Humanity endures

December 10, 2011

Forty-three years ago today I (Jerry Christy) left home bound for boot camp in Great Lakes, IL. I was 19 (by 2 days) and had no idea what I was getting into having joined the Navy while accompanying a friend to the recruiter’s office so he could enlist. In fact, he never joined and I wound up doing 4 years of active duty. Man, talk about dumb!

Yes, the WAY I got there was dumb, but the act of serving was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to me in terms of moving me out of boyhood.  But this story isn’t about me, it’s about another boy. A boy I never met and until earlier today, never knew anything about. His name is Huong and he lives in Vietnam.

I learned about Huong this morning in a message from my friend and fellow former-Seabee, Frank Harper. Frank has just returned from another trip to Vietnam – he’s gone back to the places he served in a series of trips in recent years – and on this trip he took something for Huong, even though Frank didn’t know Huong either. Rather than try to retell it, here’s the story directly from the man who DID know Huong, Dan Bower. Dan is also a former-Seabee and was a member of the same battalion I served in (MCB 74) and he tells the story in a letter to his son, Chris:

Hi Chris,

 Remember that photo that you were going to try to photoshop?  Well, here’s the “Rest Of The Story”.

Frank Harper has been revisiting Vietnam these last five years and re-established contact with our eight “boys” whom we knew 40 years ago in Vietnam. 

 On the morning of April 6th, 1971 I was operating the front-end loader in the laterite pit in the jungle.  In my back pocket was a pack of Salems that I was going to give to my little guy, my “mascot”, when he and his buddies would come to our jobsite to spend part of the day with us (as they did most days).  Well, as you know, that is the morning, before the boys got there,  that I was called off the loader by our OIC and they started the emergency process of rotating me out of Vietnam and back to CONUS (CONtinental US).  I forgot that pack of cigarettes was still buttoned into my back pocket until I was halfway across the Pacific Ocean.

Note: the cigarettes were given to children not because they smoked, but so that they could take them back to their village (“ville”) and trade them or sell them to neighbors for things they might want or need.  And they were cheap for us: $1.70 per CARTON (10 packs).

I saved that pack all these years.  Why?  I don’t know.  I never dreamed I’d see that little boy again.  Sometimes we save things as a memento, something that only means something to us, when a Big Event happens in our lives.  I always wondered if possibly being suddenly pulled out of Vietnam to escort Butch’s body– [Sgt Crawford H. Traver, KIA 29 March 1971, my best hometown buddy back in Clio, Michigan] — home from Khe Sahn might’ve saved my life.  Well, it is possible I suppose.

Anyway, I always saved that squashed but unopened pack of cigarettes in my military footlocker out in the back of the shed…as a souvenir of one of the major life-changing events of my life.

Earlier this year I discovered Frank Harper. He’s a fellow from MCB-5 who relieved us from our remote detachment in Vietnam, who had been returning there yearly and had re-established contact with the boys, and was returning for the month of November 2011.   I emailed him those two photos I took 40 years ago so he could print them out in multiples and take them to the boys back in Vietnam.  

Then I thought about that pack of cigarettes.  How cool would it be if Frank takes those cigarettes back to Vietnam and presents them to the one they were intended for so long ago?  So I sent the smokes to San Jose California, and that pack made a 2nd trip across the world.

In the photos is Huong (I never knew his name in Vietnam–Frank had to tell me) and the photo of him in the white shirt is the afternoon that he received them from Frank along with the pictures of himself as a 10-11 year old boy.  As you can see, he was totally surprised and excited.  The next day, now wearing a black print shirt and back to his normal calm self, he is holding both pictures. 

Who can possibly say this whole event hasn’t been a miracle?

I know some of this I told you before in person, but in the interest of family history I thought I’d write it down.  …I Love you son.  —Dad

Huong holding pictures of himself (taken in 1971) – on left sitting next to Dan Bower. (Frank says these are the first close-up pictures Huong’s ever seen of himself. Back then, Vietnamese families seldom involved themselves with cameras.)

Vietnam was a lot of things and goodness knows, there are stories aplenty that rival this one, but this is the one I heard today – of all days. Forty-three years is a long time, but lifetimes are often benchmarked by events we seldom have control over. The fact that Dan, Huong and Frank are now connected by circumstances stretched out over 40 years that they had no control over seems pretty incredible to me. To some degree their lives are all richer now and that’s got to be a good thing.

With all the negativity in the world today and the lessons that have gone unlearned from actions like Vietnam, I’m encouraged by the fact that good people do good things and no matter what their differences, human beings find ways to connect.

