by Phil Wohl
TWELVE
Dave was starting to feel a little more comfortable in the classroom at the start of his second year, after spending the first half of the previous year watching his predecessor, Mrs. Walters. She recanted countless stories of IBM in an era where Microsoft and Intel had taken over the leadership positions in the technology industry.
School had always been about outdated textbooks and tests based on easily forgettable facts. Watching Mrs. Walters teach and, more importantly, observing her students reacting in a similar distant way that he did as a student, made him realize that things had to change. Without the proper schooling to become a teacher, Dave had to get a crash course with some on-the-job training.
The first six months were about survival than anything else. Lesson plan, district- and state-wide teaching standards, teacher training, and kids that talked back. When Dave went to school, kids would get thrashed if they talked back to an adult. The beat-down line would go from teacher to principal to mom and then dad, when he arrived home from work tired and hungry. The last thing a dad wanted to do when he arrived home was discipline his kids—but it was inevitably, his first order of business.
Moms would hit their husbands over the head with, “Your son got in trouble today,” or “Aren’t you going to do something about your kid’s behavior.” Actually, all dad wanted to do was changes his clothes, eat some food, and then settle in on the couch and hopefully nod off in the middle of the game.
The parents of today have made the executive decision to run toward the opposite direction of their strict parents. But loosening the reigns produced many negative outcomes – the first of which is the inability of kids to respect authority and take orders. The other phenomenon that has occurred is that parents smother the crap out of their kids from the moment they squirt from the womb.
The great comedian W.C. Fields once said, “Children should be seen and not heard. Children are not only seen these days, they have also become the primary decision makers in the household. This kind of power only strengthens over time to the point that parents have assumed the additional responsibility of entertaining kids, 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
“When I was a kid, we would come home from school, put out books down, and then go out and play with my friends until it was time for dinner,” Dave said to a group of colleagues in the teacher’s lounge.
Ms. Tremendo, the Spanish teacher added, “Sometimes we would wait until the last flicker of light went away.”
“Where did you grow up? Mexico?” said Mr. Bianci, who obviously came from a long chain of ignorant Geometry teachers.
Tremendo looked at Dave, who shook his head in disbelief. She lost the regal Spanish accent to reply, “South Bronx.”
Dave was initially looked at as an ex-jock that was given preferential treatment by his ex-coach. About half of the staff had retired or moved on to other school districts in the 10 years since he was gone – but there was still a contingent of people that remembered Dave the underachieving student, over Dave the star athlete. It didn’t matter to these educators that Dave made the Dean’s List multiple times in college, went on to finish his M.B.A. at night, or have his opinions aired in front of millions of people in the international media. They were out there to prove a point – that teaching was harder than other profession – that they could have been as successful in the business world.
Dave knew he had to give his students a more practical education. He blended elements of his daily business life with elements inherent in the curriculum. The name IBM was mentions, but only in the context of how the world’s biggest technology company freely let smaller companies eat away at its dominant market share.
He also made share that each student was able to use spreadsheets, such as Excel, and even brought in one of his Wall Street buddies for a day of instruction. Writing about, and being able to speak about business topics, was also a huge part of his class. Presentations utilizing PowerPoint were also expected. Tests were only rarely given as an objective assessment tool, but made up no more than 25% of the final grade.
Many things had come into clearer focus following the murky days surrounding Walter Abrahams’ heart attack. While Walter was still hyper-critical at times, his eating habits improved and he was able to appreciate the loved one’s that surrounded him every day. He had become consumed with Dave’s basketball career and everything that surrounded it – this, in turn impacted his marriage and professional development.
The word “recommitment” would be the battle cry for a man that had stopped breathing and started walking toward the afterlife. If not for the skilled hand of Tony Dorio, Walter would have died tragically and suddenly. Instead, the blockage had been removed and he had been given the clean bill of health, as long as he got back into the swing of things slowly.
Once Walter recovered, Mayor McNulty – affectionately called Mayor McCheese – issued Tony D a proclamation, claiming “This is CPR awareness day. By Tony D’s courageous actions, a beloved man in this town can live on.”
Dave wasn’t sure when his dad had crossed over from meddlesome parent to loved man, but it all sounded right. “We should all learn a lesson from this story of an extended Bailey Woods family. We must once again come together as a town. We must once again become one in pursuit of a common goal, and that goal is saving lives.”
Dave omitted the saving lives part of the speech from his mind, and wrapped his arms around a potential renewed oneness in the town. He couldn’t wait until the day when Bailey Woods would come together united in a packed Dolphin gymnasium.