For More Information:
NEA Communications: 202 822-7200

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2002

Speech

Remarks by Chauncey Veatch,
National Teacher of the Year
to the NEA Representative Assembly

Dallas, Texas

Thank you very much. Thank you. You know, that was awfully kind in terms of the schedule, because I would be happy to miss my plane.

This is a great lesson in democracy. And since I teach American government, I would be able to point out to my students that the political parties do this every four years. But the NEA does it every year.

I'm relatively new at this, a new kid on the block, but I can't tell you how proud I am to be here today.

The program of National Teacher of the Year is important to us because it gives us the opportunity to remind the nation why we are teachers. For 22 years I was proud to wear the uniform of my country in the United States Army. My last assignment was in Panama engaged in nation-building on behalf of the United States of America.

But today is the 4th of July, and I can't help but think back on July the 4th, 1968, when I was an E-1, not even a private, but a recruit at Fort Ord, California, and I needn't remind anyone what was happening in 1968. Those were uncertain times. But it also took me back as I thought about this 4th of July to the day at Fort Benning, Georgia, when I went from a recruit, and a private, and a corporal, and became a second lieutenant in the infantry. And then later, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where I became an officer in the Medical Service Corps.

Having served my country wearing the uniform in our Armed Forces, it is important that I share with you and all of our citizens, there is no work in my entire life that I have done that is more patriotic than to be a teacher. Thank you.

The most potent weapon that we have in our armament, in our culture and our society, is education. It is fundamental to the survival, much less the thriving of our democracy that we have, a populace that is literate and that is educated.

Now, in education, just as in the military, we don't get things done unless it's teamwork.

As a former military officer, I understand the importance of logistics. And we want to take time here today also to thank those who work in education, support services as professionals, who cook our meals, who drive our buses, who, where I live, repair our air conditioners. Let's thank those who are part of the logistics team. Thank you!

They have had me pretty busy today. And I'm glad for that. I have been coming in and out of the session and able to catch parts of it because I have been engaged in interviews, about 40 percent of which have been on Spanish language networks. And I was doing one interview with CNN in Español, and it went fine, but at the end I had to say to the lady who was interviewing, "De dónde eres?"

And she said, "Why?" And I said, "Well, your accent is a little different. I don't hear it every day." And she said, "Oh, I'm from Argentina." And I said, "Portena." She said, "Oh, you have been there?" I said, "No, that's it. That's all I know." But it was slightly different accent and I was having to adjust.

Well, you know, in recent days, we have had a Supreme Court decision, and I would like to pause and think and share some thoughts. Thomas Jefferson-important day today in his life-Thomas Jefferson once wrote that a nation that hopes to be ignorant and free never was, and never will be.

Well, what is the entity in this culture, our democracy, that has set as their task, and their goal, to educate every child? And that is our public education system.

I began as a new teacher a few years ago. This is my seventh year of teaching. This is my second career. I applied in a district where I hoped I could be of some contribution. I considered being a substitute teacher and hoping that they might hire me for that. Well, as I left the interview process, they said, "Ah, Mr. Veatch, congratulations, you have got the job. Don't interview with anybody else."

Well, I didn't really know at this time this district which I entered, which I loved so dearly, was hemorrhaging teachers. The school where I went to teach lost one half of its teachers and had to fill those gaps, those missing teachers.

Our test scores were quite low. In fact, a few years ago we had in our district the lowest test score in the state of California. And our district was financially bankrupt and being taken over by the state. I went to this district, and in this district I taught at a K-8 school. I taught seventh and eighth grade math and science and social studies and English. I teach adult education. I teach citizenship to our senior citizens and to younger adults who want to become citizens. And I teach ESL in night school in our adult program at all four levels of English as a second language. And now I teach at the high school. I teach ninth graders through twelfth graders.

But I'll tell you, that second day of school, the second day of school, I knew that this was the most wonderful work that I have ever had the privilege to participate in in my life.

Now I did say the second day. I did. Eureka was the second day, not the first.

On that first day, it was six days from the start of school. And I thought I must get ready, to be ready for my students the first day. Well, I did something that day that has served me in good stead ever since. I thought, What do I do the first day of school, which is the most important day?

I looked at the list of the names of my students. And those wonderful, rich names provided the portal, the entry point, for our studies that year, and for every year since.

What great names the parents and the families of my students have given their children. These are names of history. These are names of destiny. These are great names. Like Héctor. Well, with Héctor, we have a portal to the Iliad, the study of this great Occidental important work in literature. Alejandro. With Alejandro, not only talked about Alexander the Great, but his tutor, Aristotle. Then we go on to Julio César, or Marco Antonio, or Marco Aurelio. With Julio César, the opportunities are limitless. With Marco Antonio, the drama and the passion that can be part of recorded events, that is part of history. Or Marco Arellio. It's not just the character in the beginning part of The Gladiator, but rather the philosopher King, the person who tried to model himself after Plato.

But we have wonderful names from these wonderful young ladies in my classes as well. Juana. With Juana, we can study Joan of Arc. Or even as some of the kids will chuckle, Juana la Cubana. We could study Juana de la Cruz. In my opinion, her literature, her poetry is the greatest written by any woman in the Spanish language who wrote during the time of Spain controlling Mexico. Then we have a lot of Elenas. Elena. What a great opportunity she provides us for study. Elena was, of curse, Helen of Troy. But, lena was the mother of the First Christian emperor, Constantino. And with Elena, we can enter, just as she did, Jerusalem where she was persuaded that this one site was the burial place of Jesus Christ, and she said on this site I will help you build the church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Today, as we think about our events today, and what's happening in the world, we can go but a few steps from the church of the Holy Sepulcher and come to the Wailing Wall, so important to the Jews of the world, to the Jews of the past, and to our own cultural heritage, which is Judeo-Christian. The Wailing Wall, parts of which many believe were put there during the reign of Solomon, and certainly many parts of which were put there in the re-built Temple.

But we can go but a few steps further. And we encounter the third of the world's great monotheisms, the Dome of the Rock, where it is believed by those who are Muslim that Mohammed ascended into paradise, received and was dictated the Koran, and returned. And why did Mohammed select this site? Because as the peoples of the Book, Jew, Christian, or Muslim, believed, the book in this case being the Old Testament, in Islam it is believed that is the site where Abraham was to offer his own son Isaac.

But, you know, it goes on and on. We have Benjamin, and Rubén. Rubén, the oldest son of Jacob who became Israel. We have Benjamin, the youngest of those sons. We have later Mateo, Pablo, or Andres, all of whom, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 Disciples, as we understand why we have trial by a jury of 12. But it works for any population. We could take, for example, Lee Po, the first famous poet in Chinese history and Chinese culture. Lee, the most common surname on the globe, and Po, which stands in Chinese for bright white star. What is that bright white star that illuminates the sky? It's the planet Venus. Or Germane.

Or, we can talk about pseudonyms, pseudonyms like George Elliott, using our Greek heritage again, and the lead word, the prefix pseudo. Mark Twain, or Voltaire, and even my students' favorite pseudonym, Snoop Doggy Dog.

Because as we say, I said, "Now, class, these are pseudonyms." And they go, "Yo, Mr. Veatcho, his mom is Mrs. Doggy Dog?" And I say, "Of course not." So the idea of pseudonym.

When I went to the White House for the announcement as National Teacher of the Year, three captains heavily decorated who are aides to the president came up to me and said, "Sir, Colonel Veatch, we would like to thank you, and congratulate you. You're our hero."

Well, I told them, "I'd like for you to come where I teach and meet my heroes."

César Chávez, said, "the end of education should be service." And he continues to say "al oltros," "to others."

When we have a Supreme Court decision, or when we talk about achievement, or we talk about testing as a way of measuring achievement, let's talk about what achievement really should also include. The goal in education, in a democracy, in a civilization, should be service to others. I'd like to share with you the achievement of the wonderful students who are my heroes.

Against 19 other schools, our students were selected to produce a documentary on the life of César Chávez that will be aired on KCET Public Television in Los Angeles in September during National Hispanic Heritage Month. This was quite an achievement, and they have done a magnificent job. And when you watch this-you will see the future Barbara Walters and Sam Donaldsons of the world, because they are spectacular.

We participated in building and working on a Rose Bowl float. I want our students to be involved in as many activities as we can and in many places. This year when one of the floats we were working on won, my students were offered 20 seats in the Grand Marshall's rows at the best location in the Rose Bowl Parade. What did my wonderful students do? They said, Mr. Veatch, could we offer half of them to our friends in South Central Los Angeles, and our friends in Little Saigon in Orange County? That's achievement. That's service to others.

I'd like to share with you the achievement of Rigoberto. Rigoberto is in his late 60s. He's one of my adult students. He wanted to become an American citizen. He was born in Mexico. And Rigoberto has children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. In fact, he has 19 children. Well, he's a very charming man. And as we were going through his papers, over and over, I said, "Okay, Legoberto, we are done."

"No, we are not done yet." So I was helping on his application for citizenship because you have to list all your children as one of the parts of the form. I was running out. I had an addendum to appendix. And we kept going. And he said, "Well, you know, Mr. Veatch, you know how I learned English the best?" He said, "I followed your advice." I said, "What was that?" He said, "I watched soap operas." Well, that's what I did. When I started, I wanted so badly to improve my Spanish, the Spanish that I was able to practice in Panama, but that I still needed to improve to try to minimize my accent, to try to improve my vocabulary, to try to augment my vocabulary. So I was watching reruns of Spanish language telenovelas myself, and so I watched re-runs, and, of course, what all of those have in common, if you watch Spanish-language television, that was with "talilla." So I really said my first teacher in Spanish was "talilla." So, "Oh, Mr. Veatch, I watched those American soap operas, and I got the most important language I need." And I had no idea where he was going with this. I said, " Rigoberto, what is it?" "Oh, I love you!"

And when I think of those Spanish telenovelas, it was te quiero, te quiero, te quiero, but I also want to tell you about the achievement of not only Legoberto, who signaled to his children, and his grandchildren and his great grandchildren, many values, but one value was the value of learning. He addressed himself to the project of learning so that he could pass the test and become an American citizen. What another fitting thought today on the 4th of July. But it's a gift that keeps giving.

One of my students is Eduardo. Now, in my class, I asked for those students who have not been successful academically. A third of all of my classes are special ed on entering freshmen. I really want to be a mainstream teacher that welcomes them, and where they want to be a part of the class, because I certainly want them to be a part of our class. Thank you. Thank you very much.

And perhaps those who have been involved with gangs or drugs, or, in fact, tragically had a child already, or those who, in fact, are exceptionally bright, but their English level for testing purposes and understanding and comprehension is still below the fourth grade. These are the students that are achieving the Chavez documentary and some of the following examples.

One of my special ed students, a young man named Eduardo, every time we practice for the History Day competition, his lines were different. Every single solitary time. And one day, he finally just threw down the book. He said, "Mr. Veatch, this is so messed up, I can't get it right." And I said, "Eduardo, you do get it right." He says, "But it's different every time I say it." And I said, "But, Eduardo, you have the same idea every time, and besides which, the judges don't know that that's not the original version." And you know what? They won. But this is still a gift, education that keeps giving.

Eduardo's parents, Juana and Eduardo, Sr., went to Riverside for this competition with us. And Eduardo was up there. They were magnificent. It's a ten-minute performance. Then they have an interview afterwards, have to have made their costumes, have to have done their own dialogue, written the dialogue. All of this. And the interview for 15 minutes afterwards really is a way of ensuring that the work was not done by a parent or a teacher. And they were, in the interviews, this was fabulous. This was outstanding. Not one of the participants in our group had begun learning English before the sixth grade. And they were in strong competition to win. But that wasn't still the best part of that day for me. I was sitting between Juana and Eduardo, and Eduardo, Sr. I felt a touch on my forearm, and I have never seen this at any time in my life. As I turned toward Eduardo, Sr., not a word was spoken, the tears were welling in his eyes and streaking down his face. He knew his son was doing great.

These are moments that America needs to know. These are moments of achievement. These are moments that teachers know that these are successful moments. And what a great moment, not only for Eduardo, Jr., but for his parents and our community. Thank you.

Then I have Gabriella, wonderful Gabriella, and this isn't her real name for obvious reasons. She had a baby when she was in the eighth grade. Now she's my student as a senior. And I come back from Dallas, Texas, at another event in January, and it's finals, and I'm watching my students take their finals in American government. Gabriella, who writes eight pages on an essay in 50 minutes, comparing and contrasting the roles of President Eisenhower and President Jackson as it related to executive power and how President Eisenhower, and what he did in his relations to Brown versus the Board of Education, and Jackson as it related to the removal of the five civilized tribes to keep the Cherokee from Georgia and other southeastern states. This is college-level work. This is beyond high school AP or honors. And this is from a young lady who could have given up at the end of eighth grade.

But then another. Reyes was another one of my special ed students who had been in so much trouble at school. In fact, this is true. If Reyes heard the word "fight" anywhere on campus, that was like a personal, engraved invitation to attend. There was not a fight or social event that he ever wanted to say he had missed.