Thanks Frank for the good work you do and for making my life richer for knowing you.  And thanks Dan, for showing us all that humanity survives even the most trying circumstances – and it endures.

Really!?!?

Above the threshold and beneath the ceiling - this phrase struck me when I asked myself the reflective question, “What can I honestly say about the way I do my job if I’m to be truly candid with myself?” (it is, after all, my life’s work – to which I’ve committed a lot of resources and decades of time)

Now, if your initial reaction is, “You’ve got too much time on your hands/” perhaps you’re right.  Or, perhaps, just perhaps, the weirdness of the question struck you enough that you’re (subconsciously) asking yourself something similar.   Where does our performance stand?  No, it’s not a ‘gotcha’ question designed to make us doubt our value, but rather, a question sparked by the unacceptable reality that we’re going through the motions more than we are making a difference or challenging assumptions.  We’re keeping the status quo. We’re avoiding controversy and running a smooth operation. Or as Van Morrison lamented in a song years ago, we’re “workin’ hard everyday to keep mediocity at bay“. Is that it? Is THAT what we’re doing?
Honestly now.   Looking at our own immediate surroundings and the duties our assignment entails, how would you honestly respond to these declarations?

We’re a department on fire!

We do great things!

We’re proud of our accomplishments, but value failures more!

We provide top-shelf service – every day, every time!  We ask ourselves constantly, “What have we done for you lately?”

There’s nothing we won’t do to make ourselves better!

We don’t seek solutions, we create them!

“We move from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.”

If there’s one statement above that you hesitate on or cannot get behind 100%, we have a problem.

Truth be told, there are a bunch of those statements above that I cannot in good conscience say we’re behind 100% and in fact, I’d be hard-pressed to find one I’m confident about.  My personal “ceiling” is too low and I’m not close to it.

Currently, I’m a member of a group doing a “book study” of a book by a prominent education researcher and I’m dutifully going through the motions of reading the book, responding to required questions and acknowledging the postings of my ‘classmates’ politely in the forum. But secretly, deep-down inside, I’m seething… (well, okay perhaps a bit over-the-top on that word choice, but deeply upset anyway). Why?  Because I believe the content of the book is a collection of common sense augmented with research and data tables verifying that it is in fact, the way things are and, that it’s common sense. The potential for professional growth from this experience is what I question.

Have we fallen so far as a profession that we need to have spelled out for us that a teacher’s attitude significantly influences teaching effectiveness? Really?!?!?!  Do we need a credible, accomplished researcher to tell us that everything a person does in the presence of others communicates something about them to those around him?  Really?!?!? Do we need to have it printed in a bound book that the level of questioning a teacher employs reflects he depth or thinking required by students? Really!?!?

If indeed, this IS our reality, what purpose is served by debating the benefits or consequences of Common Core Curriculum, Keystone Exams (a bow to this writer’s immediate reality in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), or the like? Lets just continue to pat our colleagues on the back for their regurgitation of the obvious and get it done. Leave that ‘growth thing’ for others to deal with – after all, if we all agree, we must be right!

A sign of changed times.

… when we visit a student’s home, students become aware that lines of communication have opened between their family and their teacher, and a feeling of trust and inclusion develops.

Recently I read a fine article in Ed Leadership titled, “Stepping Into Students’ Worlds” by Amy Baeder (Ed.Ldrshp., Feb.2010, p.56) and it struck me that what I had always taken for granted was not exactly so “granted”. At least that’s the conclusion I reached from Ms. Baeder’s article. Allow me to explain.

As a young teacher (in the ’70s’) I eagerly sought every ‘edge’ possible to get ahead of my students in the sense of understanding them and finding their “sweet spot” (that is, the ‘hook’ that would capture and engage their curiosity and will to learn). The teachers’ lounge was ripe with talk about “these kids” and their lack of interest and inappropriate behavior so it was obvious that ‘traditional’ approaches weren’t making an impact. I was a ‘newbie’ and ready to conquer the world (or at least the 28 kids in my charge) so if there was even an iota of possibility for success, I wanted “in”.

In my second year of teaching I hit on the idea of ‘heading them off at the pass” figuring that by the time they hit my classroom I was already behind the curve, I decided to make home visits (unannounced at that) and get to know my students as “people” first. Granted, I was in a somewhat ideal situation – working on a military base where all the students lived in government quarters within a relatively small geographic area – but I don’t see that that makes a significant difference from any other teaching situation. It’s just a matter of efficient planning to make it work anywhere.

