Do Teachers Realize Their Influence?

Here we are in the 2010's with sophisticated schools with sophisticated programs so as to be inclusive to all students. Not so in the 1950's and early 1960's. One size fit all. Personally, as a teacher of the Gifted, I like all the choices. I did not like being stuck in a box. I probably would have benefited from a Montessori education (one has to be disciplined, but one can MOVE AROUND) because not much about the way educational information that was presented in the late 1960's and early 1970's was different from the 50's and early 60's. At least all my classes seemed the same: teacher centered - in layman's terms...the teacher lecturing. I think of Charlie Brown's teacher sounding like a horn...wha, wha, wha. Students sat in desks and took notes all the time. Pen to paper, pen to paper....Fanny fatigue!

But I digress.

I guess it seemed to work for students in the late '50's and early '60's. My mother taught 12th grade Government. No AP classes, no Gifted classes, no special education classes. However, students were separated by ability (Georgia can't do that now, except in the specialized programs of study with government intervention), so there was some differentiated instruction, I guess.

Mother had several outstanding students in her classroom that decade. I say outstanding, because they became very influential in their later years. AND they came from a county that only had ONE white high school and probably about 75 in their graduating classes, if that. Schools were segregated.

There are two successfull students at this time I'd like to mention. One was Joe Cornwell, who, I believe am correct on this bit of information, went to MIT (from Conyers High School!) and discovered another part of the atom. The second, and who this story is about, is James Miller, III. James, or Jimmy as we Conyers folks called him, was the eldest of a family of "J's" - you know- when the entire siblings' names begin with "J" - Jimmy, Johnny, Jerry, Jack, Jennifer, Julieanna.

As Jimmy's teacher, my mother was teaching about Argentine government and Juan Peron, an Argentine general and politician who was elected three times as President of Argentina. He was overthrown in a military coup in 1955. In the lesson that day, mother mentioned, "Mark my words. Peron will be back."

Jimmy graduated from high school and earned his B.B.A. in economics from the University of Georgia in 1964. Miller became an assistant professor of economics at Georgia State University. He earned his Ph.D. in economics in 1969 at the University of Virginia. As wonderful as this career seems, Jimmy's star was still rising.

In July, 1985, President Reagan chose Federal Trade Commission chairman James C. Miller III, "a conservative economist who favors reducing the size of the federal government", as the Administration's new budget director. Yes, little Conyers High School's Jimmy.

While Jimmy was moving on up this brilliant career ladder, he must not have forgotten his roots in Conyers. He must not have forgotten his high school days. He must not have forgotten his government teacher. When Peron returned to power in 1973 (although briefly as he served for nine months until his death in 1974 and was succeeded by his third wife), he wrote my mother about this event.

As teachers, we usually never know what influence we make on our students when they become adults. My mother probably taught that Argentine lesson a million times and didn't remember her exact words that day to Jimmy Miller's class. But he did. His letter to her was brief. All it said was:

"Mrs. Archer, you were right. Peron's back."