The Impact of Mr. Jones' class

Reflecting on my high school education, I recognize certain classes have had a significant impact on me from a personal and professional standpoint.  One of the classes I didn't enjoy much while taking it has made a considerable impact on me as a leader.  Nope.  It wasn't biology, physics, English, geography, or any other standard high school.  It was a course called History of Oklahoma.

Yup!  In the early 1990s, the state of Oklahoma required students to take and pass a class about Oklahoma history to earn their high school diplomas.  I spent my ninth and tenth grades in Oklahoma and then completed my eleventh and twelfth grades in Kansas.  

In the Spring of 1991, I took History of Oklahoma, which was taught by Mr. Jones.  Mr. Jones was a US Air Force pilot who flew sorties during the Vietnam War.  A couple of times, he had slide shows with pics of him and his buddies in the military.  Mr. Jones' classroom was also quite memorable since he didn't hang any posters, framed pictures, or any other items on the classroom walls.  The walls had a classic white color with a glossy sheen.  The textbooks had a white cover with red font.  It was similar to the 2010 edition of the book.
 (Gibson, 2010)

With all of the eccentricities of the teacher, this class made a significant impact on my life.  I learned about the Comanches, Wichitas, the five civilized tribes and their journey to Oklahoma via the trail of tears.  I also learned about the Cherokee alphabet, Oklahoma during the Civil War, Sooners and many other things.

I was also fortunate enough to know my wife's friend who is a Native American from Nova Scotia, Canada.  My wife's friend is Mi'kmaq.  Reflecting on this time as well and reading presidential biographies, I realized I developed empathy for Native Americans because their lives weren't easy.  I recently read a book about David Grann called The Wager.  It's about British naval officers and crew who get stranded on the western side of Patagonia.  Kawésqar, a southern Chilean native American tribe, assisted the sailors while they were stranded on an Island in Patagonia (Grann, 2023). The now-extinct Chonos, a nomadic native American tribe, also appear in the book (Grann, 2023).  

As a society, we need to make more inroads with the Native Americans and celebrate their culture.  We need to actively engage them as partners to solve humanity's problems.  As you may see, I am a big proponent of leveraging diversity to solve complex problems that require collaboration and consensus-building.  My appreciation for diversity began after I took Mr. Jones's class in his classroom, which had white walls and a glossy sheen.

References
Gibson, A. (2010, August 1).  Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries.  2nd ed. OUP.  https://amzn.to/3wvkERF.

Grann, D. (2023, April 28).  The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.  Doubleday.  https://amzn.to/3SNm9lH

Smith, W. (2011, July 27). flag of Oklahoma. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Oklahoma

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