high school

 I don't really think much about high school. Most of the people I knew then, I parted ways with after graduation or within a few years after. The most significant impact was a relationship that began with the person who later became my wife, but that owes nothing to the school or its curriculum.

I began high school with a bad case of acne, which made me a pariah to most girls and taught me how to blame the victim. Eventually, my parents let me go to a dermatologist, who explained that it wasn’t due to bad diet or indifferent hygiene, but to hormones.

Apart from outliving neuroses, high school is supposed to be about learning stuff. I wasn’t a strong student in high school, but here are the classes and teachers I can recall as having had a notable effect on me from 8^th to 12^th grade:

Ed Smith and Algebra I: I learned math the old-fashioned way, by rote. Ed Smith was my first experience in math that demanded thinking. I’ve since come to appreciate that the teacher is a major determinate in how most students see their subject. I still use basic algebra for routine calculations.

 

Lanny Moore and Biology I: We had a student teacher who showed us how to prepare a polytene chromosome squash preparation for Drosophila larval salivary glands. I still remember the thrill of seeing the stained chromosomes. This basic technique found its way into at least two dozen of my publications. Also, Mr. Moore enabled a “research” project on coliform bacteria in local streams. He helped me set up the assay, sterilize the media and culture the bacteria. He met me at school on weekends. One day, I left my bike lying behind his car, and he backed over it. He paid for the repair.

Mr. McCloskey and typing: the man was pretty ordinary and the class was what you would expect, but keyboarding turned out to be an important skill, even if you weren’t aiming for the typing pool. I got a portable typewriter for a HS graduation present, and probably earned its price typing papers for other students in my freshman year. I’m typing this now on my laptop.

Judy Busse and yearbook staff: I had a class in English with Judy before she recruited me to yearbook staff my junior year in high school. I learned basic photography, from taking pix, through developing film, contact prints, enlargements and cropping. I learned layout design (Life/Look; Modrian) and eye direction. My crowning achievement was the yearbook cover that I designed. I still have the stencil that I cut out to spray paint the image that fits perfectly over the cover image!

Bill Lewis and public speaking: This taught me how to organize my thoughts and speak from notes, not read text. It took me decades to acquire the poise and confidence to teach and give public lectures, but these career skills began here.

Jo Henderson and Biology II: In Biology II, we were required to read scientific articles (OK, Scientific American, but still) and write a scientific paper. When we reached the unit on evolution (this was in Tennessee, the land of the Scopes trial), she asked if anyone had any questions or concerns. None of the students objected.

Barry Fernandez and computer programming: I took a full year of computer programming, believing that one day, everyone would be a computer programmer. That turned out to be stupid, but I did enjoy writing code in Fortran II. It was the only language I enjoyed learning.

Paul Smith and Bill Lewis and cross country/track: I ran cross country and track all three years of high school. Both of these guys coached both sports. I managed to letter at the end of my junior year, which meant I started senior year with a letter jacket. I also was captain of the cross country team my senior year. None of it matters now, but (a) it set me on a lifelong enthusiasm for endurance exercise and (b) it was a big ego boost for a teenager.