Back in High School, before I developed an attachment to the
Jewish Religion, Frank Zappa was my rabbi. I searched his song lyrics, album
liner notes and read his book looking for pearls of wisdom by which to live my life.
I even moved to Montana for a little
while during my college years. One particular quote I repeated more than once
was from the liner notes of Zappa’s record Freak Out! It read:
“Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and educate yourself if you've got any guts.”
My parents wouldn’t let me drop out of course, so I did the
next best thing and tuned out classes when I felt like it, went to the library
as often as I could. School wasn’t challenging. I got tracked into non-honors
classes and I liked to ask questions. My questions annoyed many teachers, who
often could not answer them, but fortunately the school librarian, Mrs.
Friedman, understood me. I was the kind
of crazy kid that checked out books that had sat for decades unread. That must
have endeared me to her.
During my Senior year, I found Economics class especially
stultifying. I slept during the endless documentary films. I actually found
Economics the subject interesting, and important, just not the class.. I
remember the thrill of finding books by John Kenneth Galbraith, Thorstein
Veblen and other surprising wise and humorous econ authors in the library. At some point I was probably failing the Econ
class, I decided to show off my knowledge gained from my library escapades by
asking the teacher questions. When I got an admission that he didn’t even know who
these people were or even the first thing about their ideas, I realized that
Frank Zappa was 100% right, that real education came from pursuing knowledge
via books and libraries.
I found myself adrift in my career after graduating college,
trying out numerous jobs, ranging from bicycle messenger, to environmental
educator and customer service representative. In spite of my view of school, I decided
to go back and earn a teaching credential. Of course I was determined not to
become one of “those teachers” who were boring and uncreative. Rather, I was
going to be a revolutionary teacher that helped kids to think for themselves.
For 5 years I taught science, which was rewarding at times, but I eventually
came to the conclusion that the role of classroom teacher wasn’t truly suitable
for my personality. I wanted to stay in
education, but do something different, something that would make sense for me.
After only a little deliberation I decided that a school library was the most
logical place.
Now I have the privilege of paying forward what Mrs.
Friedman did for me back in the 1980s. I’ve been in the library for 13 years
now, and I have no regrets.
