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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, this Saturday I will be taking my daughter to her first ever college football game, and I believe if you are learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I talk my appreciation for education.
Today’s fun fact: On this day in 1907 Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory collectively entered the United States as Oklahoma, the 46th state.
Oklahoma, is a name derived from the Choctaw Indian words okla, meaning “people,” and humma, meaning “red.” The first Europeans to visit the region were Spanish explorers in the 16th century, and in the 18th century the Spanish and French struggled for control of the territory. The United States acquired Oklahoma from France in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
After the War of 1812, the U.S. government decided to remove Indian tribes from the settled eastern lands of the United States and move them west to the unsettled lands of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. In 1828, Congress reserved Oklahoma for Indians and in 1834 formally ceded it to five southeastern tribes as Indian Territory. Many Cherokees refused to abandon their homes east of the Mississippi, and so the U.S. Army moved them west in a forced march known as the “Trail of Tears.” The uprooted tribes joined Plains Indians that had long occupied the area, and Indian nations with fixed boundaries and separate governments were established in the region.
In 1907, Congress decided to admit Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory into the Union as a single state, with all Indians in the state becoming U.S. citizens. Representatives of the two territories drafted a constitution, and on September 17, 1907, it was approved by voters of the two territories. On November 16, Oklahoma was welcomed into the United States by President Theodore Roosevelt.
What I learned yesterday.
Today I want to continue my November series of gratitude by talking about why I am thankful for education. I think all of us here in the united states and in developed countries all around the world should be grateful that we have access to very good schools that are easy to get to, provide a high level of education, and prepare us for the future. There are children all of the earth that do not have ample schools readily available, so we should always be grateful for what we have.
When I first became old enough to enter the public school system, I attended Oklahoma City public school. Specifically, I attended kindergarten and part of first grade at Madison Elementary School in northwest Oklahoma City. In first grade I was given a test and I scored high enough on it to be placed in advanced learning classes. So I spent part of my day in a regular classroom with other first graders and I spent part of my day in a different classroom with other advanced students.
However, at some point in the school year my family moved from Oklahoma City to Guthrie, OK, a town of 10,000 people located about 30 miles north of Oklahoma City. This adjustment was really weird and somewhat difficult for me. The only learning environment I’d ever known was what I had experienced in Oklahoma City. I remember asking my teacher several times when we would be going to the other classroom to study different things. She always told me the same thing. She said that her classroom was that classroom and that we didn’t have to switch classrooms. I don’t know why, but I really found that confusing. For the rest of first grade I felt out of place, and I don’t recall having any friends.
By the time second and third grade came around, I was adjusted. I made friends and I felt comfortable in the classroom. I don’t recall ever asking about studying other things or visiting a different classroom, and I don’t even know if I was in an advanced placement classroom. Besides not liking my third grade teacher and getting in trouble quite a few times for various reasons, it seemed normal.
Then things changed again.
After I completed third grade my parents divorced and we moved again. This time we moved to town called Wellston, which is about 35 miles northeast of Oklahoma City and had a population of about 850 people. Given the fact that I was in a brand new town and my parents had just divorced, you might think that I had a hard time adjusting. However, I don’t remember that being the case. I had no problems academically. I think that is partially due to the fact that I found myself using some of the exact same books in 4th grade at Wellston that I had used in 3rd grade at Guthrie. Wellston didn’t offer any type of advanced classes, so I’m guessing that I had indeed been in an advanced class at Guthrie, and we were using some 4th grade books. Either that, or Wellston was using 3rd grade books in their 4th grade classrooms.
So the rest of my public school education can be summed up by saying that it was mostly an average educational experience. Since Wellston was a small town with a limited budget, we really didn’t have a wide variety of classes to explore. As I got into highschool and began selecting classes, I often felt disappointed. As a creative person with lots of interest in the arts, I found myself wanting a lot more. I had only two journalism classes: yearbook and newspaper. I took both of them twice. I had no drama, orchestra, or art. Our school did offer band, and I believe it offered choir. I didn’t take either of those.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the arts that were lacking. In all other subject areas, we only had access to the state minimum required classes, plus a bonus. That means that we had one English class available each year. As for math, we had one class for freshmen, one for sophomores, and one for juniors. Since our state doesn’t require 4 math credits to graduate, senior level math was almost non-existent. We had one option called Math Analysis where we were exposed to higher level math concepts like calculus and trigonometry, but we didn’t go in-depth in any of them. I took it, since it was my best option. Our science options were identical. We had one freshman class, one sophomore class, and one junior class. For seniors our school typically alternated between anatomy one year and physics the next year. My year fell on anatomy, and I wasn’t interested in that, so I had no science my senior year.
As I entered my senior year, I only needed a single english credit to graduate. On one hand it was nice to be able to relax my senior year, but on the other hand, there were subjects that I wanted to study, but they weren’t offered.
