Charles Shiflett Column March 14, 2004

Good Teachers Do Make A Difference

I first got to know Lester Tate back in the fall of 1971. Lester was in the fifth grade and I was in the sixth when
we ended up as teammates on the 12-and-under Colts youth football team in Cedartown. We were
undefeated that season and won the city football championship - a big deal in a town where football is king.

Lester and I have similar backgrounds. We each grew up in working class families and our fathers had blue-
collar jobs. In fact, my paternal grandparents worked with Lester's dad at the Goodyear mill. As small town
kids in the 1960's and 70's, we had a very limited view of the world. Many of us envisioned graduating high
school, marrying a hometown girl, and finding a job at one of the many factories in town. Most of those
plants are now gone.

A few of us were a little more ambitious and pursued college degrees or training for white-collar positions.
Many of those who left for college never returned, except to visit family. Lester and I headed out into the world
to make our marks and we both ended up here in Cartersville - only Lester became a staunch Democrat and
I was a strong Republican. So how could two friends from the same town with similar backgrounds end up
on opposite ends of the political spectrum? Good teachers - that's how.

I believe a child's family and church should be the primary influences in his or her life. Unfortunately some
educators, particularly at the college level, want to use their positions to indoctrinate our youth with their own
personal values and political philosophies. However, in our case, the fact that Lester and I ended up with
different political ideals is testament to the fact that most of our teachers did what they were supposed to do -
they gave us the facts and taught us to think and reason.

I'm sure Lester would agree with me that Mr. Sam Frew - now deceased, and Mr. Charlie Orr - now retired,
each had tremendous influence on both of us. Though both men had strong political opinions, they generally
kept those to themselves and instead prodded and provoked us to think. Instead of smothering the values
we were taught at home, we were encouraged to apply them to the material we were studying. Student's
grades were not negatively impacted due to philosophies that may have differed from that of the teacher.

Mr. Frew's law class was the highlight of many students' high school education. Toward the end of each
quarter, students participated in a realistic mock trial, which I'm sure helped motivate Lester and several of
our classmates to enter the legal profession. I decided to try to become a rock star, but that's for another
column. Mr. Frew was informative, entertaining, jovial, and kept everyone in his classes involved. Students
had a reverence for him that is rare today.

Mr. Orr was very different. He was a small man - very quiet and reserved, but he had a way of getting
students who despised the study of government and economics to pay attention and participate. To a kid like
me who had loved politics since age 4, Mr. Orr was my political guru. I even scheduled my study hall period
for his classroom and he allowed me to help teach on occasion.

A perfect example of Mr. Orr's teaching style occurred during our study of economic systems. Mr. Orr, a
conservative himself, knew that I was also - so he picked one of my best friends to be the capitalist and me
to be the communist. Every day for two weeks we each presented our side to the class on the various
government and economic principles we were studying - while Mr. Orr remained silent. Needless to say it
was tough for this Republican to preach communism, but I did my job. At the end of the two weeks we voted
by ballot on which system was superior. Everyone in the class voted to become communist - except me!

Mr. Orr got a big kick out of the results, but more than that he got satisfaction knowing that his teaching
techniques worked. For the next several days, he led the class in discussing what my friend and I had
presented - and amazingly almost everyone participated. Without espousing one economic form over the
other, Orr kept us focused on the details and we all came away with a depth of understanding that was
unusual for high school students.

Yes, the fact that Lester and I turned out politically different is due in part to hard work by dedicated teachers
who expanded our horizons without indoctrinating us. There are many good teachers out there, but I'm
especially thankful for two great ones!