teaching

Many years ago, I attempted student teaching and expressed a belief in testing. The lead teacher told me privately that if I wanted a teaching job, I should keep my mouth shut. Opportune advice must have steered me in other directions. The educational establishment is generally indisposed to testing, and I could not submit to that … or poor leadership, or inferior content, or crass indoctrination. The University of California system dropped the SAT effective Fall 2022, and two private schools in San Francisco dropped the SSAT this year. I tutor both exams, and both are excellent. The whole system works like dominoes.

Watching good schoolteachers and experience developed my strong beliefs on what educational professionals should be. The Jesuits affected me the most. The content of the schoolwork was not always perfect, but their example made up for any deficiencies. There are many teachers in my family (7). The one who was in training (age 11) held impromptu school in the basement at home for me and my little sister. All the family teachers were emulatable.