My wood-shop teacher, Mr. August J. Bachmann, was the most influential teacher I ever had.
I had gotten into trouble in his class: Another student had pushed me into a wood lathe, and I became enraged and began to hit him. Mr. Bachmann stopped the fight, but instead of sending me to the office, he sat me down and asked a simple question: “Penna, why are you wasting your life? Why aren’t you going to college?”
I didn’t know anything about colleges or scholarships. No one had ever considered that a fatherless boy from the poorest neighborhood had a future. That day, instead of rushing off for lunch, he stayed and explained possible education options to me. At the end of our talk, he sent me to see a secretary who had a child at a state college. This was in 1962 at Emerson High School in Union City, New Jersey.
Well, 53 years have passed, and what have I done with the knowledge he gave me? I gained a PhD from Fordham University when I was only 29. I taught English and social studies and then moved up the chain of command from teacher to principal.
I’ve sat on the board for Magnet Schools of America and represented that organization at the United Nations. I’ve won a number of prestigious educational awards. But where would I be if a truly caring teacher had not taken the time out of his lunch period to speak to me? It was without question only his confidence in me that propelled me forward.
I have repaid his kindness hundreds of times by encouraging misguided youngsters to aim higher. If I have saved any children, it is because of him. If I have been a successful educator, it is because I had a great role model in Mr. Bachmann.
—Robert Penna, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey