The Place Where Ludington Talks
"The Great Communicator of MCC High School", Boots Newkirk, Recalled Fondly
A true larger-than-life personality, O'Neil "Boots" Newkirk, a teacher at both Custer and Scottville for 37 years, passed away after 85 years on December 26, 2009. Those of you unfamiliar with Boots might not understand why he made such an impact on those he taught and came in contact with, and I likely will not be able to convey his uniqueness in this posted thread. If you read the testimonials by his former students in the December 30, 2009 edition of the LDN, you may begin to see what kind of impact he made, and how he stood out. This is one more such testimonial.
I had a government class with him in 1979, and later had an ancient history class with him in 1981. This was significant, because Mr. Newkirk was unashamedly conservative through the times when conservatism wasn't cool to when it was, and the difference between Carter and Reagan (the heads of both parties at the time) were frequently noted. He would start any of his classes with a discussion of current events, and if there was some interesting events happening, that might have been all that was discussed. Granted, he could segue from one topic to another with verbal legerdemaine and teach valuable lessons originating from a totally detached starting point. But this isn't what made him gifted as an educator.
You may have known how he felt about a topic, but he could encourage or challenge you to present your view; and instead of shooting you down with his reservoir of facts and opinions, he would actually listen and evaluate what you would say. In the course of the discussion, he would invariably bring up an anecdote here, a quotation there, and have you within his web of thought. Few knew it at the time, but he used the Socratic method of teaching as good as Socrates himself might.
His feigned irritation (by counting to ten and then pounding the desk), his quick-change expressions from red-in-the-face angry to teeth-baring happy, his mockery of freshmen, high-heels, teen relationships, etc., and his complete disregard of the standard operating guidelines of modern teachers made Boots Newkirk the revered icon he is.
I had a government class with him in 1979, and later had an ancient history class with him in 1981. This was significant, because Mr. Newkirk was unashamedly conservative through the times when conservatism wasn't cool to when it was, and the difference between Carter and Reagan (the heads of both parties at the time) were frequently noted. He would start any of his classes with a discussion of current events, and if there was some interesting events happening, that might have been all that was discussed. Granted, he could segue from one topic to another with verbal legerdemaine and teach valuable lessons originating from a totally detached starting point. But this isn't what made him gifted as an educator.
You may have known how he felt about a topic, but he could encourage or challenge you to present your view; and instead of shooting you down with his reservoir of facts and opinions, he would actually listen and evaluate what you would say. In the course of the discussion, he would invariably bring up an anecdote here, a quotation there, and have you within his web of thought. Few knew it at the time, but he used the Socratic method of teaching as good as Socrates himself might.
His feigned irritation (by counting to ten and then pounding the desk), his quick-change expressions from red-in-the-face angry to teeth-baring happy, his mockery of freshmen, high-heels, teen relationships, etc., and his complete disregard of the standard operating guidelines of modern teachers made Boots Newkirk the revered icon he is.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Edie Lindsey on
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Truly a 37 year inspiration to the Mason County students who were lucky enough to be in one of his classes. I can only guess from what I've been told about the guy, but my sources all say "class act" and "one of the great ones". He did leave teaching just as Rush Limbaugh started up-- perhaps one of those students influenced the titular head of the Republican party.
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Permalink Reply by AQUAMAN on
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A story like this reminds me of two teachers I had at LHS, one was Harry Knuckles, the other Stuart May. Both men were trying to teach complex issues, ancient in history, with yawning students, uneager to listen or read, at least at first. But, after they got your attention, sometimes shouting your name to wake you up, then asking poignant questions of students, giving each student due respect and talking as equals, injecting humor and kindness at every turn, you became interested and wanted to learn that junk. These types come every so infrequently it seems, but when they do, you know what a real teacher's job is supposed to be.
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Permalink Reply by XLFD on
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Perhaps this is a common syndrome among area 'ancient history' teachers-- being eccentric to maintain the interest and energy in their students while studying dry topics.
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Are you sure you took your Abilify tablet today numbedout? Every time I see you post here, I see you are just bustin with the juices of human kindness, now aren't cha? There once came into Egypt a Pharoh, and said he was wiser than any there. Feel some associations to that?
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Just for the record, numbed out decided to retract their comment on their own, which gladdens me because I thought it was in poor taste. I'm not above speaking ill of the dead, particularly when I found them offensive during their life, but do so only if there is a very good reason. Decrying someone's political bend or methodology is not a good reason, IMHO.
As with every teaching method, there will always be some students who do not profit as much as others. Mr. Newkirk opened up some minds that other teachers could not reach and was strongly opined. The diversity he presented from the normal classroom was a breath of fresh air-- but some did take offense at his unorthodoxy and/or viewpoints.
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We had an economics professor at CMU in '76 that used to love to run down Prez. Ford in every class, along with the rest of the R party of course. There were only about 4 of us in a class of 40 that tried to reason and stand up to him, once in a while. At the time, the country had been somewhat reunited after Tricky Dick and celebrating our bicentennial year. Along with that was the fact Ford was from Michigan, and also made Michiganders proud to have attained that office. Basically, the prof. was blatanly rude and overbearing. He even threatened a couple of us with cutting us a grade down for any discussions against the Dems.. All complaints to Admin. went to the wind, as he had over 5 years service tenure to do pretty much whatever he wanted without repurcusions. Just mentioned this as Boots was probably at the other end of the spectrum of teachers out there. And there are alot more like my example at the colleges than you could ever imagine.
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I can remember fondly a couple of openly liberal teachers who were quite effective in teaching without overdoing it, and I respect them as much as Boots. A teacher should be at their best when they can express their own opinions and experiences and relate it to the material they're teaching. Yes, these teachers and Boots would use their 'bully pulpit' at the front of the classroom to express their opinion, but they would also be open to opposing views, welcome dissent, and justify their view in a fair manner.
The current orthodoxy of teaching too often limits the students to one way of thinking (typically the liberal way; political correctness, et. al.) and this trend runs counter to making them into well-rounded, self-aware citizens.
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