Wednesday, 8 June 2022
I had a weird dream last night. I was sitting in some type of symposium along with some of my BCC colleagues and we all had some presentation to make. After listening to several, a thought hit me and I realized what I had prepared was not what I wanted to speak. The slides I had worked on would not work and I frantically began to rewrite what I wanted to say. That part was a real nightmare. What it led to next was actually a pretty good part of the dream.
I began to think, as people gave their talk, what influenced me as I grew to an adult and how that has affected my life. I then got off on the idea that the simplest statement by someone could have very important consequences to the person listening.
As an extreme example, I remember once (as an adult) mentioning to a student that I preferred Levi’s 501 jeans with the button fly. Many years later I was talking to the same individual and he mentioned that ever since my statement about 501’s he has worn nothing else. I must have made an impression I didn’t realize on that individual and it had nothing to do with jeans.
One instance that sticks in my mind about influence was in the Boy Scouts. Our Troop 28 was camping out at Roosevelt State Park and I had been named a Patrol Leader. For those who don’t know the hierarchy, a troop is led by a scoutmaster and one or more assistant scout master. Under them is a Boy Scout named Senior Patrol leader and under him are Patrol Leaders. If it sounds a little militaristic, it is.
Any way, two Scouts (not in my patrol) were on a project to lash together a table made of wood that we had cut in the woods. They were having trouble. I stopped, showed them what was wrong with their lashing, watched as they corrected and went about my business. As I walked away I heard one say, “I like the way Searcy does things. He actually shows you how to do it instead of yelling at you.” That hit me like a two by four. I didn’t realize I did that nor that it had any effect on anyone. It was just how things were done for me.
Two people in the Boy Scouts had profound influence on me: H.D. Polk and John D. (Sergeant) Stokes. Both had infinite patience we me, would show me how to do something, back off, let me try, and only interfere if I did it wrong. They let me make mistakes and then learn from them. I don’t remember them ever losing patience with me as a kid.
Later, I found the same influence with Dr. Thomas Pullen, my major professor for my masters degree. I was in the Coast Guard in New Orleans and getting ready to muster out after four years. I wrote to Dr. Pullen asking if he would consider working with me as a graduate student in botany at Ole Miss. In my letter, I said that I didn’t know if he remembered me.
I took General Botany with him but was one of about 60 students in the class and managed a “B.” It was in my second semester of my sophomore year at Ole Miss I decided to get a BA in biology (I was a late bloomer then as well as now).
That sophomore year, Dr. Pullen had done an exhibit for the department on poisonous plants in Mississippi and I was fascinated. Mr. Polk had done something similar while in the Scouts on edible plants that were in Riker mounts. Dr. Pullen used herbarium specimen paper. That’s when I decided to take his Spring and Summer Flora of Mississippi, a junior level course. I was hooked on botany.
Four years later and I was ready to leave the Coast Guard and wanted to go to graduate school at Ole Miss. I had no idea that Dr. Pullen would remember me from that Spring and Summer course. He immediately wrote me back and said “Of course, I remember you!” I was so excited by those five words. He said he would accept me as a graduate student as long as I met the criteria. I had sent him a transcript so he could see what background I had and he had me take inorganic and organic chemistry and physics, all with labs to bring me up to speed. He became a confidant and mentor for three years at Ole Miss.
When he passed away, his son Thomas offered me his library. I was really moved.
What I’m getting at here is sometimes the least thing we say can have the most profound effect on people. While teaching botany at BCC, I had two sisters who were probably the best students I ever taught. I think most people know Alexander Fleming discovered the antibacterial effects of the fungus Penicillium. What is less known is who was able to purify the active ingredient for use in medicine. Fleming did not accomplish that. It was Norman Heatley. He devised a method of cold filtration to purify the active ingredient so it could be used. Heat purification destroyed the active ingredient and until Heatley came up with the cold purification method, the antibacterial discovery had no functionality.
That apparently caught the attention of the two sisters. I had, at that time, required four take-home essay exams along with four in-class multiple choice exams. The essay exams were five discussion questions. Students had to research each question with a minimum of five sources and write their response complete with citations according to the Council of Biological Editors (CBE) style manual. CBE style is distinctly different from styles used in English papers. Whereas English papers concentrate on page numbers in their citations, CBE concentrates on the year of publication since the later the publication in science, the more up-to-date the citation.
In any case, I don’t think those two sisters ever earned a grade lower than a 94 on the multiple choice tests and always made 95 or higher on their discussion exams. I, of course, had lectured on Fleming, explained Heatley’s contribution and railed that he was overlooked for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. On the discussion question on the next take-home exam I asked “Who was Norman Heatley and what were his contributions?” The sisters went a little overboard. They contacted Norman Heatley who, at the time was still living, and began a lively correspondence via email. He sent them some of his original papers on his research on Penicillium and then invited them to come see him if ever in London. You can guess they blew me away with their answers to the question, particularly when I saw copies of Heatley’s own papers on Penicillium. Much later, they managed to go to London and have tea with the great Norman Heatley.
One of my favorite stories about teaching was a botany student who was a fireman. He was looking to leave firefighting and go into veterinary science. He passed my course with flying colors and asked for a letter of recommendation to University of Florida. I happily wrote him one. We kept in touch for a while and he always asked me to stop in Gainesville anytime I was passing through and see him. On one of my trips, I did. He started to tell me about his courses and how one professor seemed to be the gateway to get into veterinary school. He said everyone avoided the professor at all costs. I asked why and he said because he only gave essay exams. I said “you shouldn’t have any trouble” and he said he didn’t. He also said the professor, after his first essay submission, called him up and asked him how he did so well on his essay unlike the rest of the class. He replied “I had this ass-hole teacher at BCC who made us write like crazy.” He passed the course and got into vet school and is now practicing as a large animal vet.
The reason I’m writing this is there are so many times that something someone says casually that has deleterious effects on the person to whom they are said. Casual remarks can have a lifetime effect on individuals and we should be much more careful with our language. The old saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” is a lie. I’m just thrilled that I have been able to have some positive effects on people during my lifetime. Sadly, I’m sure I have also affected some people negatively with my comments.
I had one rule to myself in teaching and that was to try my hardest not to degrade anyone publicly in class. I would always try to call them up after class and discuss my issue with them in private. I can’t say I always succeeded but I did my best.
When I think of the current political discourse (or lack thereof) I cringe. There’s something to be said for courtesy and politeness and thinking before you speak.