Comments on: Not Quite 2000 Words

By: Roger A. Hofstra

Roger A. Hofstra — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:17:44 +0000

Frank Girard was my English teacher in 1963, and my Rhetoric teacher in 1965. I hated him; he was a perfectionish, who criticized me constantly, held me to account by failing my term paper about two weeks before
my 1966 Grandville High graduation. He tutored me through (but did not help) the rewrite of my term paper.
I had, indeed “plagiarized” one item by probally willfully omitting a footnote.
Fast forward……
Because of Frank Girard and his evenhanded criticism, discipline, integrity and lack of bias, I became an English and Journalism teacher. You guessed it; the kind of English teacher that he was. I excelled in college, creative writing, and teaching because he was my adopted standard. I resented him because I got caught taking shortcuts, not turning in my best work.
He taught me that excellence is both the means, and the
goal. There is no thrill like bumping into a former student of yours 30 years later, to hear “I became a teacher because of you, even thought you were a crabby,
hawk eyed perfectionist, and I thank you for that.” I doesn’t get any better than that, does it?

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 14 May 2011 16:47:32 +0000

…And which is correct: to call it “candle light” or “candlelight” ….?

Okay, I’ve got some “real work” to do now.
Yeah, right.

By: Arnie

Arnie — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:33:45 +0000

I also noticed that it was the ‘candle light’ that was doing the writing…

By: David

David — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:09:30 +0000

Ha! Thanks Christine.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:17:58 +0000

Oh for petessake! I googled Mr. Girard and found this.

I had one hella crush on him in Rhetoric class during the mid-to-late 60s (sorry, but I choose to NOT use an apostrophe when writing 60s, and I expect a thunderbolt full of red ink at any moment).

You could call it a tribute to his class, but for the past 40 years I have often been called “spelling nazi,” “grammar queen” and “teacher” (disparagingly).

Which brings up this observation: what’s wrong with the following sentence, copy/pasted from your entry? ~

“Remember kids, this was back in the day when we our homework was hand written by candle light.”

I have mentally scrawled a red circle around “we our.”

You’re welcome!

By: Accounting Summaries – The Report! | Made2Mentor

Accounting Summaries – The Report! | Made2Mentor — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:03:18 +0000

[...] Ugh. We know it’s a report. It’s redundant and a waste of time to include the word “Report” in your report. This is something else I learned through the pain of red ink from Mr. Girard. [...]

By: Erika Slack Nicholson

Erika Slack Nicholson — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:07:23 +0000

David, thanks for this blog! You recognized a great man! I never had him for a teacher but I did play chess in his office during my lunch breaks. He was a teacher that took the time to talk to students not at them. He never wasted his words. He would as questions and accepted your answer. In my personal case, he had some insights and offered an ear and said if I would talk to him he try to help but he was willing to listen!

He always took the time to encourage and to correct, and always spoke the truth. He loved his job as a teacher and was good at it. And if you needed correction, he offered it too. Thank God, i never made him mad.

He was a great teacher, a great friend. I will never forget him.

By: Mark Teusink

Mark Teusink — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:31:01 +0000

Mr. Girard had me pulled from Baccalaureate practice so he could take issue with me regarding one of the theories I wrote in my paper about dinosaur extinction. As I was supposed to be preparing to graduate high school, I found myself in Mr. Girard’s classroom arguing with him that accidental suicide-by-flatulence was indeed a supported theory at the time. I stood behind my sources, and he eventually let me slide. I think he just wanted me to do just that – claim ownership of my writing and defend it. I think if I were indifferent at that moment, he may have actually given me a failing grade on the paper.

I also remember his poster of Ming the Merciless (from Flash Gordon) on the wall, which was captioned, “Silly humans, who will save you now?” I always found that to be a bizarre and intimidating thing to see every day, which of course is just the way Mr. Girard wanted it.

Mr. Girard was truly a gem. Thanks for the memories.

By: Laura Diekevers

Laura Diekevers — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:56:03 +0000

Dave, this turned out great! Grandville is slowly losing the great icons of our District. It is truly not the same as it used to be. Grandville had many greats during our time there. This is obvious if you look at all the Grandville grads around our age that are now teachers and many of them teacher here in the district.
As you know my dad passed away around the same time as Mr. Girard. Mr. Girard is the only teacher, I think who dared give the Principals’ kid detention – and yes, it was for cross pollination. When I called my dad to tell him I had detention, I remember him laughing and asking “Mr. Girard?”, “Cross pollination?” “Yes,” I answered. This is a tribute to the easy going nature of my dad and the strict morals of Mr. Girard.
He truly was a great teacher. I recall my brother telling me of a class he took at CMU his freshman year where the teacher knew my brother went to Grandville and had Mr. Girard because of his writing style.
Anyway, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

By: Jim Chapin

Jim Chapin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:17:31 +0000

Interesting read. I remember Mr. Girard as well. Only I never had him as an english teacher. His class was only for the serious students. At that time of my life I didn’t have a clue. I knew Mr. Girard in a different way. He was my grandfather’s brother. Well, step-grandfather, but he was grandpa to me for 25 years. Mr. Girard knew who I was, and that is all I wanted him to know about me. Even though not all of us took his class, we all knew his reputation. I was intimidated by him. If I saw him in the hallway, I would turn around and go the other direction. He was not physically intimidating, but he was more intellegent than most. It is funny that you say he said that he was God’s older brother, because Mr. Girard did not believe in God. I knew this because of my family connections. My grandfather did not believe in God either, until I visited him at his death bed. I ended up speaking at my grandfathers funeral, and of course, who did I see. Good old, intimidating, Mr. Girard. In a way, it was my chance to finally face him. I did. I thought to myself, if my grandfather can change his mind about God, that so can his brother. To make the story short, I spoke about God and my grandfather. I could see that it still did not sit well with Mr. Girard, but after the service, he came and shook my hand. He told me nice service and he appreciated what I said about his brother. Anyway, when I read your blog, it took me back to those times. I certainly was intimidated by him back then, but I also respected him.