{"id":22277,"date":"2022-09-26T10:29:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T14:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22277"},"modified":"2022-09-26T10:36:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T14:36:48","slug":"episode-649-the-day-i-met-john-ricker-septmeber-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22277","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 649 THE DAY I MET JOHN RICKER, SEPTMEBER 1963"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 649   THE DAY I MET JOHN RICKER, SEPTEMBER 1963<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Sept. 24, 2022<\/div>\n

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THE DAY I FIRST MET JOHN RICKER\u2026SEPTEMBER 1953<\/div>\n

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John Ricker was 40 years old when we first met.  That was 1963 and I Was 25 yeas old and about to become a high<\/p>\n

school history teacher.  Our classroom was jammed with potential teachers most of whom seemed to know a lot<\/div>\n
more about history than I did.  All recent U. of  T. graduates.  Perhaps a little arrogant.  Young men and women who felt <\/div>\n
they were on top of their game. Sure of themselves.<\/div>\n

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John Ricker was an air force veteran of World War II bomber command. A tail gunner.   He had survived the war which<\/div>\n
is more than a lot of his friends had done.  He was a top student  with a searching mind and an obsessive interest in<\/div>\n
discussion of world issues.  Born in 1923… a ten year old Depression kid in 1933, a 20 year old tail gunner in 1943, a master <\/div>\n
teacher of high school history in 1953,  a professor at the Faculty education in 1963 when we first met.<\/div>\n

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Our class was noisy when he entered the room.  Explosive. Packed room. Not all.seated.  John threaded his way to the front.<\/div>\n
One hand held a cup of coffee, a lit cigarette in the other hand.  He said nothing<\/div>\n
but looked at us,  Then he took a long sip of the coffee.  Said nothing but began making eye <\/div>\n
contact with us.  Then he took a long slow drag on the cigarette.  Exhaled.  still said noting.   The room became <\/div>\n
dead quiet.  John Ricker’s eyes darted from student to student.  Still he said nothing but took another<\/div>\n
slow sip of coffee.  Absolute silence.  Another drag on the cigarette..long drag, slow exhale. Dead silence.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Then he spoke.   That I remember.  Not the words but the deep resonant sound. What he said I do not remember.   Might have been something like<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy are you here today?\u201d or  \u201cSo, you want to be history teachers.\u201d or \u201cA B52, fully armed nuclear bomber flew<\/div>\n
of over Toronto today  as it does every day \u2014 Why?\u201d The year was 1963 and the threat of nuclear incineration was in the<\/div>\n
back of all minds on earth.  Could we, as teachers of history, do anything to promote world peace? <\/div>\n

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John presented big questions.   Few words. Words that invited discussion.<\/div>\n

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He got immediate respect.  John Ricker had charisma.  He ws a leader \u2026 dominant.  And achieved this by silence.<\/div>\n
There was another facet of his personality revealed as we looked at him.  A light urging up of his upper lip, maybe\u2026 Or was it a twinkle in the<\/div>\n
eye.  Not sure what it was he did but there was humour in his facial expression. He was a funny man at times.<\/div>\n

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I was not afraid of him but I knew he expected me to delve deeply into my  mind that day.  Could I do it?  Could I measure up? Could I shoulder the<\/div>\n
challenge of shaping young minds?  John Ricker threw out a challenge that day and he did it by the force of his own personality<\/div>\n
He was a teacher par excellence.   In the silence of that room, that day, was the one key element of teaching success.  Respect.  When respect<\/div>\n
is present all things are possible.  Without respect not much is possible.  John Ricker got respect coupled with humour.  A cup of coffee and<\/div>\n
a cigarette.  Later in his life when he married Marvi, he gave up smoking.  But not coffee.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Alan Skeoch<\/div>\n
Sept. 24, 2022<\/div>\n
\n

<\/div>\n
THE DAY I SAID FAREWELL TO JOHN RICKER\u2026.SEPTEMBER 24, 2022<\/div>\n
(next episode)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 649   THE DAY I MET JOHN RICKER, SEPTEMBER 1963 alan skeoch Sept. 24, 2022 THE DAY I FIRST MET JOHN RICKER\u2026SEPTEMBER 1953 John Ricker was 40 years old when we first met.  That was 1963 and I Was 25 yeas old and about to become a high school history teacher.  Our classroom was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}