Not Bored of Education

While growing up in Santa Barbara we were blessed with a most excellent educational system. We were also fortunate to reside at the same location for the entire duration of our pre-college education which provided for stable continuity in that process.

Having Nancy precede me through the school system set the expected standards for Hendrick children quite high but not necessarily at status quo. After I passed through the schools, the teachers had NO IDEA what to expect from subsequent siblings, but I do know that all the teachers (with perhaps the exception of one French teacher) enjoyed having the Hendrick children in class.

Washington Elementary school was a rather new construction and the students for the most part were from successful, middle class families. There were actually quite a few Mexican students (about 20% by my recollection) but not many other races. I formed friendships with the likes of Diaz, Ambriz, Dominguez, Torres, Reynoso and Rojas which lasted through high school (it was rather cool to go to high school reunion 35 and be greeted warmly by these fellows, one of whom has the dubious distinction of being president of Santa Barbara chapter of the Hell's Angels.) During high school I had no problems with the Latino students (partly I am sure due to these friendships which go back as far as kindergarten) who comprised about 30% of the students.

At Washington I was included in what was called "Creative Writing" which was a special-track class for accelerated students. Mrs. Liefer (who taught that class) is one of the earliest teachers that I recall being COMPLETELY enthusiastic about her subject. Other memorable teachers there were Jack Penney (who expected nothing less than excellence) and Mr. Jenkins.

Junior high school at La Cumbre was a bit more of an eye opener to the real world, there were plenty of middle class kids there but there were also some kids from very impoverished families. Being set up on the track system, the brightest students were all together for all classes. I was in the top track (I felt out of place occasionally, but not often). Needless to say, the brightest kids generally came from more well-to-do families, so in my classes I was not dealing with a lot of the less fortunate students except in shop classes and P.E.

Memorable teachers at La Cumbre were Mr. Cudney for 8th grade science. He provided a very high caliber program and also expected nothing less than excellence from the top track students. He was one of the first teachers that I remember actually treating the students more as adults than as teenagers, he respected the students and the students respected and adored him, crusty old burr-headed man that he was. The other teacher at La Cumbre that I really enjoyed was Mr. Reese who taught 9th grade English. He had a love for American Literature, vocabulary and creative writing -- no matter what the subject.

At home, reading had been a priority since birth ... we were read to continually as babies and our house was full of books. Mom always gave us kids some really good books for birthdays and Christmas -- some of my favorites being Catcher In The Rye (at times I kind of visualized myself as a Holden Caulfield), Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Anyway, Mr. Reese's literary agenda melded quite well with what I had already learned to enjoy!

Santa Barbara High School was an amazing place! The student body of about 2400 was a mix of 20% black, 30% Latino and the rest Caucasian and "other". With this huge number of students everyone could find a clique to hang out with---nerds, hippies, Chicanos, jocks, surfers, thespians, black power----and there was very little strife between student groups, especially considering the tumultuous state of national politics. At this time protest over the Vietnam War was at a peak (I attended several rallies), Nixon was president (had Robert Kennedy been elected who knows what would have been different. During the 1968 primaries, Nancy and I attended an RFK rally at the S.B. courthouse about a week before he was shot, we were carrying placards for Eugene McCarthy and even more dove like candidate than was RFK), students were rioting at campuses as were residents of many ghetto's in the large cities and racial tensions as a whole were quite strained. However, our campus remained calm and the students maintained a good atmosphere for learning.

My sophomore English teacher was another aficionado of American literature. It was in this class that I began to work on my "perfect" book report. The Grapes of Wrath was (is) one of my favorite books so for 1st quarter I turned it in for the major quarterly book report in that class. After getting an A- on it I tweaked it using her comments and turned it in for a quarterly book report in American History, receiving a solid A. At the end of the 4th quarter, I had completely forgotten about doing the quarterly for English until the day before it was due when Mrs. Glazier kindly reminded us to turn them in mañana! Oh, SHIT I thought ... but then I started thinking ... she has six classes with 30 students which equal 180 students, multiply by 4 quarters and you have 720 book reports....I took the chance that she wouldn't remember my report from the 1st quarter and turned in the same book report (in re-edited format per her suggestions) and received an A+ this time around. I filed this masterpiece away (as I had done with all book reports since 8th grade). Skip ahead to English 101 at USC, yep, you get the picture, except at college it was called a "literary evaluation". Comments on that submission (besides another A+) were "exceptionally well done and very perceptive, Steinbeck would be proud". I may still have that document stashed somewhere....

Another interesting teacher that I had was Otto Hunter, a big fat black man from somewhere in the south whom I have no idea how he received a teaching credential! I had to take a history class out of my normal tract to accommodate scheduling a Spanish class with a teacher that I really did well with (by the end of 10 grade I realized the value of changing classes to have teachers that I liked and respected). There were quite a few dumbshits in this class but also a couple of my good friends. Current events were the scheduled curriculum on Fridays and I kept all my presentations in the back of my notebook. One Friday, one of the not-so-smart guys, Barry Lew, forgot to bring a current event so I delved into my stash and lent him an "extra" current event that I had just happened to bring (it was actually about 8 weeks NOT current). Barry presented it (much to my delight and the mirth of Dirk and Ken) and was complemented by Mistah Huntah for doing a FINE JOB!, my friends and I could barely contain ourselves and had quite a hoot after class ... however, this was the only teacher I ever had that I truly believe was unqualified.

Most of my other high school things belong in other essays, so I leave SBHS.