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Scholars at the Starting Line
Then and Now
Glenn Kendall
Charles Merrill- Osenbaugh
Border Lines
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 endall spent four years as the principal of a small high school
and then was asked to be a school principal in Louisville. He
was asked by the superintendent to be on a statewide committee
that was meeting at the University of Kentucky in Lexington to
look at recodifying the school laws (one of which put a ceiling
of $5000 on the earnings of any teacher in the state). It was
the first broadening experience he recalls. The president of the
University of Kentucky told a committee member who got so excited
he stood up, "Sit down, son. It's an unwritten rule. We always
sit in this room. If you sit down, you can always take back what
you said. If you stand, it's a different matter." Kendall admired
his calm and used it often in his years as an administrator.Shortly after that meeting, Kendall's superintendent asked him
what he had said in Lexington. It had been reported to him by
the disgruntled chairman of the State School Board that Kendall
had said he wanted to change the organization of the school system.
Kendall said, "I did say that," and then told him why. "The state
system is not unified. There are the superintendent of schools,
the business manager and the secretary-treasurer. The high school
principal in Louisville, Mr. Noe, walked into the cafeteria where
they were holding classes and the dishes weren't cleaned up. He
told a worker, 'Sarah, clean up that table.' Sarah said that was
not her job and refused to do it." Kendall asked the superintendent
what he would have done, thinking he was starting a conversation
about what happens when there is no coordinated administration.
"I would have picked up a stick and...," the superintendent answered.
Kendall replied, "Well, I was never taught to take care of business
in that way."After four years in Louisville, Kendall was asked to take a job
in a town created by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Norris,
Kentucky. Most people recognize the TVA as a power project, but
few remember that it also was an experiment in social development.
Proposed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was designed to serve the
poor of the region and to improve the quality of life for everyone.
Kendall was asked to be superintendent of education for a school
system that was to be experimental and progressive. Norris was
composed primarily of people who had built the dam, but because
it was part of an exciting social experiment, it drew professionals
and people of power from around the state who wanted to participate
in creating an advanced system. Kendall organized a participatory
school board to help in the planning.After Norris, Kendall decided to obtain a Ph.D. He chose Columbia
for a graduate program because they offered him a scholarship.
He was grateful for that choice because he received a wonderful
education from the most prominent educators and scholars of the
time. Among them was William Heard Kilpatrick, one of the great
American philosophy teachers and the author of Education for a
Changing Civilization. His graduate program provided a unique
opportunity to direct his own education. One-half of his course
work allowed him to go to any class, lecture, or seminar at either
Columbia or another university. He used the time to talk at length
with the best teachers, talk with other doctoral candidates about
the gamut of topics related to education and society, and take
very few classes. "It was the greatest course I ever took," said
Kendall. He experienced the essence of true education: self-directed
and self-motivated, with an abundance of great teachers and resources.He recalls the seminar professor who walked into class one day
and said, "Someday, I'm going to start a new college, and I'm
going to hire only Republicans and Presbyterians." He then went
on with class and allowed no discussion. The students were frustrated
and went home talking about the professor's outrageous statement
and how they would deal with it. The next day, the professor said,
"Now, we can talk." The doctoral students went on to look at the
hiring system in place for colleges and universities at that time.
They examined criteria and the lack of criteria and the objective
and subjective nature of the process. Their discussion was at
a deeper, more involved level because of the professor's ploy.
Kendall offered this as illustration of how he learned about good
teaching from good teachers. He said that although the content
is important, it is the lessons of life that endure.
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