THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604030156
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY GARY THORNBERRY AND ELSIE THORNBERRY
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Today, the problems and failures of education are well publicized. Yet, if things are to improve, we must emphasize what works and thank those who make it work.
This letter is one family's belated ``thank you'' to those dedicated high school educators, whether they be teachers, coaches, advisers, guidance counselors and/or administrators, who serve us at Lakeland, Nansemond River and Nansemond-Suffolk.
When our oldest son, Michael, was in high school, we were repeatedly told by both faculty and staff that a busy student stays out of trouble and accomplishes more than one who is not involved in extracurricular activities as well as academics. Because of his involvement in activities, Michael would be forced to budget his time, and would then accomplish more in the limited remaining time he had for studies. We followed their advice and let Michael's love of sports and art guide his extracurricular activities. As a result, somehow he did do it all while handling the Honors and AP (Advanced Placement) classes he was expected to take.
Did it work? Michael went on to West Point (USMA, '94), where time pressures went well beyond anything he could have imagined. In fact, part of the West Point experience is to make it impossible for even the most conscientious and gifted Cadet to do everything, thereby forcing the Cadet to select what he or she will do and what he or she will let slide.
Another element in the West Point experience is that all Cadets must work, and work extremely hard. What little time they have must be used intensively. Today, as a 2LT in the Army's World Class Athlete Program, it is Michael's initial high school work ethic, enhanced many times over by West Point, that has allowed him to represent the United States at the Goodwill Games and the Pan-Am Games as a member of our U.S. National Team Handball Team. On May 7, he will learn whether what his high school teachers stressed has been learned well enough for him to make the 1996 U.S. Olympic Handball Team.
But that was simply how Michael benefited. For our other son, Matthew, the influence was different. In his case, he was less sure that he could handle the Honors and AP courses he was expected to take. Again, two critical things affected him. First, his teachers simply assumed he could do it, and went about insisting upon their high standards. With their non-acceptance of any excuses, he simply raised himself to his teachers' standards and thereby exceeded his own expectations.
Second, while we can name exceptional teachers both Michael and Matthew had, it was Matthew's chemistry teacher who impacted his life in an unbelievable manner. Mr. Richard Furlough was no easy instructor, and their relationship was at times less than ideal. Mr. Furlough, in both Matthew's Honors Chemistry and AP Chemistry classes, expected and insisted upon the impossible, daily! He literally forced his students to a level of achievement in chemistry that is hard to imagine.
Today, Matthew is a junior in the Honors Program at James Madison University. His major is chemistry in which he carries a perfect 4.0 GPA. Matthew has found JMU relatively easy when compared to the demands he once would have labeled impossible in high school. It is not that JMU is easy. It isn't. It is just that his high school teachers expected so much of him that their influence followed him to JMU. With high expectations and a developed work ethic to match, he is simply performing up to their standards. As for the impossible Mr. Furlough, his students are in chemistry programs all over Virginia and the United States, and doing well in a field many would say is extremely difficult. Why? Because when Mr. Furlough got through with them, they had such a deep love for chemistry that the rigors of learning could not shake that love. As just one example, Matthew is now talking about earning a Ph.D. in chemistry!
Although Michael and Matthew graduated from NSA ('90 and '93), such exceptional educators are at all Suffolk high schools. These educators expect our sons and daughters to take the hardest classes possible and be challenged beyond their apparent capacity to learn. They also want them to become well-rounded and to participate in the extracurricular activities that suit their interests. Finally, what they wish is for each student to be so tested that, when that student looks back on his or her high school career, he can truly say that certain key educators made all the difference in the world as to what he or she was able to become in life.
All these dedicated educators want us to encourage our students to study hard at home, and for us to attend everything our own sons and daughters are in at school. After all, they believe that our children were created by God with unbelievable potential. They simply wish that potential be reinforced with a passion only parents can provide. If we will join these exceptional educators, then our children will have gotten the very finest any educational system can provide, regardless of financial resources.
Finally, don't wait until years after your sons and daughters graduate to publicly say, ``Thank you!'' Do it now, and do it every time you see those educators who make all the difference. Such appreciation is reward enough for these individuals. It is also what will drive them even harder to unlock the potential God has placed in our children.
After all, many of us today recognize the positive mark left upon us by teachers, coaches, advisers, guidance counselors and/or administrators we never really ever got a chance to thank. In appreciation for those gifts we received, we can thank in advance those educators who are now, this moment, giving of themselves for the growth of our sons and daughters. It is the very least we can do! MEMO: Gary and Elsie Thornberry live on Mount Pleasant Drive in Suffolk. by CNB