ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 2, 1996 TAG: 9612030047
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELIZABETH TENISON
MY SUCCESS as a parent and as a person can in large part be attributed to my education, and my education began in school. Or maybe it began before I started school
My education really began in my home and all that I saw and heard became my curriculum. The kitchen table where I first learned to draw was my first desk. My mother and father (and brother) were my first teachers.
I do remember wishing I could go to school like my older brother, and the first day I was "grown up" enough to go was a thrilling moment in my life. I think most people remember their first days in first grade. I found it to be like putting together pieces of a gigantic puzzle, and being constantly encouraged to go one step farther.
I remember my first-grade teacher being older than any person I had ever known and being a little bit scary, but very kind. When I got the idea of what I was supposed to do, it seemed to get a lot more comfortable. My lasting memories of her were that she was there to help me learn how to learn - and this was a lifelong gift that she gave me.
At some point you become aware that the more you know, the more you know you will never know. You finally realize that learning is a lifelong pursuit and is one that started at home and continued long after graduation.
I was very fortunate to have had a wonderful list of teachers throughout my years in the public school system in my city. My favorite subjects usually involved reading and writing, but arithmetic and math gave me puzzles to work and master, and later gave me all the tools I needed to manage my budget and my household.
All the literature I read started me on the road to understanding how different and alike all people are. I read stories of history and saw that things repeat themselves. I saw that people have pretty much the same dreams and fears. And yes, parents want things to be better for their children.
This is one reason parents work so hard at trying to encourage their children to value school and to respect their professional teachers who work there, day in and day out, for years to make learning a lifelong experience.
My education after high school continued at a university that specialized in the liberal arts. What it really did was give me a more detailed knowledge about my society and its expectations of me as an adult. My future began there when I knew that one day soon I would be able to get a job and be paid money for doing something!
My first job was a steppingstone to a professional career that has spanned many years. I know that the many projects that I wrote and turned in to my professors were really the same projects that I turned in to my bosses and my board of directors. My oral reports were the same things as my presentations to my department director. My education was the beginning of my career, and I learned later that I never stopped learning.
And now I have the most important job of my life. I am a parent and I have provided the same kitchen table for my child. I have read the same books to her and have had the pleasure of providing her with the same sense of adventure that goes along with a curious mind.
I acknowledge and thank all along the way, especially Mrs. Thorpe in first grade, who told me not be afraid and that everything would be all right.
Elizabeth Tenison is a homemaker and part-time travel agent, and is the mother of Meredith Tenison, a seventh-grader at Hidden Valley Junior High School.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB