IT MUST HAVE seemed that I was a slow learner. My grandson asked me how many years I was in school and I answered, "I was in school for 50 years". A very strange look came over his face. Then I explained. I was in grade school, high school, and college for sixteen years, then I was in school teaching for another thirty-four. I'm not sure that I didn't learn more when I was teaching than when I was a student. The next question from Cameron was, "Did you like school"? "Oh, yes, I did," I answered. His response was a look of unbelief and a smiling comment of "Grandma, you're weird". Well, he's no doubt correct.

However, I enjoyed every day of school when I was a student and when I was a teacher. In fact, when I was going to country school those first eight years, I had to be persuaded to stay home even if I was ill. I believe I had perfect attendance (we talked about attendance and citizenship on the report card in those days) for six out of the eight years. Then I went to the high school in Coleridge for four years, and on to teachers' college in Wayne, Nebraska. I attended other colleges, also, but all in all, with my teaching, I was happy learning many things for a total of fifty years.

The learning goes on; every day we all learn something new. From my parents, I inherited a curiosity to want to keep learning new things. In teaching, I loved the new books, the smell of the chalk on the blackboards, the eager looks on the faces of students, and the feeling of being in a position to make a difference to someone. It was also a little bit intimidating to think that if I made big mistakes with the feelings of those students, I might be responsible for their failure to perform in the community and in their careers for the rest of their lives. They were the children that some parents loved and had aspirations for in the same way that I had hopes for our daughter Nancy. I wanted the best for her, and I wanted to be the best for my students.

With all these great ideals to live up to in my teaching, it came as a horrible shock when I found out that it was almost impossible to please everyone. So when a parent came to me and questioned whether her son was learning as much as he should be, I was totally devastated. After moping for most of the weekend about her visit, my husband reminded me of all the parents who were very pleased with what I was doing, and added, "You're not going to let just one parent get you down, are you"? That was the right thing to say for the moment, and I went back on Monday with renewed resolutions to do great and wonderful things.

Sometimes I would drag into the door exhausted mentally and physically, and inform my "counselor" husband that I didn't feel that I had taught the students anything, he came back with, "Well, remember, I'm a welder and I build tanks. I can see when we get through with a tank if there are any bad welds, or if we have all done a good job. You, on the other hand, can't tell by looking at a student whether any of the learning you have thrown out have taken seed or not. You won't know for many years if your teaching was effective".

Years later, when occasionally a former student contacted me to "keep in touch" and was nice enough to take the time to tell me that I had made a difference to him, I remembered what my husband had said. When in college I had an instructor who told us that if we came out of the school building after a hard day, and saw something written on the sidewalk about us, probably not so complimentary, we should not be dismayed, because that student had to have us on his mind to have written it. So by that, we knew we were making an impression on someone.

I'm not one of those college grads that think that the degree we earned means brilliance. I believe there are many who are in possession of a college degree who show no common sense in any situation, especially in the classroom. A college degree is a piece of paper. A college education is something that nothing can take away; not age, not illness, not even homelessness. Things learned in college are not all from the text books, either. It is a growing-up time, a maturing of the mind, and a building of self esteem. I wouldn't take a million for my education.

My heart goes out to those young people who just barely tolerate school. When this happens, I have the strong feeling that no teacher has tried hard enough to be the catalyst for learning that is needed. Each student should have the miracle of at least one teacher who completely "turns him or her onto learning". What miracles a good teacher can perform. Those miracles make a whole life better, more interesting, and more productive.

So for about sixty two percent of my life I have been partaking of the knowledge inside of the books I can get my hands on in attending and teaching school; and the other thirty eight percent I have been doing likewise. Learning is forever.

I am reminded of a little quip I read once. The excited college grad proudly waved his degree in the air and yelled, "Here I am, World, I have my AB!" The world answered, "Sit down, Son, and I'll teach you the rest of the alphabet". Ah, yes, school, it has been "many moons" since I woke up early one morning in August of 1925, donned a new dress my mother had made for me, grabbed my lunch pail, and took off down the road with my brother and neighbor kids for my first day of school. Miss McCrill was there to teach and I was there to learn. Thank you, Miss McCrill. Ah, what pleasures hath been wrought!