Representative Turner took a picture with my Melissa and me at the speaker's podium beneath the great seal of Indiana. We then sat to the side for a few moments as the chamber began to fill for the day's session.
After the session was brought to order by Speaker Brian Bosma, Representative Turner read the resolution, the essence of which was captured in this press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Monday, February 10, 2014
Rep. Turner honors 2014
Indiana Teacher of the Year
STATEHOUSE –The
House on Monday unanimously approved a resolution authored by State
Representative P. Eric Turner (R-Cicero) honoring Steven Perkins for being
named the 2014 Teacher of the Year by the Indiana Department of Education
(DOE).
Perkins, a Latin
teacher at North Central High School in Indianapolis since 1998, was announced
as the 2014 Teacher of the Year in October for his passion for teaching and
commitment to student success.
“In hearing from
students, faculty and other administrative staff, Mr. Perkins’ love and
dedication to educating and empowering his students is remarkable,” said Rep.
Turner. “He is someone that inspires students to think and dream bigger and
provides them with the tools to realize such ideas. It is with great pleasure
that I recognize Steven’s devotion to Indiana’s education system and the
positive impact he has made on countless lives throughout his tenure.”
Perkins has
accumulated a number of awards and honors over the course of his career.
In January, Gov. Mike Pence awarded him with the Sagamore of the Wabash Award,
an award established in the 1950s that allows the Indiana governor to recognize
outstanding Hoosiers for their efforts and accomplishments. Other awards
Perkins has received include the Dr. Elizabeth Watkins Latin Teacher Award from
the American Classical League and the Blazing Torch Award from Butler
University.
“Steven serves
as a model for not just all teachers to follow, but for all of us to follow in
making a difference in our community, state and country,” Rep. Turner said.
“His enthusiasm and energy spreads to everyone around him, and I know that he
will represent Indiana well at the national level.”
The Indiana
Teacher of the Year program began in 1957 and is the oldest state honors
program for excellence in teaching. The Indiana Teacher of the Year is
chosen from among the Indiana District Teachers of the Year who submit a
portfolio to the DOE’s Teacher of the Year Coordinator. Perkins will represent
Indiana in the National Teacher of the Year contest and will spend the year
collaborating with the DOE to develop educational initiatives for state
schools.
More
information about the Indiana Teacher of the Year program can be found on the
Indiana Department of Education’s website at www.doe.in.gov.
After the reading of the resolution, I had the opportunity to offer a few words to the House of Representatives. The text of my remarks follows.
I want to thank the Honorable
Eric Turner, Speaker Pro Tempore and House Member for the 32nd
district, along with all the members of the Indiana House of Representatives
for the opportunity to be with you today.
When I was a senior in high school twenty-seven years ago, I could not
have imagined returning to this chamber to speak to this body. In 1987 during my last year at New Albany
High School in Floyd County, Indiana, we had the opportunity to take a regular
government class or one called “TV-Government.” I chose the latter
and was able to travel to Indianapolis to film a program that involved my
interviewing members of the Senate and House of Representatives and State
Superintendent of Public Instruction H. Dean Evans. My friend, Rick Wilson, was the cameraman and
took footage of our handsome statehouse, and I remember returning home to New
Albany inspired to run for office. Now,
nearly thirty years later, I teach at North Central High School in
Indianapolis. Our administration
building is named for H. Dean Evans, who was our district’s superintendent before leading the state, and I am once
again in a chamber that inspires me.
It is often said that obtaining a good education has
never been more important than it is right now.
This is only true because obtaining a good education is just as
important now as it has ever been.
Around 380 B.C. Plato wrote his famous Republic, a philosophical dialogue that tries to explore the ideal
state. For Plato it was only natural to
devote two chapters to the topic of education, for as he observed, matters of
education are linked to matters of justice and injustice.[1] He goes on to lay
out a program of study that addresses the three parts of a human being, the
body, the mind, and the soul. Plato knew
that any curriculum that fails to address the complete person must fall short
not only in preparing that person for all he or she could become, but in laying
the foundation for a just state.