So once I had my student list I’d head out into the neighborhoods in the afternoon – in those days we had 8 days of in-service prior to the first day of school – to meet the kids and their families. Not once was I turned away or treated in any way other than welcoming. Surprised, best describes the reaction of parents I met – they’d never had a teacher show up at the house and in too many cases, the only time they even heard from a teacher was when ‘bad’ news was being delivered. Mortified, best describes the kids’ reactions – “OMG, what am I in for with this nut case?” is what I imagine most of them thought.

Some of the absolute best conversations took place in the homes (and sometimes in the driveway, backyard or garden) where the student wasn’t home at the time. Parents really opened up and were thrilled that their child was getting a ‘leg up’ as it were by giving the teacher advance word on what to expect. Not every situation was ideal and not every student had a successful year as a result of this effort, but I had insight into what they were bringing with them and at least a degree of rapport with parents right from the outset (this was invaluable in my estimation).

In her article, Ms.Baeder cites examples of what she learned about students and even offers a “How To” on getting such a project started and I highly recommend it to all teachers.

It seems odd to me that so much has to be  made in the article about what just makes sense – people getting to know the people with whom they interact everyday in order to optimize their opportunities. But, it is a different day and conditions (and limitations) exist that make such activities much more complicated. Ms. Baeder’s school in Seattle has institutionalized home visits so I hope we read more about their effort – and others like it – in the future.

You may have noted that earlier I said I began the visits on receiving my class lists. In addition to the lists I also got the students’ cumulative folders from which I got the addresses – and NOTHING more. This is important from my perspective and here’s why: Those folders contain a profile of the student that I did NOT want to see. I didn’t want any filters acting on me before I had a chance to get to know the students. Obviously, in those cases where I didn’t get to actually meet the students during the home visit, the ‘filtering’ came from the parents as they told me about their child, but I still value that over the cumulative record’s account. Perhaps that seems naive or narrow-minded to some, but for me it worked. Once I’d made the personal contact the cumulative folder data had an entirely different value to me.

There is certainly argument to be made for knowing something about the student prior to the visit so you can formulate ideas and strategize on how to address areas of strength and/or concern. I’m stating here what I did and not holding it up as THE way to do home visits. In the article there are references to reviewing student data prior to the visits and I see the merit in it.  I simply took a different approach.

So, this may be nothing more than a lament about what ‘used to be’ or it may simply be recognition that the times have changed. Either way, there’s value in getting to know the people you’re working with and home visits are a great tool.

Thank you, Ms. Baeder for a starting the conversation.

Living the dream?

My good friend, Carolyn Muegge-Vaughan recently accepted a position with Doctors Without Borders and is on assignment in Malawi working on a measles immunization project of epic proportions. Attached is the text of Carolyn’s most-recent message to those following her latest adventure. African Journal.June.22.2010

If you do not know Carolyn here’s my abbreviated version of her resume’: mother, grandmother, pilot, judo black belt, 3-time Iditarod racer, co-leader 1994-95 Mount Vaughan Antarctic Project, adventure travel agent/guide, Alaska “ambassador-extraordinaire”, and inspiration to everyone who’s ever known her.

Carolyn’s Facebook page.

Think about your commute, your frustrations, your challenges and then read Carolyn’s journal. Somehow, it alters perspective.

And yes, when it comes to Living the Dream, she is!!!

If you’re up to it, here’s the back-story on how Carolyn was “drafted” and the ensuing adventure of just getting to the job. Consider the fact that she had all of 24 hours notice!  This link gives you the story in Carolyn’s own words.

The “Good Enough” Standard

The high cost of education in a short-sighted culture.

As I drive the backroads of nearby rural Pennsylvania communities I’m struck by the speed with which the recent move to develop natural gas reserves beneath us has impacted our daily lives. The narrow, winding, bumpy, roads which get tested year-in-and-year-out by the freezing/thawing cycle are now marauded by gi-normous trucks traveling at speeds I won’t attempt to estimate and the test results – like those reported by many of our schools – are not good.

Some estimates of the natural gas supply trapped in the Marcellus Shale exceed a 200-year supply at current usage rates. That’s a sobering statistic indeed and one that deserves serious consideration as fuel prices locally are once-again topping the $3/gallon mark. This in a region where there aren’t exactly a lot of jobs for the taking, but where the scenery and natural resources are indeed a treasure. Our county sits at the top of the regional watershed and as such is blessed with relatively clean water – another vanishing resource for sure.

And yet, the ads and stories in local papers are not related to the preservation of these resources or to educating the local populace to the potential environmental devastation, but rather, how to negotiate the best lease for your mineral resources. Last week I received a form letter from one of the many law firms now focused on our area in an effort to solicit my patronage for their services. It was the first of what I suspect will be many such solicitations – in which I have absolutely NO interest.

