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Knights of Ril
A Lifelong Endeavor
Things are tough right now. Covid was a real gut punch, worldwide, certainly physically for those who are still recovering from the lasting aftershocks, but also socially for those who spent time in isolation, and financially for those who lost their jobs. It's easy to feel like a victim. It's easy to play the blame game.
In the movies, there are stories about people in trouble who are saved by a wealthy benefactor who pulls them out of the gutter. He or she dusts them off and puts them back on the road to prosperity. That righting of wrongs is either through gifts or sage advice or — better yet! — an actual super hero who literally saves them, in every way.
Fun stuff! I love super heroes!
I was raised when things were tough, and know what it's like to envy others who had things that I did not. I remember that insidious villain, Envy, and his destructive accomplice, Jealousy. I am grateful that my kids have had it better than I did, but it was not because of some rich mentor or hero. My mentors were overworked teachers and my hero was education.
Stressing the Importance of Education
For as long as I can remember, my parents stressed the importance of getting good grades and getting a college education. (My mom graduated high school as the General Sterling Scholar, my dad was the Foreign Language Sterling Scholar.) In 7th Grade, I got two Cs on the same report card and the lowest grade-point average (GPA) of my entire academic career, including graduate school. My parents did not hold back on how unacceptable that was, how I was too smart to have grades like that, and how those types of grades wouldn't get me into college. Then they asked both sets of my grandparents to talk to me, as well. The thing was, none of my grandparents finished college, and they were incredibly uncomfortable with the situation. It was obvious, even to my young, inexperienced eyes. I felt so bad for them that I just was not going to be responsible for putting them in that position again. So my parents' tactic worked, although not in the way it was originally intended.
The problem was that, too often, I was bored in school. Teachers were often having to spend time helping students who were struggling when I was ready to move on. Starting in 4th Grade, I would ask my parents if I could go to private school, because I shouldn't have to be bored all the time and, in the case of one teacher in particular, I shouldn't have to correct my teacher all the time. (I was given a subscription to National Geographic as a gift, and I read every issue cover to cover as soon as it arrived, especially the findings of the Voyager probes ... you can see where this is going.) In the end, we couldn't afford private school, so my mom told me (almost like I was in trouble all over again), "Then make your teachers teach you. Ask to work ahead of the rest of the class, or for extra work to do on the side!"
So I did.
Some of my teachers over the years really appreciated my work ethic and my hunger to learn.
Some most definitely did not — especially the teacher I was correcting all the time. He was so annoyed when I asked for extra work that he dropped a fat, hard-cover dictionary on my desk, and said, "There! Read it!"
One of my grandma's used to describe me as a "a stubborn little cuss." Again, for about as long as I can remember. So my response to this was to do exactly as he said: I read the dictionary, cover to cover. I decided on a mission in doing so: finding inspiration for new super heroes (I wanted to be a cartoonist) with cool names and powers. I read the dictionary three times by the time I finished 6th Grade.
Finding Solace In Creativity
In stark contrast to that 4th Grade teacher, two years later, Mrs. Ferrin taught three of my seven classes: Reading, Language Arts, and Gifted & Talented. By that time, I was in a perpetually creative state, drawing super heroes, writing their adventures, and reading voraciously. My zen was in being creative. I had become a decent artist, not only reading my comic books, but emulating Marvel Comics artist John Buscema, and fantasy artists Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo. Moreover, I loved super heroes, yes, but I also loved science fiction and fantasy.
One of the first assignments in Language Arts was creative writing and, after grading it, Mrs. Ferrin told me that, rather than doing the assigned writing assignments in Language Arts and Gifted & Talented, I could write a chapter of a novel. As a result, but the end of the year, between the two classes, I wrote my first fantasy novel. Where I had wanted to be a cartoonist since I was 6 years old, that experience changed me forever. Mrs. Ferrin had recognized how much I loved writing, and held nothing back in helping me progress in that area in both 6th and 7th Grades. Even her approach to reading the dictionary was like night and day.
Renaissance Man
Aside from really encouraging me to write, Mrs. Ferrin introduced me to the term "Renaissance man." I had some down time at the beginning of the year in 6th Grade and was reading the dictionary for the third time. She walked over and said, "Are you actually reading the dictionary?!" I told her I was, and why (the super-hero thing). She stared at me like I was crazy, literally speechless. (She was from back East, fast-talking, the accent and everything, it was one of the few times I ever witnessed her incapable of speech.) I was about halfway through book and she took it from me to flip toward the back (which alarmed me, because I hadn't marked my place). When she found the right spot, she pointed and said, "There. Read that."
I did: Renaissance man.
noun. 1. a scholar during the Renaissance who (because knowledge was limited) could know almost everything about many topics. 2. a modern scholar who is in a position to acquire more than superficial knowledge about many different interests
I was unimpressed.
