When I received this yellow flier at the reunion for the class of 1990, I thought it was an interesting project. I decided to blog about some things I remembered and was a little surprised to see so few posts on this server…either people aren’t posting or I haven’t figured out how to see them…lol. In any case I do hope that alumni contribute to this project because it seems to me that to be at the beginning of a school, of an idea that was being created into something real, was something special. To make thinhgs easier for me, I have added the numbers of some of the questions that are on the flier.
#1. I was selected for TJ after taking the entrance exam (without any sort of preparation, it didn’t ever occurr to me to prep for the test, and I have to say it disappoints me tremendously that students are prepping for the entrance exam nowadays, as I heard. Maybe it’s just a rumor? ) and receiving a letter which let me know I was in. I was very surprised to have been admitted, in part because after taking the entrance exam I felt that I had answered everything wrong. I was excited but nervous, and yes, scared, feelings that I think I kept all 4 years of high school. I applied because I had already learned (from my parents and my own experience) that you should grab opportunities when they come along, because they may not come again. TJ was an opportunity that came my way, and the least I could do was attempt to get in. I was also interested in science, especially biology and in foreign languages and TJ offered all of that.
#4, #19 What I remember the most was this feeling of innovation that seemed to permeate the school…it seemed that anything was possible, and students were encouraged to comment on the design of the school, including the curriculum, and to be creative in class. We were expected to be innovative, to look at things from different perspectives, to come up with new ideas. That I found irresistible and was one of the things that I liked best about the school. At the reunion Mr. Volrath commented that what he thought was valuable was that we had been taught to ask questions. I would agree with that, but I would add: to ask questions critically, to think critically. With the perspective of twenty years, I can say that THAT ability, to ask questions and to think critically, is one that I use in my own research on poetry and my teaching. I also loved the fact that the school gave you an well-rounded education. Yes, science and technology were emphasized from the beginning. In fact there were no scholarships available from colleges for anyone wishing to major in anything other than science or technology at the time I was applying to college. But you also could take classes in Russian (as I did) and Japanese, take theater or orchestra (I was also in orchestra) or band, and excellent classes in Humanities and English. I don’t think it is so important for students to major in science or technology when they finish high school. They are not failures if they choose something else. And no, they shouldn’t be told, whether directly or indirectly, that they do not belong at TJ.
I remember that we were always told that we all belonged at TJ, that we were there because we had all taken the same entrance exam, and we had all been admitted based on the results of that entrance exam. I also remember that we were told that politics would not and did not enter into the decision to admit us to TJ. So it didn’t matter if you personally knew the superintendent, you weren’t going to get in based on that. Allof this made an impression. I also think that it helped my class to mutually respect each other and really appreciate each other’s gifts. You could see this – and it’s a wonderful thing to see – even today, at the reunion we just had. Of course we were competitive. But in my case, I quickly realized that there were people in my class who were far more gifted in certain areas than I was. I mean truly. Yet at the same time I knew I excelled in certain areas more than other people, and what was really wonderful is that there were people in my class who let me know that. But overall the lesson was one of humility. Ok, we were all intelligent, we had all passed the entrance exam. But damn, some of my classmates were far above the mean. And we all knew that. After I graduated from TJ I was done competing with anyone else…I decided to compete with myself, to see if I could top myself in whatever I did, but not with other people. That is still my point of view. I think it has made me a happier person, and yet still allows me to keep challenging myself. I like challenges. I think my class as a whole probably does. If we hadn’t liked being challenged we wouldn’t have made it through 4 years at TJ.
#23, #24 This brings me to the point of being risk takers. I don’t know about being “the first real risk takers”, but I do know that we were risk takers in a very real way, pioneers would be another word that might be more accurate, because we were leaving behind an environment we knew, that of a typical middle school and high school, for….the unknown. No one knew if TJ would be a success, no one knew if the students would be any good, it really was an experiment and we were the guinea pigs. Not everyone can take a leap into the unknown,and create something that didn’t exist before. There were arguments at the county level that TJ should not exist, and there were the students from the old TJ, the school that had to clse so that we could exist, who weren’t always nice to us, though we tried and I do believe they tried and eventually more or less we got along. But oh you could cut the tension with a knife. But I would like to add something that came to mind during the reunion banquet – yes, we’re risk takers (I think this is a characteristic of the entire class and one that probably still applies to us) but we’re IRREVERENT risk takers. All you have to do is listen to George Little and Larry Roadcap and Lisa Goddard and Dennis Collins and realize, oh my God these people are a far cry from being the very smart goody two shoes, always follow the rules students that many adults at the time may have thought we were. If you think about it, it makes sense. If you want students to be innovative, they have to break the rules. Or at least bend them, be able to see beyond them. Even I rebelled (quietly) when I felt that the expectation of the faculty and administration was that we would be the perfect students, who got perfect grades who always did what they were told. Ugh. I even skipped 8th period once, which landed me in detention. Which I thought was ridiculous. We were also dealing with a tremendous amount of pressure, both self-imposed and imposed by outsiders (my guess is that we all felt – perhaps to varying degrees- the pressure to make the school a success). Being irreverent was also a way to let off steam. I always felt that if I took things too seriously, I would end up with a nervous breakdown. I suppose that the current students are still risk takers, but to a lesser degree. They know the school is a success, they know it will look good for colleges, they know what they can expect. We didn’t. One thing that concerns me about TJ today is that it is not as diverse racially and ethnically as it could be, that arts and humanities seem to be shunted aside so it’s not as well-rounded, and that students don’t always seem to realize how lucky they are to be there. I never lost the sensation that I was lucky to be there, that I was receiving an education that I wouldn’t have received anywhere else. If I could, I would lobby for better identification of gifted minority students in elementary and middle schools in the school systems from which TJ draws students, and I would ban classes that prep students for the entrance exam. This prepping for the entrance exam really bothers me, as it favors the chidlren of well to do parents, who tend to be better educated and who can afford to pay for the extra tutoring they think their children need, to give them better opportunities. This means that minority children, the poor and the children of recent immigrants are almost automatically at a disadvantage. This should not be the case at TJ. Everyone should have an equal opportunity to be admitted to the school. I have been asked to donate money to the school. But the way things are currently makes me reluctant to do so. I want TJ to be a place where allstudents have an equal chance to be admitted, be supported and encouraged, and where if you choose to study something other than science or technology it will not be held against you. I was looking through my yearbook and I came across this quote from a visitor to the school, Dr. Allan Perry of Purdue “if you have any interest in political science, go for it. We don’t need people in lab coats, we need you to convert scientific theory into national policy.” While I wouldn’t go so far as to say we don’t need scientists, I would say that even those of us who chose to study something else, in my case literature, will have a deeper appreciation of science and technology that they will bring to their chosen fields. That has certainly been my case, we are now using technology to create hybrid classes and to have students of Spanish do all of their lab and workbook on-line, and assigning assignments using real time videos and maps, games, etc. that are all on-line. My students even have an on-line virtual tutor they can ask questions. Some students already buy e-books, and I teach every class in a technology assisted room, so I can use internet, youtube, powerpoint, etc. as needed, and so that my students can also do so when they do presentations. And I still love learning about science. =)