Well, Reyes is one of those students who really did need special help. He had trouble spelling in English and in Spanish, and trouble forming sentences. But Reyes was learning and progressing. And we were keeping him out of fights. This exam, this last January, Reyes raises his hand. And I come over and he says, "Mr. Veatch, who is that French dude who talks about the checks and balances where the president can't be too strong or the Congress guys can't be too strong or the judges?" And I said-he actually said "the French dude." "Who is that French dude?" And I said, "Well, Reyes, truly the name doesn't matter to me. You have the concept. I wish more Americans did." Thank you.

I said, " Reyes, I think you know more about American government than the man or woman on the street. And I'm proud of you." He says, "Okay, Mr. Veatch." Then he would say a few more things about checks and balances. He pointed to his paper. In the interim, all the other seniors in my class rose on their feet and applauded Reyes. And Reyes blushed and got embarrassed, and they applauded more. And so talk about achievement. Talk about values. Talk about success in school. This nurturing environment is one where the other seniors are so proud because they know how Reyes has struggled. So then they were done and they sat down. I looked back to Reyes, and he said, "Mr. Veatch, this is cool, but who is the dude?" So I wrote on his paper in little pencil, "Montesquieu."

But what a passion to own not only the idea, but the name of the person who was the proponent. In front of the Oval Office, in the Rose Garden, I called our children, America's children, "la gente con destino," because they are "the people of destiny." People with a destiny.

I talked about those pseudonyms. And one of those pseudonyms was Voltaire. Well, Voltaire is a giant in French and in world literature, and Voltaire had a character named Candide, and Voltaire sent that Candide around the globe, and one of the places he was going was to look for El Dorado. Not only did Candide look for El Dorado, but it was the goal of many of the conquistadors who also came to "the new world." And what was this El Dorado? A place of wealth and gold and endless opportunities, if you should discover it, to live the rest of your life with no financial worries or needs. Well, El Dorado was never found.

But during my tenure as your representative as Teacher of the Year, I am going to share with everyone that I can that I found El Dorado. El Dorado has bright eyes and big smiles. And it's my privilege to rediscover it every day. Thank you. Thank you very much.

In our community, I get my haircut at a place called "Joe's." And Joe is "José." And José is a marine veteran. He's a very good friend of mine. And I was getting my hair cut after the announcement from the President. My first haircut since coming back to our desert communities after the announcement as National Teacher of the Year. As I was getting my hair cut in the barber's chair, two young men walked up to me. The tattoos on their body told me that they had served hard time, that their life had endured some hard times. That alone made me very sad as they walked towards the barber chair where I was actually getting a haircut.

One of the young men takes off his dark glasses and said, "Mr. Veatch, my name is Carlos, and you have never met me, but I went to Coachella Valley High School." He said, "I asked everybody, where were you when I was a student? I found out that you weren't at the high school yet." He said, "Well, Mr. Veatch, I want to tell you that I'm a mechanic over in Cathedral City. And all over our work area are the pictures in the paper that have been about you becoming National Teacher of the Year." And I tell everybody, "That's my school!"

That also is achievement. That's success of our educational system. A system in public education where our goal is to educate every child. Then his partner, Enrique, came forward, and Enrique said, "Mr. Veatch, my homies in Thermal tell me that you're down for us. And they tell me that you love us." Now, mind you, all of this is happening in the barber shop. And these guys felt comfortable enough to come up to me. And I'm about to just choke. I'm hanging on the edge of this wonderful moment.

And I said, "Well, Enrique, I am down for you, and I am-and I do love all of you in our community." And he said, "Well, Mr. Veatch, when you were there at the White House, it just happened to be on CNN, and when you spoke Spanish, there in front of the President, at the White House," he said, "for the first time I felt I belonged here, and this is my country."

I have not met the parent who does not want their child to learn English. But I never want to meet the child who wants to forget where they've come from and who they are. The richness of this country is not based in the ways that we are alike, it is based on the ideals that bind us together because we are so gloriously different.

So I want to thank all of you for your kindness and courtesy to me. I want to thank all of you who made my somewhat brief career as teacher the most glorious experience of my life. And I want to say to all of those, if you want to engage in a career of patriots, if you-if you want to be involved in a career, which for those who are in it is not a job, but a calling, if you'd like the opportunity to be part of America's tomorrows, become a teacher today. Thank you. Oh, thank you very much. Thank you.

# # #
The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.6 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.