She said, "That's what you should be. Be that! Learn everything you can about everything. If there's something to learn, you learn it. You stuff that head of yours with everything you can find! Understand?" I said I did, and she left. I thought about it, and realized that what she had said was pretty cool, and it became a guiding force in my life, personally and academically. Then I tried to find my previous place in the dictionary, couldn't find it and, when I complained, without even looking up from grading at her desk, she said, "Then start over."
Required Classes
The first test of my Renaissance-man mission was in my math class that year. In the placement exam at the beginning of the year, I scored a 32 out of 60, which was at the high end of the class. (It was a really hard test.) As the class progressed, I did the assignments, then I would ask for more, and I think my teacher, Mr. Merrill, might have wanted to see just how serious I was about it (or how hard he could push me), so he got out the Pre-Algebra book that was meant for the next year and told me to go to work. Right before I took the book, he yanked it back, and said, "If you're not serious and you waste my time, you won't get another chance with me. You understand me?" I did. By the end of the year, in addition to the regular assignments, I had completed every assignment in the other book, as well. We retook the same placement exam, and I scored a 52 out of 60, then skipped the Pre-Algebra in 7th Grade, going straight into Algebra and, in 8th Grade, went to the high school for 7th period to take Geometry. All because of Mr. Merrill taking that little bit of extra time.
I did not enjoy math, I was a writer and artist, but it was required general education. Every time I had to take a class that did not interest me, I thought back to Mrs. Ferrin pretty much ordering me to be a Renaissance man. That memory gave me the little bit extra I needed to suck it up, and search for a way to make whatever it was interesting enough for me to get through it. (Case in point: the super-hero thing when reading the dictionary.) It was not always easy to manage but, as my grandma used to say, I was "a stubborn little cuss."
The College Payoff
The personal encouragement from Mrs. Ferrin, Mr. Merrill, and a handful of others, as well as a few administrators, were essential to my advancement academically. The end result was graduating high school with a 3.9 (out of 4.0), and I got into my in-state college of choice: Westminster College of Salt Lake City. I loved it there. I earned both my bachelors and masters degrees there. As far as I know, I was only the third person on one whole side of my family to get a bachelors degree and the only one to get a graduate degree. Far more importantly, though, all those experiences had prepared me for the rest of life.
When I got my bachelor of arts, I double-majored in communication (print-journalism emphasis, with a political-journalism specialty) and philosophy (Western-traditions emphasis) while completing the Honors Program. I then received a master of professional communication (writing emphasis). It was an amazing experience. Once again, those general-education requirements (Westminster called them liberal-arts requirements) had me to go back to my Renaissance-man mantra.
Job Interview from Hell
After completing my masters, I interviewed for a position as a technical writer at a telecommunications company. It was the most intensive interviewing process I've ever been through to this day. I interviewed with six people, it took three hours, and I left feeling like I had just taken a bank of final exams. I was told up front that any of those people had the power to say "no," so I was paying attention. I knew I was making it through every gate ... until I hit number five. He just didn't seem very interested. He wasn't making much eye contact, kept asking me questions that were on my résumé, and I really wanted that job!
So I redirected the interview.
I said, "Look, I'm just reciting my résumé, what do you actually want to know?" He flinched like I had slapped him, then started grilling me with all these technical questions (he was an electrical engineer). All I could say to answer every question was, "I don't know!" which brought on the next one, harder and faster, until he was on his feet, leaning over the table, and I was leaning back in my chair. Red-faced behind his thick beard, he finally said (very loudly), "How about a schematic? Can you read a schematic?"
I said, "I don't know!"
He said, "Well, what does a switch look like?!"
Like a shaft of light from the heavens, I remembered that required quarter of Electronics class in 7th Grade. I lifted both fists, straightened my index fingers, and moved them rapidly up and down. I said, "A switch is like this!"
At that point, he froze, realized that he was leaning over the table, that I was leaned back in my chair, and sat back down. He smiled and his face turned even more red. Then he held up his hands and imitated the motion, saying, "Yeah, a switch is like this."
I got that job.
What I later learned was that he had filled in at the last minute for someone who was home sick, so he was unprepared to interview me. He had not even seen my résumé before it was handed to him as he entered the room. When I redirected the interview, I had embarrassed him, because I called him out for being unprepared. I didn't know that, but my general-education quarter of Electronics class from 7th Grade saved me and launched me through that next gate in life.
Pay It Forward
I am proud to say that I have paid it forward for all those people who did so much for me. I have taught college for 25 years. Countless times, students have asked me for advice to succeed in education. Not once have I mentioned someone swooping in to save the day, although I do think I provided sage advice, because it was always the same: "Be a Renaissance man. Learn everything you can, in every single moment, in every single class."
Why?
Because you never know when some tidbit of knowledge, some kernel of science unrelated to anything else in your life might be valuable, when you might be leaned back in a chair, with a big, hairy, angry dude leaning over the table yelling at you, "Well, what does a switch look like?!"
Education Advice: Twenty-Five Tips for College Survival (And Excellence)
Education Advice: Learn Everything You Can
Education Advice: Never Stop Learning
Education Advice: A Look Through Others' Eyes
Education Advice: Coping with Failure and Learning from Mistakes