thedrifter
02-28-09, 07:44 AM
February 28, 2009
86-year-old teaches kids self-worth
For 18 years, Don McGehee has extolled values of ethics, character
By Chris Echegaray
THE TENNESSEAN
Don McGehee found a letter in his mailbox Monday that made him cry.
It was from a Marine captain who used to be a young child in one of McGehee's presentations. Now he is helping children in the slums of Brazil.
"I am currently in Rio De Janeiro doing volunteer work in a squatter community," Capt. Chris Clark wrote. "I think of you often and your message of altruism. Your program is very special."
It was the best outcome 86-year-old McGehee could have hoped for from the 18 years he has spent teaching Metro Nashville's elementary school children about character. From him, they learn trustworthiness and caring, fairness and perseverance. "It brought me to tears, and I'm not ashamed to say it," he said. "Children with low self-esteem need to know they have a place in society."
The character education guru started the program "I Am Somebody," and ever since has been involved with four elementary schools, a middle school and a high school in Nashville. His work supplements a state-mandated character education curriculum for all Tennessee public school students.
The idea of "I Am Somebody" surfaced during a field trip to a farm he helped chaperone. A teacher told him students' home lives affected school. With children being raised in single-parent households or by grandparents, there was a need for positive reinforcement, McGehee said. He thought he could help.
His presentation is short and simple: It covers ethics and character traits and how they apply to the rich and poor. He names positive role models: Helen Keller, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and others.
And he gets the children to repeat what he considers vital phrases: "I am somebody." "I'm proud of who I am." "I must persevere."
This week at Ross Elementary, the students listened intently and dutifully repeated the words.
He sees himself in their young eyes.
He grew up in the Great Depression with a single mother and an older brother, crammed into an East Nashville shack.
"I didn't feel good about myself," McGehee said. "It was pretty rough growing up in the Depression in a broken home. I was a troublemaker in school. I had low self-esteem."
As plans to build a new house in front of the shack were under way, McGehee's father left the family. So, McGehee and his older brother went to work to help support their mother. His brother went straight to work after school, getting home at 11 p.m. He earned $7 a week, with $5 going to his mother.
McGehee earned 50 cents a day. He joined the Marines, came back to Nashville, got married, had two sons and started volunteering at the Nashville's Boys Club.
He is a strong advocate
McGehee later worked as a warden in the state's department of parole and probation and wrestled professionally around the country under the character name Robin Hood. He hosted an exercise show on local television and became a minor celebrity.
All through those years, he kept saying to anyone who would listen that reaching children would be the main deterrent of crime.
"His message has not changed," Jones Paideia Magnet School Principal Pam Greer said. "He's always said it's far better to habilitate a child than to rehabilitate a criminal."
Greer has worked with McGehee for 14 years, the last six when she was appointed principal. There are no local data to prove whether the character program works, but Greer noted the influence it has on some students.
"He runs into students years later who remember his talks," Greer said. "He's a strong advocate for children. He's the type of person who commands respect."
The idea that character education should be left to parents instead of schools results in criticism of programs like McGehee's, but they have a place in schools, said Joseph Mazzola, executive director of Character Education Partnership, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
"It's not just academic excellence, it's about moral excellence as well," Mazzola said. "All schools should do positive teaching. Schools can reinforce those qualities that are not stressed in some homes. It will help to fill that void."
McGehee, now a widower, said he was moved by Capt. Clark's letter, but not necessarily surprised. He said character education can teach empathy, to feel what other people are going through.
"This means more to me more than words can say," McGehee said. "This is what I want my legacy to be. Everybody is a human being."
Ellie
86-year-old teaches kids self-worth
For 18 years, Don McGehee has extolled values of ethics, character
By Chris Echegaray
THE TENNESSEAN
Don McGehee found a letter in his mailbox Monday that made him cry.
It was from a Marine captain who used to be a young child in one of McGehee's presentations. Now he is helping children in the slums of Brazil.
"I am currently in Rio De Janeiro doing volunteer work in a squatter community," Capt. Chris Clark wrote. "I think of you often and your message of altruism. Your program is very special."
It was the best outcome 86-year-old McGehee could have hoped for from the 18 years he has spent teaching Metro Nashville's elementary school children about character. From him, they learn trustworthiness and caring, fairness and perseverance. "It brought me to tears, and I'm not ashamed to say it," he said. "Children with low self-esteem need to know they have a place in society."
The character education guru started the program "I Am Somebody," and ever since has been involved with four elementary schools, a middle school and a high school in Nashville. His work supplements a state-mandated character education curriculum for all Tennessee public school students.
The idea of "I Am Somebody" surfaced during a field trip to a farm he helped chaperone. A teacher told him students' home lives affected school. With children being raised in single-parent households or by grandparents, there was a need for positive reinforcement, McGehee said. He thought he could help.
His presentation is short and simple: It covers ethics and character traits and how they apply to the rich and poor. He names positive role models: Helen Keller, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and others.
And he gets the children to repeat what he considers vital phrases: "I am somebody." "I'm proud of who I am." "I must persevere."
This week at Ross Elementary, the students listened intently and dutifully repeated the words.
He sees himself in their young eyes.
He grew up in the Great Depression with a single mother and an older brother, crammed into an East Nashville shack.
"I didn't feel good about myself," McGehee said. "It was pretty rough growing up in the Depression in a broken home. I was a troublemaker in school. I had low self-esteem."
As plans to build a new house in front of the shack were under way, McGehee's father left the family. So, McGehee and his older brother went to work to help support their mother. His brother went straight to work after school, getting home at 11 p.m. He earned $7 a week, with $5 going to his mother.
McGehee earned 50 cents a day. He joined the Marines, came back to Nashville, got married, had two sons and started volunteering at the Nashville's Boys Club.
He is a strong advocate
McGehee later worked as a warden in the state's department of parole and probation and wrestled professionally around the country under the character name Robin Hood. He hosted an exercise show on local television and became a minor celebrity.
All through those years, he kept saying to anyone who would listen that reaching children would be the main deterrent of crime.
"His message has not changed," Jones Paideia Magnet School Principal Pam Greer said. "He's always said it's far better to habilitate a child than to rehabilitate a criminal."
Greer has worked with McGehee for 14 years, the last six when she was appointed principal. There are no local data to prove whether the character program works, but Greer noted the influence it has on some students.
"He runs into students years later who remember his talks," Greer said. "He's a strong advocate for children. He's the type of person who commands respect."
The idea that character education should be left to parents instead of schools results in criticism of programs like McGehee's, but they have a place in schools, said Joseph Mazzola, executive director of Character Education Partnership, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
"It's not just academic excellence, it's about moral excellence as well," Mazzola said. "All schools should do positive teaching. Schools can reinforce those qualities that are not stressed in some homes. It will help to fill that void."
McGehee, now a widower, said he was moved by Capt. Clark's letter, but not necessarily surprised. He said character education can teach empathy, to feel what other people are going through.
"This means more to me more than words can say," McGehee said. "This is what I want my legacy to be. Everybody is a human being."
Ellie