John's Education (Home)
John P. Bridge
During the early years I did not possess that essential "thirst for knowledge" that educators often talk about. As a matter of fact, going to school was more of a social event to me than an academic one. I did, however, do well in history subjects and in English. Grammar didn't intimidate me, and I loved Lit and Comp.
To the point that by the time I finished 9th grade I had published a poem in a national publication. The work is entitled "The Wanderer," and it appeared in the National Anthology of High School Poetry, 1956.
But I became bored. Things went downhill, and by the time I was a high school junior I had had enough. Deciding that formal education was pretty much a waste of time, I dropped out and, shortly after my 17th birthday, joined the army. I had been warned by a number of people that high school dropouts didn't fare well, but I determined to prove otherwise.
Upon completing basic training I was assigned to Fort Bliss, Texas (El Paso), and to my chagrin I was posted to an ammo dump, along with other high school dropouts, sundry misfits, washouts from this endeavor or that and plain soldiers who the army had decided were headed nowhere.
Talk about drudgery . . . moving crates of ammunition from one bunker to another all day long in the hot desert sun. When things got slow, my colleagues and I were lent to other units to perform additional menial labor.
Limited though I was in the smarts department in those days, it didn't take me long to accept that I had made a near fatal error in quitting school. The realization was exacerbated by the fact that the men in our "sister" company performed important work on ballistic missiles in a "tech" area that one could not penetrate without a "secret" security clearance and, at minimum, a high school diploma. Quite a number of those guys had degrees. I headed for the Army Education Center.
The counselor determined that although I wouldn't have any trouble in English, I would need a little work in math in order to pass the army's version of the G.E.D. I can't remember how many weeks I studied high school-level math before I was ready for the tests.
The battery of tests (I think there were five of them) were completed within a one-week period, and I knew I had done well. The policy was not to apprise the test taker of how well he had done but to merely indicate a passing or failing grade. I passed.
I was immediately assigned to the "sister" company, even though I didn't yet possess a security clearance, which would take about eight weeks. My first course in the "School of Life" had been completed. Lesson learned: Do not quit school and join the army.
The irony, though, still grips me: Technically, I graduated from high school (albeit with a G.E.D.) several months before my contemporaries who remained in school. In the process I had become acquainted with the army's system of ongoing education for its members, and I would use it to my advantage in the coming years. The "thirst for knowledge" had sparked within me.
I spent ten years in the U.S. Army, and during that time I took a number of correspondence courses through the United States Armed Forces Institute (USAFI). Several affiliate schools come to mind, including the University of Maryland and the American University in Washington, D.C.
I was assigned overseas to Alaska, France, Germany and Vietnam, and I traveled to and through many other countries. Talk about a geography lesson, eh?
I got my first taste of construction while assigned to the army engineers in France. We built roads, pipelines, and a sewage treatment facility at Chinon. I was a general construction hand and dump-truck driver.
While in France I became literate (and semi-fluent) in French by employing several methods of self-study. I took French I and II through USAFI, I bought a Berlitz book, and I practiced my diction on the local populace.
During this period I also completed a self-study course in French literature. I became acquainted with Zola, Voltaire, Merimee, Balzac, Dumas (both elder and younger), Saint Exupry, Sand and a host of other famous writers I had not hitherto heard of. I visited the book stalls on the Seine and bought classics in paperback. I read (and appreciated) Les fleurs du mal by the poet Charles Baudelaire and Victor Hugo's Les miserables. Anatole France's Les dieux ont soif took a little longer.
In Germany I studied Modern European History and continued my French language studies. I took a short course in German at night. I traveled throughout the country, from Berlin (then behind communist lines) to the Saarland where I was stationed. From Bremen in the north to Bavaria in the south.
The three years I spent In Europe afforded me the opportunity to make a number of side trips. I went to Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg and maybe a small country or two that I don't recall. Oh, I was in Monaco once. They wouldn't let me in the casino, though. Didn't have a tux. (Didn't have any money, either.)
Deciding I wanted to sample civilian life, I finished my army tenure with a tour in Vietnam and was discharged. I had attained senior non-commissioned officer status, having been promoted to Sergeant First Class (E-7) at the age of 26. There were only a few of us that young, with that rank in the entire U.S. Army.
The apprenticeship program sponsored by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America was accredited. In Phoenix, where I lived, the program was run through Maricopa Technical College. I attended school two nights a week during the school year and worked during the day. A person who completed the four-year course was awarded an associate degree in General Technology. I did not finish the course. In my third year I qualified for my contractor's license in Arizona. I had completed about 40 hours of study, most of it math.
All of this occurred 30 or more years ago. Since then (besides being constantly enrolled in the School of Life) I have interested myself in the early history of our country. I am a history buff who specializes in the Founding Period, which stretches roughly from the French and Indian War (Seven Years War) through the War of 1812. I am particularly interested in what some historians refer to as the Constitutional Period. And I enjoy reading (and arguing) about the lives of the most prominent founders.
I have concluded that all education is self-education. Teachers are there to point the way, inspire the student and provide support. The student does the learning. No teacher can teach anyone anything he or she does not choose to learn.
Never having attained a degree, I nevertheless consider myself well-educated. I have mastered the technical knowledge necessary to my trade, and I have absorbed a bit of the liberal arts to boot.
There was a time when I rode along with Charlemagne, and on another occasion I visited with Peter the Great. I was with William the Conqueror when he invaded England and brought civilization to my forebears.
I have been in Catherine de Medici's bedroom at Blois in the Loire Valley, and I hung out with Leonardo and Michelangelo at Florence during the early Renaissance. I have been within a few feet of both the Mona Lisa (La Jaconda) and the Pieta.
I followed Joan of Arc from her birth at Domreme, through Orleans, Poitiers and Chinon, to her triumph at Reims and to her demise at Rouen.
I stood with Pericles at Athens and with Caesar in Gaul.
There are few liberal arts grads who know Voltaire's real name. I do.
Return to John's well-informed, refined and anything-but-liberal web site.
In August, 2000, I published a short article in the Mukilteo Beacon (Mukilteo, Washington) relating to my junior high school days at Rosehill Junior High. I am interested in contacting people who attended Rosehill with me.