At that point in my life I wanted to be an animator for Warner Brothers. I loved Batman the Animated Series, Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, and all the other stuff Warner Brothers was doing and I wanted to be a part of it. I spent time drawing as often as I could, but I had never even had the opportunity to take an art class. So as a senior in highschool, I enrolled in Art Instruction Schools. Remember those ads that said Draw Me and had a picture of a turtle, cowboy, pirate, or some other profile image? Those were all done by Art Instruction Schools. Once I enrolled I received a few art supplies and workbooks. I would go through a workbook lesson and complete a drawing at the end of the lesson. I would then send that drawing to them via mail and they would “grade” it. A week or two later I would get my graded drawing back along with some handwritten tips for improvement from an instructor. While I was happy to be finally taking art lessons, this method left much to be desired and the learning process was frustratingly slow. I eventually dropped the program.
After I graduated high school I enrolled at the University of Central Oklahoma. This meant that I was finally able to study anything I wanted. Of course, one of the first things I did was find the appropriate freshman level art class, and enroll in it. It was not at all what I expected.
I expected to learn new techniques, discover new tools and instruments, and see growth in my skills. All of that turned out to be true. I performed well in the class and easily got an A. What I didn’t expect was that I hated the class. Each week I was given a new assignment with a deadline. I didn’t get to draw what I wanted, instead the professor told us what to draw. Whether right or wrong, I decided that this scenario was probably common. That is, if I did graduate and go on to do graphic design work or even animation for Warner Brothers, I would always have deadlines forced on me and I would often times be required to draw things that weren’t of my choosing. I simply could not see myself dealing with that for the rest of my life and so I made the decision to end my pursuit of an art degree. Looking back on it now, I think that decision was too rash and short sighted. But it was such a shock to me at the time, I didn’t see any other option.
Here’s what I learned.
How does this story fit into this month of gratitude? It’s simple. While I am truly grateful for the education I received at Wellston, it wasn’t enough. I had some excellent teachers at Wellston. In fact, my junior and senior english teacher was fantastic. She repeatedly said her goal was to get us ready for college, and she did. I found my college english classes to be very easy, largely because of what I’d learned in Mrs. Fredman’s highschool classes. In fact, my English Comp II professor once bragged on my performance in front of the whole class.
As my wife and I began talking about where we would raise our kids, I knew that a strong school system was a must. The school system is the primary reason we chose to move to Edmond when we returned to Oklahoma. The Edmond school district is among the best in the country. In just a few years my kids will attend Edmond North High School. A 2012 study ranked Edmond North in the top 2% of public high schools in the country, and in the top 10 of all Oklahoma high schools.
Fortunately, it’s not just the high schools in my town that are great. As a kindergartner, my son’s teacher almost instantly recognized his advancement. She brought in the principle to get a second opinion, and they then approached us about having him skip ahead to first grade. After careful consideration, we agreed. Colby has continued to excel, and could have even skipped another grade. We got his national test scores back a few weeks ago, and he is testing in the 98th and 99th percentile nationally in every category. He’s now one of only 8 kids in his grade to have been selected for the academic team, and he loves math and science.
My daughter is no slouch either. She is incredibly creative and loves anything that involves writing, drawing, or making things with her hands. As a middle schooler, she is already taking art classes and getting exposed to things that I didn’t get exposed to until I was in college.
Both of my kids have a wide variety of classes from which to choose. They have all of the arts and creative classes they could ever want, and they have a deep selection of academic classes from which to choose as well. They are both doing very well in school, and Addison was one of 50 students selected to take the ACT this year. As a 12 year old, she qualified for the ACT. That blows my mind!
So I am grateful for education. I’m grateful that we have a wide variety of subjects for my kids to study. I’m grateful that because of their exposure to these subjects now, they’ll have a much better idea of what they want to be when they grow up than I did when I graduated high school.
So what’s in this story for you?
The beauty of this story is that it is a current story about things happening right now. Do you know what else is happening right now?
Lynda, Udemy, YouTube, podcasts, University of Phoenix, community college, vo-tech, local workshops, and virtual conferences are just a few of the learning opportunities we have available to us today. Some of these are free, while others are very low cost. In today’s technologically advanced world, we have more learning opportunities than ever before, even if we do live in a small town with limited academic offerings. If any of us has a desire to learn something, we have no excuse to not learn it.
Lastly, take a moment to consider the other side of the coin. No only are there multiple opportunities to learn, there are multiple opportunities to teach and share knowledge. From classrooms at craft stores and libraries, to after school programs and nonprofit organizations, there is a world of opportunity out there for mentoring and sharing your knowledge with those coming behind you. Furthermore, setting up a YouTube account or creating a course for Lynda or Udemy is easy too.
So are you grateful for education? I hope so. I also hope that you’ll take a moment and consider how you might add to your own education and the education of someone else. After all, doing so will most certainly make the world a better place.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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