The Teacher Who Changed My Life 3/10/99

This letter is in response to Dan Lynch's column in the Albany Times Union, Sunday March 7th. While I agree completely with his lament that public schools "don't work anymore", I strongly disagree with his assertion I "look in the mirror" to see why. Throughout the first several years of my public education, I paid no attention to my teachers, and never did my homework, yet coasted through with "C" and "D" grades. My excuse for not doing my homework, if indeed I was ever asked, was: "I forgot". This carried me through the grades that were taught by my "compassionate" female teachers. When I got to sixth grade, in the Colonie Village Elementary School, (actually in the school wing of the Pine Grove Methodist Church because my public school was overcrowded) I had a teacher by the name of Richard Telfian. It wasn't long before Mr. Telfian got tired of my nonsense and when I recited my usual excuse, which he knew to be a lie, he rolled up a newspaper and wacked me up side the head. This didn't hurt anything but my pride. It made me cry. I was totally embarrassed. I did my homework that night for the first time, a reading assignment. Mr. Telfian gave us a test based on that reading assignment the next day. When he had corrected our tests and was passing them back to us, he held mine up and announced "100%". It was a lot better than a newspaper up side the head, which I might add is the only good use for newspapers in education. That became a turning point in my formative years. Just a little bit of discipline followed by an appropriate dose of self-esteem. I soared into seventh grade with an "A-B" average, and through the first two quarters I was on the Honor Roll, which then consisted of about ten kids. It was a real honor. It didn't last long though, because my family moved to Utica where I attended brand new state of the art JFK Junior High School. I never had another teacher like Mr. Telfian. I succumbed to peer pressure, (being smart was not cool) coasted through high school and just barely passed twelfth grade.
What my experience in public schools taught me is that its administrators have paid too much attention to political correctness, infrastructure and experimental teaching methods. They have not paid enough attention to discipline and parental and teacher independence. What are they doing about it? Pouring more money into state of the art buildings, experimenting with risky schemes such as computerized classrooms and "School-to-Work" curricula, teaching more political correctness and denying parents and teachers the God given right to choose their own teaching environment.
Public schools failed me miserably. I was a bright kid (a member of MENSA today) who was not challenged or disciplined in school. Now, Dan Lynch, with unmitigated gall and total arrogance, is telling me to "look in the mirror" if I want to see the reason why public schools don't work anymore. No Dan, it's decades of Liberals like you who have told Conservative parents like me that; our education bureaucrats are the experts, parents who discipline their children are wrong, and we would not know what to do if given a choice. Speak for yourself.

-DRC