Books of Short Stories
Forever Learning

For many years Ross and Julie have enjoyed teaching together in the same high school but as times change, discipline falters and Ross begins to search and study the root causes of his growing dissatisfaction; a chasm begins to develop between them. Not only that but he gets into trouble with the school district. His parents, both school teachers, side with his wife and Ross finds himself a minority of one among his colleagues. Although written in novel form this story is based upon experiences of many school teachers amalgamated into a few characters. The author has chosen this form to demonstrate the effects of modern education upon students, teachers and administration.

Although the author is not a school teacher and has never been a school teacher he has been a student in many different settings and schools. His parents were both school teachers as was his wife and both her parents. One set of parents were liberal democrats and the other conservative republicans yet both sets of parents recognized and wrestled with problems of modern education. Both sets of parents supported the idea that the primary responsibility of teaching children fell upon the parents. It was observed that the students that did the best in their academic successes were those that had parents that took an active part in the education of their children.

The idea of a compulsory, free education funded by the government is explored in some detail. The sensitivity program in its primitive form is explored to the depths to show the effects of the program upon the children defined as special needs students who are often the subjects of new and innovative programs devised by experts and implemented by the government in keeping with the mandate to teach the students to fit into society and to earn a good living and be productive members of society.

The subjects for scrutiny are the class members in Ross’ special ed. class who suffer from many different societal maladies. Not a single student is incapable of mastering the material taught yet all struggle with social, personal and family problems that greatly overshadow the importance of school in their minds. The sensitivity program geared to meld them together as a unit with the unit the most important unit in their life, replacing God and family, is rejected by their teacher Ross Bapco as he recognizes that it is a form of physiological group therapy. His problems now begin.