So I just found out that one of my English teachers from high school is on Facebook. Not just any English teacher...Mr. Bruns, the toughest English teacher of any public high school in Illinois, maybe the entire Midwest. Mr. Bruns would require us to diagram every sentence in every paper that we would submit for his class. Every single sentence. (And yes, I know that that was not a complete sentence. I fracture sentences in this blog for emphasis, not grammatical correctness.) And I can't remember exactly, but I want to say that he would fail us if we misspelled two words. I think he gave us one as a "gimme."
Tough guy. But I think that twenty years later, we could use some more tough guys. Not that I don't think my children have fantastic teachers, they do. But there was something so severe, so scarring about making a mistake in Mr. Bruns' class, that you just did not want to mess up. You would want so badly to impress him, to show him that you were not an idiot. There were a bunch of us "smarties" in his class. We tended to be at the top of our classes and were able to coast in a lot of the classes we had in high school. When you're considered academically advanced, a lot of teachers don't really mess with you. They give you the curriculum and are pleased as punch that you follow it. Mr. Bruns challenged us.
I don't think that I have ever tried so hard to impress a teacher before Mr. Bruns and certainly not after. College professors, after having Mr. Bruns for English in high school, were like a bunch of pot-smoking, corduroy-jacket wearing, wimpy feel-gooders who were looking for content and emotion instead of good ol' fashioned grammar. The only thing I learned from those teachers was the Art of B.S. (which I am sure you have realized by now, I am pretty darn good at....or is it "at which now, you realize that I am pretty darn good.")
In any case, the whole point to this little blog is to encourage all of us to do our best for our own "Mr. Bruns-es." (Again, not sure if I've got that one right.) We should try to do the very best we can do. Everyone can do mediocrity. Everyone can get by and get people to like them and laugh at their silly jokes. (Run-on sentence...I know! Again, for emphasis.) But not everyone can get an "A" with Mr. Bruns.
You summed up perfectly what Mr. Bruns means to so many of us Blackhawks. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI still consider my D plus from Mr. Bruns one of my greatest achievements! He may have hated your blog's grammar but would none the less be honored.
ReplyDeleteLoved that blog. He would love to read it. Has he seen it? Every teacher would be so honored.I have missed your blogs, but I hear you are very busy. Enjoy the summer!
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is anything wrong with being a hard-ass teacher (can I say that on this blog?). So many teachers these days are forced to "teach to the standardized test," or teach to the lowest common denominator. It bores the shining stars in the class, and that's when kids get into trouble. As you know, if those kids aren't challenged, they may not reach for potential. If we don't dream of doing more, we just keep on doing the same.
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