1. Mr. Moore I . ( .M'ln- ^ AK-l
Mm
It was sixth period English, a col-
lege class I was then taking on the CTU
campus. This class in particular was
always overcrowded and loud, and the
teacher had spoken to the class time and
time again about their behavior. But
today the students were especially
rowdy.
Two minutes later, one of the most
rowdy kids was outside and the teacher
had called in Mr. Moore, the Dean of
Student Success to help take care of the
situation. Although I had met and spo-
ken to Mr. Moore once or twice before,
this was the first time I had seen him
actually upset or angry. Instead of a
cheery smile and a jolly disposition, he
was grave and dead serious.
After asking what the problem
was, he gave us a little talk. He ex-
plained to us that we were guests using
the CTU campus, and that we had to
follow their_ rules in ord.er to slay. "For
example," he added, pointing at a boy
who was still eating his lunch, "CTU
does not allow food inside the class-
rooms, young man, so you'd better find
somewhere else to eat" He went on to
explain in very definite terms he was
not going to tolerate rule-breaking, and
that he didn't have to. CSEC has a long
waiting list of students who couldn't
come yet, and if we were irresponsible,
he would talk to the faculty about short-
ening that list. "And normally," he
added with a grin most of us see him
with, "I'm a pretty nice guy. But if you
screw around, I will not tolerate i t "
When he left, taking the fighting kid
with him, some of us applauded; we
were that impressed at his attitude to
rule-breaking.
Something about that incident and
the way Mr. Moore handled it stuck in
my memory. In his speech I saw what
I considered the traits of a great
teacher; he was opposed to disorder
with a vehemence, a no-nonsense
attitude that demands respect from
whomever it targets. At the same
time, Mr. Moore had established him-
self as a person everybody could feel
comfortable around and consider a
friend. It was a combination I had
rarely seen, perhaps only once before.
How did Mr. Moore acquire those
characteristics? For the answer, I de-
cided to interview him and hear it
from his own lips.
- Continued on page 5
, ,
Page 2 .^Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of school. Cherophobia is the fear of fun.
m
KEEPDenev,f
Mr. MooreContmuedffom^page2
" I went to a Catholic school for the semor." During that repeated senior location. When an instractor asked me
first eight years of my life," Mr. Moore year, he met a counselor who asked him where I wanted to go, I asked, 'Where
explained in the interview; "it was very why he was in that situation, and why would you go?' (I had never been any-
structured, very orderly, no nonsense at he wasn't learning. After some discus- where outside of Brooklyn). The in-
all." Then, for ninth grade, Mr. Moore sion, the counselor found that he simply stnictor said, 'Either Seattle, Washing-
went to a public high school, in Brook- couldn't learn well in that hectic envi- ton, or Colorado Springs.' I said,
lyn. New York. With six stories and five ronment, and assigned him classes he 'Those are nice places, which do you
thousand students, this high school was could learn, like wood shop, craft shop, think is better?' He said, 'Colorado
packed, and incredibly disordered, and mechanical drawing. " I loved taking Springs, it rains too much in Seattle.'
"There were fights," Mr. Moore remem- a piece of equipment and being able to So that's how I wound up here."
bered, "and the teachers wouldn't con- draw it," he remembered. During one of After the Army, Mr. Moore be-
trol their classrooms... it was kind of those shop classes, his instructor asked came a teacher and eventually became
like a big party. Then in my second year him if he'd considered being a teacher, the Dean of Student Success here at
there, Martin Luther King, Jr. was So, upon leaving high school, Mr. CSEC. But through all those changes
killed, and there were race riots... bum- Moore went to college to be a teacher, and events, the experience of going to
ing cars and school buses... the police working as a teacher's assistant and that dreadful high school, it seems, is
had to come in with their riot gear... it getting paid for it. what has given him the attitude -I saw
was a very, very sick situation. My But, although he was now out of in that classroom. While some of ns
grandmother always told me 'If you see that awful high school, he was living in have pet peeves about things like
trouble, turn the other way' so I did." a neighborhood that wasn't much better, germs or grammar, his pet peeve is
/ Avoided all the violence. "The people [in that neighborhood] order. As a teacher, Mr. Moore told his
Of conrse, moving from one would do things without thinking... students many times how disordered
schooling situation to another is never there was lots of shootings, stabbings... that school was, and how the teachers
easy, and Mr. Moore had some diffi- it was really ugly. I was married, and I at that school failed him; and that he
onky in the new school. In fact, he was didn't want to raise my kids there, so I was not going to fail his students,
held back in twelfih grade and had to joined the Army to get out, and did very He never has.
repeat his senior year. He mentioned well on the tests... I was an E-3 in Basic
that the school called that being a "super Training and I got to choose my job and