TOMMIE SAYLOR: If high school taught me one lesson, it was about human value

“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others, than you can by what others say about him.”

-- Leo Aikman

By Tommie Saylor

Kennedy High School Principal

This last weekend I traveled to the Kalamazoo area and attended my 30th class reunion, Gobles High School class of 1983. This was the first class reunion I have ever attended, and as a result, I was able to visit with some of my old classmates.  

For most people, this would be a time of joy, an experience worth looking forward to having, yet I was very apprehensive. I was apprehensive because high school was not exactly all that fun for me. It was not torturous, but at the same time, it was not enjoyable. You see, I was the principal’s kid in high school. As the principal’s kid, I was treated differently than all the other students.  

Even though I was a starting lineman on the football team for all four years of high school, I never really fit into the “jocks” group. I guess they were concerned that I would tell my dad about all the mischievous actions in which they engaged. Even though I was a member of both the marching and symphonic band, I never really fit into the “band” group. Likewise, though I graduated near the top of my class, I did not fit in with the “brains” group, and I was not one of the “cool” kids. I certainly was not a “teacher’s pet” with my father being their boss.

In short, I was basically an outcast, one of those students who hung around the edges of high school society looking in.

But what did I discover back then? A group of other students that were just like me. Soon I became the unofficial leader of a group of misfit students that reminded me of the children’s Christmas cartoon Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the island of misfit toys. I happened to fall into a group of misfit students, or perhaps we were more like the movie Revenge of the Nerds, and I was the character Lewis, king of the Nerds.

Either way, I found a group that accepted me as me, and did not care that I was the principal’s kid.

From this group I learned some very valuable lifelong lessons. I learned that everyone has value. I learned that every living soul has something to contribute to the human race. I learned that every person, by nothing more than being alive, deserves basic human respect and to be treated with dignity. I learned that by trying to diminish the value of any one of us, we diminish the value of us all.

I learned that everyone has the right to be heard, that we all deserve the right to simply be who we are – that we are all equals, and that no person “stands” above the next.  Simply, when I left high school, I walked away with more than just a basic working knowledge of Math, Science, English and Social Studies; I walked away with a greater understanding of what it means to be human.

Why did I tell you this story? Well, as we are gearing up for another school year, I want to remind everyone the importance of getting to know your students, the importance of forming good positive relationships with your students.  Without even realizing it, you may very well become the most important person in the life of one of your students. That student that always sits in the back of the class, that never really talks to anyone, that seems uncomfortable around others and a little standoffish, is silently screaming for attention and waiting for someone to show him that they care.

Teachers need to be that someone.

As for my reunion: My old friends and I sat back in the corner of the room and had a nice visit.  But we could not help noticing that almost all of the popular kids in school never really went very far in life.  Around the table that I sat were CPAs, CEOs, CFOs, corporate vice-presidents … and a school administrator.

Remember, their future is in our hands. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence by design…