Okay. Now let's see if I can show you where they tried to educate me.
My School Years
My parents and I lived in Brooklyn until I was age 5 and ready for kindergarten. Then they moved to Baldwin, rather than put me in a city school.
Coolidge School
Twain Street in Baldwin was within walking distance of P.S. Number 4, Coolidge Elementary School. That building accommodated grades K through 7. In that town there was no separate building for junior high. After 7th grade a kid in elementary school attended the high school building, which accommodated grades 8 through 12.
My earliest recollection of that era was, one day in kindergarten, seeing a basket in the corner with many apples in it. We were urged to bring a couple home with us. It didn't mean anything to me at the time but, years later, it occurred to me that then it was during the Great Depression and probably the produce was what farmers couldn't sell so they donated it to the schools.
In elementary school -- we also called it grade school -- I was taught the traditional 3 R's, of course. But I also found I had an interest in cartooning. I had a black-and-white, hard-cover, bound notebook in which I started my own comic strip called "Buzzy the Bee." Why that? I have no idea. But I put Buzzy through various adventures that I would add to during lunchtime. Sometimes I would even have other kids looking over my shoulder to see what I was going to add next. What's next? Hey, I didn't know. I was making it up as I went along.
Another recollection is my having a featured role in two assemblies for all students. In one, for Lincoln's Birthday (Back then we celebrated his and Washington's separately), I was picked to stand on the stage and give his Gettysburg address. So I had to memorize the whole thing, of course. Years later I can remember most of it, but it's in fragments.
The other assembly was for St. Patrick's Day. The teacher needed an emcee and tapped the kid with the obviously Irish name. Apparently he didn't do well enough and she turned to me. Why me? I don't know, but it apparently worked out okay. But all I remember of it was my opening greeting to the audience: "Well, well, well. And how goes it this marning?" (Please excuse the misspelling; that was my attempt at an Irish accent.)
Baldwin High School
Nowadays the school systems seem to prefer to have a middle school -- grades 6 through 8 -- in a building separate from the high school grades. Back then there were junior-high buildings, with grades 7 through 9. In my case, back then, we 8th graders were put in the same building with the older kids. Whatever the problem may have been in other school systems, it didn't seem to bother us. All five grades, 8 through 12, seemed to get along okay together.
Book Learning
In recent years the high-school curriculums, and the choices available, with even catalogs listing possible classes, make the high-school experience more like colleges. When I went to high school the choices were minimal. You either took College Entrance or you took Academic. The former supposedly prepared you for higher education and the latter for an immediate business career.
I took the College Entrance option, and even then there were few choices. There were three options in science; I took biology. There were three options in languages; I took Spanish. don't recall the math curriculum, but I took algebra and both plane and solid trigonometry. There was no calculus available.
Taking Spanish, I had the choice of two or three years; I picked three years. And I did pretty well, I guess. The last two years I was the student to win awards from the New York State Teachers of Spanish, which I was presented during school assemblies. (My teacher took me by surprise. When she handed me the plaque she kissed me on both cheeks, European style.)
Extra-Curricular Activities
Whatever cartooning talent I had carried over into my high-school years. Somehow my English teacher became aware of it and talked me into drawing cartoons for the school newspaper, The Golden Wave. Later, in my senior year, he called on me to draw more cartoons for our graduating-class (1948) yearbook. I guess back then I saved copies of the newspaper, but now they are long-gone (along with my baseball cards, coin collection, stamp collection, etc.). However, at least I still have the yearbook, which I go back and look at every now and then.
Sports? I never did get into that, but now I wonder. When my family moved to East Stanton Avenue, next to a golf course, somebody gave me a 5-iron. (What do I do with this?) Then somebody gave me a driver (with a chip out of the face). Then a 9-iron (except the shaft was actually made of wood). Okay, now what?
