Humility and Passion

I think his name was Jeff Schillinger, a graduate of Wayne State University. He was my history teacher. This was my first time back at Howe Military School after two years of exile in public school hell. My mother had asked me after two years of misery if I wanted to return to Howe. I gave an enthusiastic yes.

After the first six-week grading period I was struggling to maintain a D in history. Many teachers, I think, wouldn’t have cared and just written me off. Schillinger, however, did some research.

When parent-teacher conferences came around he said to my parents, “Your son is getting As and Bs in all his other classes. Can you tell me what it is I might be doing wrong?”

Great question. Rather hard on himself but I wish more teachers were.

Some teachers are great and you still don’t learn anything. Some teachers are horrible at teaching but you love them so you try harder and you manage to perform well. As for me and history, I just have a particular learning style when it comes to that subject and I didn’t find teachers who matched it until college.

When I found history teachers who were storytellers at Washtenaw Community College and Hillsdale College I finally got it. The way most history teachers “teach” is like this:

“On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed. You will be tested on this. “

A different way to teach World War 2, for example, would be to explain what was happening and why the bombing of Pearl Harbor was significant so it has a point of reference and some context. Also, a little action and romance never hurt. WCC and Hillsdale had profs who knew that. Explain, history teachers, that Germany got their ass kicked in WWI so they were kind of bitter and made the Jews scapegoats. Explain that the USA was going through a depression as well and need a reason to enter the war that everyone else wished they could stay out of as well.

I don’t remember a single thing Schillinger discussed concerning history. I couldn’t even tell you if it was American or World History or Western Civ. I do remember it was obvious he cared about his students and he treated us well. With respect. He was approachable and responsive. A good guy.

He lived in an apartment above the wood/metal shop building with his wife.

Pleased to meet you, Mr. Thompson

The first time I heard the name Hunter S. Thompson was in history class. A fellow cadet was reading – and absolutely loving – Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. He’d checked it out of an exclusive section of the library only certain students had access to. I wasn’t one of those students. I think it was called something like The Bill Hicks Collection and you had to be involved in – this is a guess – Forensics to have access to it.