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Lucy Levenson, from To Press & Beyond sits down with

Dr. John Telford to discuss his new book; "A Life on the Run"

 

Lucy: Why did you become a teacher?

JT: I became a teacher because I wanted to coach track, and I enjoyed substitute teaching in Detroit when I was a twenty-year old junior in 1956 at Wayne State.

Lucy: What makes a great teacher?

JT: Passion.  Love for students and for the profession.  Intensity.  Dedication.  The determination to make a difference.  An eagerness to study and train and sacrifice to become the best. 

A great teacher is indomitable.  A great teacher, like a great violinist or a great quarter-miler, is as much born, as he or she is made.

Lucy: Why are you such a passionate supporter of black students?
JT: Because they need it more than white students.  My fighter father and grandfather were ethnic Scots and lifelong egalitarians whose heritage and ancestral code dictated that they should fight for the underdog; thus, I became a lifelong egalitarian and fought for the underdog.  My affinity for black causes originated with my dad, who taught me to fight injustice as he did, and it was further sparked by prejudicial and discriminatory incidents I witnessed over the years that were directed toward my black schoolmates, teammates, students, athletes and friends –some incidents which I describe in the book.

Lucy: Our schools are failing.  What 3 INNOVATIVE things would you do to change how we are teaching our students? 

JT: It is most of our urban schools that are failing—not our suburban schools. 

• The first innovative thing I would do would be to ensure that all urban schools be regarded by the school district’s leadership as choice schools, rather than have just a few elite schools of choice, as is the current case in too many districts, including Detroit. 
• The second innovative thing I would do would be to squeeze the financial balloon and lower the class sizes in the early grades to ensure that all of the children learn to read. 
• The third innovative thing I would do would be to further squeeze the financial balloon in the secondary schools in favor of the misbehavers—most of whom ordinarily can’t read—in order to put them in special schools with additional remedial, social, and security services and then return them to the traditional setting only when their academic and social skills have vastly improved. 

Lucy: You have had a controversial record as a superintendent.  Do you have any regrets or anything you would do differently?

JT: No.  Even though many of my egalitarian initiatives hurt me professionally and economically, I wouldn’t do a single thing any differently.  In that regard, I can look in the mirror without flinching.

Lucy: Although you have been an active supporter of black students, not so black administrators.  Why single them out?

JT: When I retired and came back to teach and administrate in Detroit again after a quarter of a century battling racism in the suburbs, I discovered to my surprise that Detroit had become perhaps the most flagrant example of elitist, incompetent, and/or corrupt central-office-level black administrators exploiting impoverished black students, although this is happening in many other large urban school districts, too.   In my book A Life on the RUN – Seeking and Safeguarding Social Justice, I elaborate on that theme with multiple examples.

Lucy: What would you do to better control drugs and gang activities in schools today?

JT: Legalize the sale of marijuana and regulate it governmentally and decriminalize the use of other drugs.  Then use the money previously dedicated to the enforcement of the drug laws to educate against the health and social hazards of drug use.  Also, keep the secondary schools open at night for tutorial and recreational activities, and staff them partially with carefully screened volunteers where possible. 

Lucy: What would happen if we only let into schools students who want to learn?  Should schools simply be a policed alternative to being on the streets? 

JT: Students aren’t born with the intent to fail.  Negative experiences at home and at school cause them to no longer try to learn.  There must be a place for all students in some school somewhere.  No educator worth his salt ever gives up on any student—even though in many cases, society has.

Lucy: What is the responsibility of the more affluent cities and towns to provide resources to inner-city schools that are failing?

JT: In many states, including Michigan, districts where the residents are more affluent get more money than do districts where most of the residents are impoverished.  The reverse should be enacted legislatively.  Poor children need many more social and remedial services than do children from middle- and upper-middle-class homes.

Lucy: What would you say to teachers who are burning out and leaving because it is no longer about teaching but about policing their classrooms?

JT: Never give up.  Teaching isn’t a job—it’s a life’s mission.  Even the toughest, most thuggish kids will become mesmerized by a great teacher.  All teachers must aspire to greatness and become crusaders; else, they aren’t true teachers.

Lucy: Do you believe in tenure for teachers?   Why or why not?

JT: I always did; but lately, I’m no longer so sure.  Most teachers are dedicated, but those who are there mainly to collect a paycheck should be encouraged to go and sell toy whirly-bird helicopters on some street corner.

Lucy: Who is one of your heroes, and why?

JT: Over the span of seven decades, one of my greatest heroes has been Ali because he fought indomitably for what was right. He had only himself to depend upon in the arena, and he was very nearly invincible.

 

To Press & Beyond are experts in book publishing consulting and support services who will take your book project and shepherd it through writing, editing, layout, printing, distribution, sales and promotion. They have worked with over 300 authors and independent publishers around the globe. Visit ToPressandBeyond.com

John Telford has run on many tracks –not all of them always the right ones. He out ran Olympic champions, hosted radio shows, appeared on television, wrote over one thousand newspaper columns, coached and taught in ghetto schools and in colleges, led school districts and social welfare agencies and continues to fight for urban school reform and minority rights.

 

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