Hoosiers have known this as well. Our first constitution of 1816 listed as our
primary purpose the establishment of justice.[2] Article 9, Section 1 of that original
constitution followed more than two thousand years of shared human
understanding linking education and justice by proclaiming, “Knowledge and learning generally diffused, through a
community, being essential to the preservation of a free Government, and
spreading the opportunities, and advantages of education through the various
parts of the Country, being highly conductive to this end, it shall be the duty
of the General Assembly to provide, by law, for the improvement of such
lands...for the use of schools, and to apply any funds which may be raised...to
the accomplishment of the grand object for which they are or may be intended.”[3] In Article 8, Section 1 of the current
Indiana Constitution, we read, “[I]t shall be
the duty of the General Assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral,
intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement....”[4]
Times change, but truth does
not. From 4th century B.C.
Athens to 21st century Indiana, human beings have known that a just
state is rooted in and supported by education, which, as Plato described, must
be nothing less than the development of the whole person.
At North Central High School I teach
Latin, which is a
microcosm of a complete liberal arts education, for in it we teach the whole
child by including math, art, geography, history, English, and performing
arts. Whether we are marching drills as
the Roman soldiers did or creating wax tablets and scrolls as we explore
ancient handwriting, the study of Latin opens the door to a world of endless
fascination and discovery, and we connect the exciting world of education with
issues of justice from the beginning. We
take as our foundation a statement by the great Roman orator Cicero. “Let others be ashamed,"
he said, "if they have so hidden themselves in literature that they can
offer nothing from their reading for the public benefit nor can bring forth
anything into the light to be seen.”[5] This has led us to
two annual projects, one to fight poverty in Indianapolis and another to help
children at Riley Hospital. It has also
inspired a new effort this year to build a literacy garden at a local
elementary school.
My
7th grade English teacher, Dale Richmer, had a poster in his room
that said, “The road to success is
marked with many tempting parking places.” We must
resist the temptation to reduce education to nothing more than skills
training. We must resist the temptation
to see education as merely a ticket to a high-paying job. Education, of course, includes preparation
for a career, but those who founded the state of Indiana knew and codified the
idea that education is much more, a grand object, as they called it. I encourage each member of this House of
Representatives and indeed all Hoosiers to remember the high ideal of what a
well-rounded education can be, one that addresses the
bodies, minds, and souls of our citizens.
It is the type of education that led me to this chamber nearly thirty
years ago when I was a student, and it is the kind of education that continues
to flourish in many schools across our state, as indeed it must if we are to
remain true to our original charter of establishing justice. All Hoosiers must work to promote this deep
and broad understanding of education, which is nothing less than the most
humane and human of enterprises. Thank
you.
[1] Then we
have found the desired natures; and now that we have found them, how are they
to be reared and educated? Is not this an enquiry which may be expected to
throw light on the greater enquiry which is our final end—How do justice and injustice grow up in
States? (II.376)
[3] http://www.in.gov/history/2874.htm. "Knowledge and
learning generally diffused, through a community, being essential to the
preservation of a free Government, and spreading the opportunities, and
advantages of education through the various parts of the Country, being highly
conductive to this end, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to
provide, by law, for the improvement of such lands as are, or hereafter may be
granted, by the united States to this state, for the use of schools, and to
apply any funds which may be raised from such lands, or from any other quarters
to the accomplishment of the grand object for which they are or may be
intended.”
[4] http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/const/art8.html. "Knowledge and learning, generally diffused throughout
a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government; it shall
be the duty of the General Assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral,
intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement; and to provide, by law,
for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be
without charge, and equally open to all."
We were then taken to the Senate chamber where the resolution was read and passed again.
I was supported in all this by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, 2013 Indiana Teacher of the Year Suzanne Whitton, and our school district's incomparable PR person, Ellen Rogers. As I told Suzanne and Ellen when it was over, it felt like having ridden on a favorite roller coaster at Kings Island amusement park. I wanted to get right back in line and go again!
UPDATE: The video of my remarks is now available from the Indiana Department of Education.
UPDATE: The video of my remarks is now available from the Indiana Department of Education.
They got their money's worth.
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