In looking back on my life in the Oak Park public schools, I had always believed I was a straight-A wiz with an IQ of 150.
However, I discovered my report cards from grades four through high school at the bottom of a box of old school papers. An inspection of these records did establish I was a decent student but not the guy I imagined myself to be.
The grades revealed I tended to pick up steam as the school year progressed, so my grades were always better in the second half of the year. This was true during the elementary grades as well as seventh grade, but I finally evened it out in eighth grade.
My pal George had no academic problems whatsoever. With his usual self-confidence, he sailed through junior high with the same ease and high grades he earned in the lower grades.
He was comfortable in all subjects, but this was not the case with me.
My grades clearly indicated I had limited abilities, or no talent at all, in certain subjects — namely music, art and woodworking, courses in which I was lucky to get a C- and often a D.
Mechanical drawing was easy for me, but woodworking was a disaster when I took the class in eighth grade.
While other guys were making bookcases and desk lamps, I spent an entire semester working on a breadboard made of one-inch strips of various woods sawed, planed, sanded and glued together with the final product also planed, sawed and sanded evenly.
As the semester progressed, the breadboard got smaller and smaller. Fearful that my creation would disappear from sight, my shop teacher finally OK’d my project.
I took the breadboard home and gave it to my mother who graciously accepted it.
I did well in math courses, which encouraged me to plan to study engineering in college — an idea I held onto until my freshman year in college.
In science, my grades were fine in biology and physics, but I met my Waterloo in chemistry. I simply could not understand the course, and if it hadn’t been for the patience of my teacher and the fact that George tutored me, I would have failed, I was grateful to receive a C each semester.
I did well in the courses I liked, and I liked math, composition [English], physics, and Latin, maybe because I had some talent in them.
When I was in high school, a hint of my future career appeared.
Although I entered college without any intention of becoming an English teacher, my interest and ability in English composition were displayed through high school because I often submitted articles to the school newspaper regarding current events in the community.
I also had a strong interest in math, so during my college career, I studied both math and composition and taught both of these disciplines over a period of 48 years.
