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Inspire their ambition

Love your job? Then let young people know about it through the Great American Teach-In.

I was hoping the smell of cooking quesadillas wouldn't drift over to the classroom that I was speaking in at Pine View Elementary School.

It was Club Day at the school, a day when students who have completed their schoolwork and have been behaving well are rewarded, sometimes with a visit from guests from the outside world.

I was there that day, talking to about 10 kids in the Newspaper Club about my job. Jeff Parker, one kid's uncle and a professional chef from the Campbell House Inn in Eugene, Ore., was instructing hundreds of others (or so it seemed) who had signed up for the Cooking Club in an adjacent area.

Just my luck, I thought, remembering how once, during the Great American Teach-In, I had to follow "the Reptile Guy."

There's just no way a pen, a reporter's notebook and a handful of newspaper clippings can measure up to a 10-foot python - or the aroma of good food cooking.

Still, I was willing to give it a shot, even though speaking in front of any kind of audience puts me way out of my comfort zone.

I have to admit that I can't help but cringe when I get a call, or in this case, an e-mail, from a teacher asking me to speak at his or her school.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like kids - in fact, quite the opposite. Kids, asI've come to learn in a profession that has me interviewing them weekly, are often the best kind of people.

It's just that I'd rather be an observer, fading into the background and enjoying more casual kinds of conversation rather than speaking publicly.

Still, I do it, often calling upon an experience I had some years ago in a journalism classroom at Ridgewood High School.

"How do you become a good writer?" someone asked me when it came to the question and answer part.

I was in the middle of sharing my belief that while you can be taught the inverted pyramid and the Florida Writes formula, truly good writing is more of an innate skill.

That's when another student caught my eye.

She was in the back of the room, nodding and smiling as I related that just like art, music, math or whatever else you're good at, being able to write is more of a gift that comes from within than a learned skill.

"This kid gets it," I thought as I advised those high schoolers that each of them had their own special gift. It was up to them to find that gift and nurture it.

But surely they could use some help.

In case you didn't know, the Great American Teach-In, a day when community members are invited into the schools to share information about their careers and hobbies, is Nov. 16.

Never before has it been more important, more imperative for those who can to come to the schools and give youngsters some exposure to what's out there - what they can be when they grow up.

More and more, it seems, our educational system requires teachers of all grades to teach simply so students can pass a test, leaving room for little else.

Students in middle and high school have been severely shortchanged since 1992, when the Florida Legislature opted to fund only a six-period school day rather than the seven-period day that many of their parents benefited from. That seven-period day gave time for students to explore different avenues through elective classes - to perhaps find their "gift" - whether it be in a vocational class, photography class or, as in my case, a creative writing class.

Now, state-mandated Intensive Reading classes, for those who are failing reading, often take students out of their only elective classes, which are often the classes they see the most success in.

Doesn't seem right.

Now is the time for those in the community to step in, maybe write their legislators and ask them to properly fund education; maybe continue to nurture their own gift by sharing it with someone searching for theirs.

The Great American Teach-In is just one day, a small window of opportunity to make a difference.

I encourage those of you who can to climb on in, call the school of your choice and let them know you'll be there.

Perhaps you'll even see that one kid "get it."