The education process can be viewed as rather straight forward - individuals learn by doing. Reading, talking, writing, calculating and experimenting will usually lead to higher levels of performance and understanding. The educator's role is to push for increasingly informed activity - seeking most often to counteract the fabricated babble of secular and religious ideologies that range from the pedantic to the murderous. There were several excellent educators in my past, many who were average and a few horrific. But three individuals remain in vivid memory for there efforts in shaping this dolt and changing parts of his life.
Waldo Chamberlain was in 1959, a Professor in the Department of Government at New York University. Chamberlain had been the Chief Documents Officer at the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, then Director of Documents before moving to NYU. I participated in two of his graduate seminars and he was my MA thesis adviser. Chamberlain was a shorter gentleman, who spoke with precision and brevity. He assigned tasks - then students did everything - the research, reporting and discussing. Chamberlain would sit in the seminar and when necessary identify unexamined issues. Personnel from the UN and other IGOs were swelling NYU's Government Department classes - Egyptians, Nigerians, Ethiopians, Italians, South Koreans, Saudis, Israelis, Chinese (Taiwanese). On occasion we would have guests from UN delegations sit in to listen to research of particular concern to them. Chamberlain treated everyone with great respect. But he also enjoyed requiring students to consider the "other" side. He would assign an Ethiopian to represent Italian interests or an Israeli to research Egyptian problems. The first research paper I prepared for Professor Chamberlain was twenty-two pages plus bibliography. I worked hard on it - I wanted to impress him. One week after submission it was returned and I remember my shock - never had so much red ink been lavished on twenty-five pages. He nailed me for everything from contradictory and weak documentation ("Who's s/he?" - "No primary sources available?") to the use and abuse of colons, semi colons, commas and periods. Never again would I use the word "interesting". Reworking the paper for resubmission I realized that no past professor or teacher had ever reviewed my work so intensively. Later I wrote Professor Chamberlain a short letter expressing this fact and thanked him. His writing and research lesson was applied by me (with less talent and less effect) to the work of my students over the next forty years.
Jacob Oser was a Professor of Economics at Utica College of Syracuse University. Oser wrote several books but the title of one conveys the intensity of the man, Must Men Starve? The book skewered Malthusian theory. Oser was an organized, humorous lecturer. "Hold your AT&T owned phone straight out in front of you. Drop it. Notice what happens. Nothing - they own it! Now hold your GE portable radio out in front of you. Drop it. Notice what happens - trash! What does this tell us?" As fine as Professor Oser was in the classroom, out on the street his influence helped change the direction of my life.
1962 - The Freedom Riders project sought to desegregate public facilities in the south. Efforts were made up north to raise money and volunteers. I now had a Master's degree in Government and was selling business equipment for IBM. At the office I had a gray, steel desk with a small sign on it that said "Think". My socks were black and long - over the calves. After attending an IBM sales school somewhere in New Jersey I was back in Utica and working. At 12:45 PM on a sunny day I was preoccupied - walking down Genesee Street carrying a canvas bag containing an IBM Selectric typewriter. My demonstration was scheduled for 1:00 PM. Then "JJJooohhhnnn! John! Over here!" There Professor Oser in a slightly baggy suit and a huge smile was holding a tin cup. "How are you?" Fifty feet away stood a shiny, yellow school bus and emblazoned on the side, "FREEDOM RIDERS". We shook hands, exchanged pleasantries.
"What are you doing?" he asked. I was ashamed to tell him - but did. He seemed quite pleased. So while Jacob Oser in and out of the classroom was trying to make things better and earn a living, I was just attempting to earn a living. Within two months I had resigned from IBM and secured a teaching contract (for less pay) with the Utica School District. I wanted to be like Jacob Oser.
Now the more mundane. A powerful learning experience can occur quite abruptly. At age 17, still in high school I joined the US Naval Reserve. A few months later in Brooklyn Navy Yard I boarded a ship for my first training cruise and was assigned to work on the mess deck. The ship was a Cannon Class destroyer escort, the Snyder, DE 745. It carried a crew of 15 officers and 200 enlisted men of which perhaps were 90 were reservists. So with three other sailors I began my training - sweeping crumbs around and smearing steel table tops - I even remember admiring the glossy sheen my rag left behind with every swipe. But someone became displeased, the noncom in charge disappeared and a thickset Second Class Gunner's Mate named Teachout took over. Teachout respected no one and was something of a bully. Rumor was that his demotions were running ahead of promotions and he much enjoyed drinking. His vocabulary was circumscribed but utilizing streams of obscenities Teachout was extremely funny.
Four of us were standing with him in front of a deep sink. With a smile he said, "Now we are going to begin cleaning the mess deck. First we need hot water and soap!" We watched the mixture of steam and suds bubbling up. He then took my hands in his and plunged them into the cauldron. "Now this is hot!" I yelped and he thought that was hilarious. Next I was on my hands and knees in a corner scrubbing away filth with a tooth brush. The mess deck became a model of cleanliness - but three times a day hordes of sailors would descend those ladders to eat and occasionally vomit - we cleaned again and again. I have not forgotten what constitutes a "clean" mess deck, galley or kitchen. I learned how to clean - "First we need hot water and soap!"
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