“Learn About” Questions
(informational)
- Who was Governor Faubus? What role did he play in the Central High desegregation?
- Why did Governor Faubus close all of the high schools in Little Rock after the 1957-58 school year?
- How did the closing of the high schools impact students at that time? What choices did they have to continue their education?
“Learn From” Questions
(transformational)
- What has my experience of formal education been like in my life?
- Do consider myself to be someone who took the “academic route” or some other alternate route in education? Why?
- Are there specific experiences that I remember that have shaped my feelings toward school, education, higher education? What are they?
Transcript
But at the time that I hit high school, everything had just kind of fallen apart. Totally fell apart. I mean, it was, oh that Faubus, he was, and I’m beginning high school and he closes all the high schools in the city. For us that was Horace Mann. We had Hall High. There was Hall High. Matter of fact, little Scotty graduated from Hall High. So there were maybe two or three high schools in the city that black people could attend. But it just messed up everything. When I say messed up, I guess I had kinda made my mind up that I wasn’t gonna go the academic route through my life because I wanted to see what else was out there. I wanted to see how that other side of that coin gets greased to make the other side act the way that it acts. You know what I’m saying? I have always been a pretty avid reader. Matter of fact I just finished my newspaper coming down… this woman was sick of me (laughs). But anyway, I’m an avid reader, I like to read certain books, you know. But when I was much younger, I did that a lot. I remember one trip I made to Brazil… I know I took three books, it may have been four, cause it’s hard to find books down there in English, you know everything is Portuguese. I’ve always enjoyed making sure I’m up on what’s going on in this world. I have friends who have PhDs that—you wonder, did they give them away in a Cracker Jack box or something? You know what I mean? And these people like to exploit every now and then the fact that they’re a doctor… get outta here!