It never occurred to me to actually do something about golf. I watched players out on the golf course, and I would swing the clubs in the backyard. But actually play the game? I don't think I was even aware that the high school had a golf team. If I had known? I don't know. Maybe. It wasn't until I was an adult that I decided to buy a matched set of clubs.
And what about baseball? As a kid I played sandlot ball, but nothing organized. A close family friends had been a professional baseball pitcher, and he watched me throw to him in the backyard, and my dad told me later that Jim had seen some potential. But I didn't do anything about it. With some more encouragement, who knows what might have been?
Bucknell University
During my senior year in high school, my dad and I started to talk about college. Did I want to go? (I guess so.) What did I want to study? (I don't know.)
Picking a College
Trouble was I was good in both math and English. But in college they take different directions. With a math emphasis I would probably go into science or engineering. With an English emphasis I would probably go toward a more literary career. They both seemed attractive to me. (As it turned out, I wound up using both talents in my ultimate career and in my volunteer activities, but that's another story.)
My dad and I looked at several possibilities. Engineering at Bates College in Maine? That looked kind of cold up there in the winter. English at William and Mary down south? That's a possibility. He and I and a neighbor even took a drive down to the University of Maryland to check it out. (I even remember seeing the legendary Marble Steps of Baltimore.)
Along the way, we became aware of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. It had a good reputation for engineering, and I eventually settled on that direction. So we decided that was the way to go. It wasn't easy. They would accept me, but there was no room left in the dorms. However, we found a landlady on 6th Street who would rent me a room, so that took care or that.
Engineering
So what kind of engineering did I want to pursue? Good question. It turned out that all engineering students took the same courses their freshman years, so I could hold off on that decision. Mechanical engineering was a possibility, but before my freshman year was over I had decided on electrical.
Activities
Considering my course choices, I decided to join the college chapter of the American Institute of Electrical Entineers. We met and discussed relevant topics, and one time we took a trip to a town where there was a company that manufactured electronic products.
I joined the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and became involved with their activities. But I also joined the intramural-sports program (e.g., softball) at Bucknell, and eventually I became involved with the Intramural Council. I represented TKE on the Council and later became its treasurer. I also served as an assistant to officials at intramural wrestling matches.
My Adult Years
After graduation (Bucknell Class of 1952), and after I went to work, my education didn't stop there. Other opportunities presented themselves.
Westinghouse Graduate Student Program
At least one other engineer in my graduating class went with Westinghouse but going to work directly in a permanent position. I, however, decided to go with their Graduate Student Program. As a GSP employee I was given the opportunity, not only to sample various work situations, but also to learn various subjects at the Wilkensburg, Pa., GSP Center.
I doubt that I can recall all the subjects to which I was exposed, but there were several. For starters, we were given an orientation to the corporation itself. We learned of the many divisions that produced various products. We learned some techniques, such as public speaking, that could come in handy at later times. At subsequent trips back to the Center I learned manufacturing techniques, including quality control.
More Manufacturing
At the Newark plant, where I first settled, I was provided further education on manufacturing techniques, especially as it would apply to what we made there.
Baltimore Electronics
Once I settled at the Westinghouse plant in Maryland, several opportunities opened up for me.
College Level
Westinghouse would refund half the tuition of any college-level course I took that related to its work, and I took advantage of that. I took after-hours courses at the University of Maryland in Radio Wave Propagation and in Servomechanisms.
In House
The company also offered a number of after-hours courses at the plant. Some were taught by experiences employees, others by outside instructors. I took many of them, so I probably can't recall all of them, but some of them dealt with airborne pulse-doppler radar, analog computers, mathematics, scientific Russian, and technical writing.
Adult Education
Beyond Westinghouse-sponsored courses, I took a number of adult-education courses put on by the local school systems. Sponsored by the Baltimore County public schools I took courses in computers, sign language, horticulture, short-story writing, watercolor art, and pen-and-ink art. From the local community college I took a course in acting.
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Last Updated 1/30/11