
From Otteray Scribe:
In the diary by Weatherdude about getting a gift subscription - annieli critiques his travel plans .... and then Weatherdude and plf515 finish off an entertaining thread.
From Angry Mouse:
From Wednesday's Midday open thread .......... this comment by NCJim totally wins the internet ...
From Puddytat:
In the diary by noise of rain updating Wisconsin recall info: I posted a benign comment ..... and frivolity broke out (swallow anything in your mouth before reading).
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ..........
In the diary by bobswern, showcasing the essay in the January issue of Vanity Fair magazine by Joe Stiglitz - the Nobel prize-winning economist - this comment coming from RFK Lives posits that "Geithner and Stiglitz live in parallel universes".
And finally, yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
1) If I were a rich white kid, by brooklynbadboy — 208
2) I am going to rec this by indiemcemopants — 136
3) Politics used to civil here by Giles Goat Boy — 117
4) It's a priviledge to be able by twigg — 116
5) If Gene Marks Had Landed at Plymouth Rock... by JekyllnHyde — 103
6) It just gets more and more unbelieveable. by la urracca — 101
7) Forgive the lack of tags... by shesaid — 98
8) Well Welcome to the Madhouse! by Gooserock — 98
9) I saw this and have to say WI is quite conflicted by RWN — 88
10) LOLLOLLOL!!! by Ebby — 86
11) I just can't wrap my mind around the brutality by Kamakhya — 85
12) In several of my arrests (none with Occupy)... by Meteor Blades — 81
13) Mine too, actually. And I'm white. by psilocynic — 80
14) Welcome to a fellow Lone Star Progressive by cassandracarolina — 80
15) If I were a poor black kid by Shahryar — 80
16) A kitteh can stretch out an relax! by Horsefeathers — 80
17) Glad you are in good hands. by Horace Boothroyd III — 80
18) I had more people yelling than usual by Quicklund — 79
19) Ditto that thought by Puddytat — 79
20) LOCAL STORES! by lineatus — 78
21) Hope this get front paged not just recd. by lastlegslaststand — 78
22) I have lurked here for years by ReneeNY — 78
23) they've designated protesters as "low-level by UnaSpenser — 77
24) I truly don't understand by ActivistGuy — 77
25) thanks for writing by Karl Rover — 76
26) my same first reaction lol by mallyroyal — 72
27) Called Lowe's Customer Service Line Yesterday by Senor Unoball — 71
28) It's a house by twigg — 70
29) And you corrected his grammatical error by david mizner — 70
30) So let me get this straight, Catch 22 style by MinistryOfTruth — 68