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John H[_2_]

On Sat, 02 Dec 2017 15:08:16 -0500, wrote:

On Sat, 02 Dec 2017 13:47:36 -0500, John H
wrote:

Just received this in a Facebook message from Nehemias:

Hello Mr. Herring,

You may or may not remember me. I was your 8th grade algebra student for the 1994-1995 schoolyear.
I looked you up because I have been wanting to express my gratitude.

Cool.
BTW why do army guys end up teaching algebra? My Algebra and Geometry
(plane and solid) was a retired Army colonel. He was West Point in
Robert E Lee's class we think (at least that was the joke) ;-)
The reality was he was 55-60 but when you are 14 that seems ancient.
Most of our teachers were grad students at one of the downtown
universities or recent graduates.

After graduating from college, for which the Army paid my way (I was a captain then, just back from
Vietnam), I was assigned to a 'utilization' tour. My degree was in math, and the assignment was to
teach math at the US Military Academy Prep School, which was at Ft. Belvoir at the time. I spent two
years teaching various math subjects, mostly Algebra and Geometry, to prospective West Pioint
cadets. I really fell in love with teaching while doing that. Decided that's what I wanted to do
when I retired. Although offered some 'beltway bandit' jobs, I went to GW and got my teaching
credentials. So, that's how I came to be a math teacher.