May be time for a 2nd installment of my Redneck story....I wasnt sure when I did the first part if there would be more and then Shanda asked,if i always knew I wanted to be a Teacher.....Short answer no, but that wouldnt be a story....My parents had always believed that I should or would go to College. They were strong believers in Education, even tho they had little themselves..My Dad had only a 3rd grade education and could only read his own name and very short things like , stop, go, yes , no, etc...My mom had a very good 8th grade education and even passed the 8th grade state test in 1925 that would have allowed her to go to High school, but her dad said NO, to more school, girls did not need it and he needed her in the fields more...Today we are questioning Tests to go to a higher grade like it is something new....Guess not, they had them in 1925 Paoli, Oklahoma.. With my parents lack of education they became migrant farm workers during the great Depression.and continued that life style for many years..In 12 years of school, I went to 12 different schools. in 4 states, Ok. , Ore., Az., and Ark...I went to one school 4 years and in some years I went to at least 2 schools...BUT I was always in school....We always seemed to move over Christmas break, so we really never had a family Christmas...So, by all stats I should never have graduated High School, let alone go to college...As I said earlier, my parents said this KID was going...My older brother , by 16 years, did not go and neither would my sister who was 13 years older, who married instead.... In 1964, most small schools did not have counselors to advise students as they do now...Thank the Lord I was at Smithville where they caring Teachers who would push their kids...Mr. Jim Glenn was the Principal and sort of adviser to us, Raymond Wilson was the coach and History Teacher and Mr. Ed Hawthorne was the higher math teacher...All three of these good men asked me if I was going to college and i told them all the same thing...My parents want me to but there is no money for it...Coach said i shoulda played BB my senior year and he could a got me a scholarship, whatever that was, but I didnt...Mr Hawthorne was a retired State Sen or Rep. and I dont remember which and he said i should made better grades the first 2 years like I was as a senior, then I coulda got an Acedemic one of them things.....They both went to Mr. Glenn I found out and turned him loose on me..He said if I wanted to go, he would help me get loans to go to college on...I told him we were poor and I couldnt afford to pay back much and WHAT IF I flunked out ?? He told me about loans that were just for kids like me called National Defense Student loans....You had 10 years to pay them back after your last year in college, with a very low interest rate....BUT if you became a Teacher and taught in a economically depressed area [ most of the Ozarks were back then } for 7 years, your whole loan was cancelled....I thought Mom and Dad were going stroke out with joy, their baby was going to be a Teacher...What ???? I had not even planned on going to college, thus the poor grades..... But to be one of them....they wore suits and ties and had no lives ,because I never saw a Teacher away from a school...I had thought they were just created elsewhere I guess , with no parents, no kids, no families and thus no lives....If they did, where did they go after school ?? But there was a fly in the ointment for this redneck, you had to pass some kind of a test with 3 letters in it or you couldnt go...I thought it was the ABC test and my mom said I could pass one of them easy...lol....Well it was the ACT as you all know and i was 15 in a class of 30,grade point wise..So no hope for loans or even gettin in college if i didnt pass this thing...Only 4 of us were scheduled to go take this thing on Nov. 9, 1963 at Eastern A & M at Wilburton....I had to give up my saturday to ride 100 miles to take a test I knew i wouldnt pass..Back then it was one time only and no pre tests or study guides, it was cold turkey....So..Coach Raymond Wilson gave up his saturday to haul Ellen Hensley, John Hensley, Bob Chatham and myself in his own car to the college at his expense.....Nice man.....Those three were the top three in the class and i was number 15.....why was i going ???....We left very early as in before daylight, as we had to be there i think to start the test at 9 A m...and we were...Very long hard test, second hardest test I ever took in my life...we rode home in almost silence as we were very tired, they thought they did well, I did not think that...Well in few weeks we got our scores back, Bob and John both had composites in the low 30s and Ellen wasnt far behind them...Bob and John both made Presidential leadership class at OU...I finally open my letter with my scores, which i still have BTW along with all my report cards from High School..I did not do near as well as those three, but my composite was a decent 23....and that got me into Southeastern and got me my loans....I was on my way to college and my parents thought to be a teacher....This concludes the prequel to my Redneck story.....This is basically where last weeks started....maybe more to come..
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 02:29:43 +0000
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