Sharing My Story

I went to Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University).
Western at that time had several distinctions. One it was a former Education
(a prior name was Western Washington College of Education). It's primary
function had been to produce teachers. By the time I started my college
career Western was well under way of diversification so that it was not
just a "teacher's school." I entered Western with no intention of going
into education (unlike my brother Russ and sister-in-law, Nancy who
both graduated from Western in 1964 with education degrees). Even as
a young person I saw teaching as a profession through two lenses. One
at that time it was a very secure job. Teachers (if they were half way
competent) could teach for 30 or 40 or more years with little fear of
losing their job until retirement. Second, I always felt that a teacher
needed an almost religious calling to be a good instructor. Like any
other other job not every teacher hasn't that degree of commitment,
but I knew that I didn't—so why pursue something I had no passion
for. Job security while important was not my foremost consideration.

One reason I went to Western was that it was convenient. I did not
need to leave home and incur the added expense of room and board
to tuition and other college expenses. Also unlike other recent high
school graduates I wasn't then ready to leave home. I also had a part
time job as a sweeper (two hours a day) at Parkview Elementary
School (this was also the school where my brother Russ had a similar
job several years before). This job allowed me to pay for tuition,
books, school supplies and so forth. Education was so inexpensive
then as compared to the costs of a college/university education today.
It was almost like a different era-really a different time.