Not Only Teachers: connected to "The Green Monongahela," 6/23

In "The Green Monongahela," named for a river near Pittsburgh, John Taylor Gatto writes about all the people who taught him when he was a boy.  He had teachers in school, sure, but he had many more "teachers" than that.  "In Monongahela by that river, everyone was my teacher" (p. 9).  He writes about what he learned from relatives, but more especially from the guys who worked on the river boats and the trains.  He says how grateful the boys were for the men to take a little bit of time from their workday to talk to the kids and tell them about the real world and give them a glimpse into their future as men.    

These "teachers" influenced Gatto to want to help other young people the way he'd been helped.  But these workmen hadn't taken psychology classes.  They weren't licensed or certified or finger-printed or background-checked.  They were real men who shared themselves honestly with the younger generation and taught life experience. 

As teachers, we spend most of our lives in academic settings.  Something "clicked" for us with school and we return to that comfortable zone.  We spend so much time in  School-World that we can lose sight that non-teachers also teach.  Even at school, sometimes the person who really takes the time to truly connect with a kid may be a secretary or a custodian.  An office aide may grow to have significant rapport with a secretary with whom he or she interacts daily.  Students may feel affirmed by a custodian who talks to them after the final bell.  They may find someone who listens more than anyone at home or in class. We have a custodian like that.  He's a Gift to students and staff alike.

In School-World, we can forget that college does a lot, but it isn't everything.  People in this world all have different gifts, and that's a good thing!  If there were only academicians, who would fix the cars, install the furnaces, and grow the food.  Just as Gardner talked about multiple kinds of intelligence, there's more to life than the game of school.  Those who work with their hands are educated in other ways.  Achievement might be counted by degrees, but intelligence isn't necessarily.  More especially, intelligence is the ability to problem-solve and be successful in navigating life.  The author, Gatto, reminds us that those who serve alongside the teachers and those who serve outside of School-World are equally valuable and can forever change a young boy's life, whether along the banks of the Monongahela,  the Cuyahoga, the Nile, or anywhere.
 

Gatto, John Taylor. "The Green Monongahela." Educational Foundations: An
     Anthology of Critical Readings. Ed. Bruce A. Marlowe and Alan S.
     Canestrari. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. 8-14. Print.