Newspaper Page Text
Gym teacher: |lp
Theodore Roosevelt
Smith: ‘A sickly youth, plagued by asthma, OfM&
he resolved to remake his body through
countless hours of grueling work on exercise ygL
equipment At Harvard, he boxed. In later \
years, this author of The Strenuous Life relaxed
vigorously while hiking, playing tennis and prac
ticing judo. He helped to found the NCAA to
promote college sports—and sportsmanship." /
English teacher:
James Garfield
Smith: “After college, Garfield briefly
taught classical languages. Books re
mained a favorite refiige whenever poli
tics became unbearable. He was partic
ularly fond of Jane Austen. During his
short stay in the White House, Gar
field installed a library with 3,ooovolumes.
Given his distaste for the modern litera
ture of his day ‘highly spiced with sen
sation,’ he called it his students could
expect a large dose of Miss Austen and
her peers.”
Newspaper adviser: W
Warren Harding Q
Smith: “Harding was all of 18 years old when
he and two Ohio friends purchased the Marion Star
for $450. Editor Harding gathered news and gossip, set
type, wrote advertisements and cherished friendships
with reporters.”
Speech teacher: Woodrow Wilson
Smith: “Wilson was a president who led through words.
What would you expect of a man who boasted per
haps the most extensive vocabulary of any president?
As a boy, he worshiped orators such as William Glad
stone. One of his first acts as president was to rein
state the 18th-century custom in which the chief execu
tive delivered in person his annual message to Con
gress aka the State of the Union address.”
Foreign language teacher:
John Quincy Adams
Smith: “Fluent in seven languages, it was said that
Adams could simultaneously write Latin with one hand
and Greek with the other. As a Harvard professor of
rhetoric and oratory, he vowed to teach ‘reason, clothed
with speech.’ ”
Football coach: Gerald Ford
Smith: “In high school, Ford played both center and
linebacker. But it was as a center that he starred at the
University of Michigan in the ’3os. After graduation,
REAGAN: TIM OAKY, BETTMANN/COR8IS; MADISON: HUITON ARCHWE/GETTY ‘MAGES; .JOHNSON: BETTMANN/CORMS
H' he turned down offers to play proses-
K sional football —up to a reported S2OO
BA, per game from the Green Bay
fr Packers and Detroit Lions. He
1 had his heart set on attending ■
Yale Law School To pay his way, he
coached boxing as well as football.”
◄ Science teacher:
Jimmy Carter
Smith: “An appreciation of science
\ and technology came naturally to
\ this trained nuclear engineer.
\ At the U.S. Naval Academy,
M he finished an impressive
rjfi £ 60th in his class of 820. He
y jk also was on the forefront
of the Navy’s nuclear
submarine program.”
American
history teacher:
J Franklin D. Roosevelt
Smith: “FDR loved American history';
| he relished learning about it almost as
much as he enjoyed making it Seeing
himself, his family and his presidency
as integral parts of the American story,
in 1941 he dedicated on the grounds of his
Hyde Park, N.Y., estate the country’s first feder
ally operated presidential library. Roosevelt
drew on historical examples to boost Depression
era morale and place the challenges of World War II
in perspective.”
Band director: Bill Clinton
Smith: “A leader of his high school band long be
fore he played sax on Arsenio Hall’s late-night TV
show, the 42nd president grew up in a household
filled with gospel music and the sounds of Elvis.”
Debate coach: John F. Kennedy
Smith: “Television was his friend. With apologies
to LB J who, as a public-speaking teacher, led
Sam Houston High in Houston to a district de
bate championship in 1931 Kennedy rewrote
the rulebook with his masterful performance in
the first-ever televised presidential debates in
1960, reinforced by his witty jousts at subsequent
press conferences.”
Geography teacher:
George Washington
Smith: “Washington was a land surveyor and map
maker long before he ran a plantation or gov
erned a nation. At 16, Washington helped to sur-
vey Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Washington’s land
speculation planted in him the seeds of a nation as
broad as the continent.”
What it takes to lead,
whether it’s a
classroom or a country
By Susan H. Fuhiman
Ask anyone what the most important and demanding
job is in America, and many will answer “the president'
But there are plenty who
would say'a teacher?
Both answers are well
reasoned. And both jobs
require the same skills to
achieve success.
First there are external
talents: Each job requires
answering to a large,
varied and vocal
constituency. You must
think on your feet while
working in consultation
with others. You must
function as a role model
who is on constant
public display and
instill in others the
fundamental behaviors
of good citizenship.
Then there are the internal traits: Presidents and
teachers must be receptive to new information while
gathering evidence to make decisions based on facts
rather than opinions.
For both presidents and teachers, challenges are
constantly repeated. Negotiations whether with
nations or individual students are carried on over
extended periods, and today’s failure could set the table
for tomorrow's breakthrough. That's where the human
capacity to connect remains so vital. Policies, curricula
and other tools are all important, but if you can't connect
with other human beings, then you probably should be
sitting somewhere other than at the head of a classroom
or in the Oval Office. E 3
Susan H. Fuhrman is president of Teachers College, Columbia University.
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p||i mamyrnm J 9
Rc* ;
A ■.
. • iEfc
Ronald Reagan discussed
world events with students.
James Madison.
left, would have
made a great
history teacher.
Lyndon Johnson
once coached
debate students.
USA WEEKEND ■ Sept. 7-9,2007
7