My little 4.3 acres hardly matters in any scheme (grand or otherwise), but the soil on which I grow my meager veggies and the well from which I draw till-now excellent drinking water will surely feel the effects of my neighbors’ (most of whom are not year-round residents) decisions and that scares me. It also scares me that there appear to be no organized efforts to educate the public on what this new found “bounty” holds for those who will come after us – should we be so “lucky” as to escape this world before it hits us directly.

No one is educating us on the long-term effects on the wildlife, water, air and soil and that’s also very scary. This is not the first region to suffer such an ‘invasion’ – what happened in other places? What about the exploding water wells we’re hearing about in neighboring counties? What about the lagoons that are being dug to hold the wastewater from the ‘fracking’ — even the term sounds undesirable. As a Vietnam veteran it sounds too much like “fragging” to be a good thing.

Many of our community’s residents live day-to-day on incomes that are adequate, but not comfortable. Many have gone through life worried more about today than tomorrow – by necessity. They decry the need for an education for their children that’s any different from what they had because it was good enough for them. Well, good enough isn’t, and even the children in this little corner of the Keystone State need to be educated beyond good enough.

We need only turn our attention to the current events in the Gulf of Mexico to wonder, how much longer can we afford to ignore the reality of the need for decisions that look beyond today?  Just this morning I heard the reports that the proposed ‘stop gap solution’ – putting a concrete structure over the oil leak – had failed and engineers are once again scrambling to find a solution to the solution.

Education that doesn’t prepare students to look beyond today, education that doesn’t challenge students to do more than “meet the standards” (especially when the ‘standards’ are minimums), education that doesn’t create and sustain a curiosity in students, education that doesn’t excite and incent students to ask the tough questions and then, critique and analyze the answers isn’t good enough. It’s not good enough for students anywhere and it’s time we stopped settling.

Currently, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is touting the Standards Aligned System (SAS) as a “comprehensive approach to support student achievement across the commonwealth” and that certainly sounds like a worthy endeavor. What concerns me greatly however is the explanation that this ‘comprehensive approach’ is intended to “… help prepare students for the PSSA “(Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) – in other words, “the Test”.

Just as short-sightedness compels us to ravage the environment to preserve our insatiable appetite for fossil fuels, the SAS appears to be nothing more than a ‘system’ to increase test scores – not to prepare students to look beyond today; not to challenge students to do more than achieve the minimum; not to create and sustain a curiosity in students; not to excite and incent students to ask the tough questions and then, critique and analyze the answers; and certainly not to use curiosity, imagination and creativity to create solutions before we’re overwhelmed by the problems.

The ‘riches’ of our region that have gifted and sustained us to this point (fresh water, clean air and pristine vistas) are now seriously threatened by the ‘visions’ of instant riches. The reality however is that raising our standard will not come from passing “a” test, but rather from passing “the” test – the test of our commitment to give our children the gift of an education that equips them for decision-making predicated on vision – not hindsight… proaction – not reaction.

*“… he should proceed like those prudent archers who, aware of the strength of their bow when the target they are aiming at seems too distant, set their sights much higher than the designated target, not in order to reach such a height with their arrow, but rather to be able, with the aid of such a high aim, to strike the target.” – The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli

UNderstanding Resistance

UNintended results … UNexpected finds … UNparalleled wonder … UNusual attitudes … UNmeasurable potential … UNcertain destinations … UNimaginable connections … UNprecedented discoveries

No w-UN-der “bringing about a new order of things” is so UN…comfortable.

UN

The Hard Things Team

As schools and educational service agencies find themselves challenged to design and develop new ways of doing business – in effect, redefining themselves for an era in which rapid change and uncertainty are the norm – the methodology for meeting those challenges remains undefined and uncertain.

Leaders in every organization struggle to articulate a vision for what their organization will be, so that they might inspire and motivate their workforce and entice and satisfy their clientèle. Seeking ‘the’ answer, they solicit input from every quarter and then struggle to ‘fit’ a solution into the ‘box’ that is 1. available funding, 2. existing resources, and 3. a “reasonable” amount of time to achieve the goal. It soon becomes apparent that these restrictions doom the effort and in too many cases, consolation is taken with the attitude, “We tried, that. It just didn’t work”.  And the status quo reigns.

Too bad. Because without realizing it, they were SO close. My suggestion, take a lesson from America’s commitment to the Space Race. Listen to the words spoken by President Kennedy regarding the REAL mission – “we choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and to do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard”.  (in particular, the segment of the speech between 6:50 and 10:00 minutes, but you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t listen to the entire speech. Considering current realities, it could’ve been given yesterday!)

In this current challenge we must do HARD things.  Let me restate that, “We MUST do HARD things”. There are no clear answers. There are no easy answers. There are no obvious answers.

So, I submit that leaders put out the call – in the same way Kennedy did (straightforward, and matter-of-factly). Tell your faculty/organization that there are hard things to be done and then challenge them to come forward to be the engineers of the solution. Recruit a Hard Things Team. People will bring talents, experiences, curiosity, imagination and perspiration with them. Solicit it. Welcome it. Grow it.

So, put out the call, we’re building a ‘Hard Things Team’ and we want you!  Remember, in 1915, Sir Ernest Shakleton staffed his Antarctic expedition from the following ad:

"MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES,
   BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS,
   CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOR AND
   RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS."
P.S. He delivered on every bit of that "promise".

Leardership – it’s all about FOLLOWING!

Willingness to stand out from the crowd and then the wisdom to embrace the first follower – that’s the formula for startng a movement.

Building a Dream Team

Angela Maiers suggests that we identify our personal ‘Dream Team’ so I”ve decided to take this one on.

Who influences my thinking … that’s the guideline.  As I reflect and perform the primary ‘sort’ on this task there are SO many people to consider. I don’t see myself as any different from anyone else in this respect. Paraphrasing Pete Seeger:

Think about the people who’ve made a difference in your life. Chances are they’re people who are committed to something. They’re the people with the ‘live’ heads, the ‘live’ hands, the ‘live’ hearts.

Perhaps establishing categories will help:

Family & Friends: Harold and Doris Christy, C,J,N & J Aiwazian,  T. Christy, T&N  McLaughlin, Norman and Carolyn Vaughan, J. Larkin, J. Yeager, J. Mutrux,

Authors (in no particular order): Mark Twain, Nicolo Machiavelli, H.D. Thoreau, Jonathan Swift, Norman D. Vaughan, Michael Pollan, Ben Zander, David Weinberger, John Steinbeck, Miguel Ruiz,

Musicians: Harry Chapin, Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger,

Teachers: Dr. F. Stefon, John Murphy, Dr. J. Walton, John Tucker, Evelyn Southwood, Richard Coss, O. Harp, Suzanne Williams, Vicki Rogers, Dell McMullen, Tik Liem, Norman D. Vaughan, J. & MA Mutrux, Beth Holmes, Dorothy Alfke, Dr. R. Bruce, Alan November, Walter Enloe.

Social Leaders: Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Paul Wellstone, Will Steger, Pete Seeger, Takako Takano

This undertaking is a work-in-progress to be sure. In future postings I’ll amplify the particular traits/lessons each exemplifies.  Looking forward with great anticipation to that exercise.

Lead us into temptation…

- to learn.

Paraphrasing @Dom, this is the plea of students to their passionate teachers.

Having enjoyed the privilege of joining 520 colleagues in the virtual conversation with Sir Ken Robinson last evening. I implore teachers to ‘wear your passion on your sleeve’ and acknowledge your students’ plea.

Sir Ken, speaking to the theme of his latest book, The Element, laid before the eager, edge-of-the-seat-sitting throng the imperative to infuse their interaction with students with their own personal passion(s) as a way to meet the needs of learners and realize significant achievement on the part of their charges.

Having experienced first-hand the power that this practice (driving your message home by speaking/teaching/acting from what drives you), I relate all-too-well to Sir Ken’s assertions. Teachers, administrators and learners from beyond-the-walls of academia listened raptly to Sir Ken last night, sitting at his ‘virtual feet’ reveling in the ‘enlightenment’ – and it was enlightening, thought-provoking –  and action-starved, only to query,  ”Can you tell us where this practice is being carried out so we might see it in action?”.  How sad. The ‘cookbook mentality’ that has decimated our profession has become so inculcated, that everything, (new or old, and the concepts Sit Ken espoused were – by his own words – ‘nothing new)’ – evoked the need to ‘see’ it being done.

You cannot SEE it, you must BE it. With apologies to Ghandi, “We must BE the model”. What works in Classroom/School/District ABC cannot be recreated in Classroom/School/District XYZ – there are simply too many variables.

Identify your passion.

Articulate it at every turn.

Let it drive everything you do and it will envelope all with whom you interact. They will become your support system extraordinaire and will overwhelm you with their performance.

There is no force comparable to the force of students who have ‘fallen victim’ to the ‘temptation’ of a passionate, inspiring teacher.

Lead them. They implore you!