A shared passion for teaching (6/2/05)

Editor’s note: This is the last story in a series highlighting eight Jay School Corporation employees with more than 30 years experience that plan to retire this year.

Jay County High School teachers Jane Switzer and Steve Ford aren’t counting the days until the end of school and the beginning of their retirement.

The couple has been busy writing new lessons for their classes.

“The only reason we know how many days are left is because people keep telling us,” Switzer said last week. “There is a job to be done. I said to someone the other day ‘I assume that somebody will let me know when the last day is and when I am not supposed to come back.’”

The couple is planning to keep their students busy during the remaining days of school.

“We’re not going to sit around and twiddle our thumbs,” Switzer said.

“And we’re not going to show movies and have parties,” Ford added. “We are that old school. That we don’t do that crap.”

Both Ford and Switzer are retiring at the end of this school year. Ford has taught in the Jay School Corporation for 34 years and Switzer has 32 years in teaching.

The rural Redkey couple, who married 10 years ago, both began teaching in Jay County at Redkey High School and later moved to JCHS when it opened in 1975.

Ford, a Jay County native, graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington with a bachelor’s degree and Ball State University in Muncie with his master’s degree. He teaches government and history classes. He taught at Redkey High School for four years before moving to JCHS.

Switzer, who grew up in Kokomo, graduated from Ball State with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Before coming to Redkey, she taught for several years in Kokomo and Valparaiso.

She teaches government, sociology, current problems and U.S. history to mostly seniors at JCHS.

“I have the wonderful opportunity of dealing with seniors. Watching them struggle through their senior year and grow,” Switzer said.

Ford teaches freshmen.

“You have to be more willing to demand. You can give seniors choices. You can’t give freshmen choices ... And not be afraid if they don’t like you,” Ford said.

“We weren’t hired to be popular. We were hired to teach these kids about learning. That learning goes on for the rest of your life, and that learning is controversial,” Switzer added.

The couple repeatedly expressed the importance of students getting both sides of every story, not just being taught exactly what is in their textbooks.

“We think our goal, our responsibility is to take kids out of their Jay County comfort zone ... introduce them to the rest of the world, introduce them to ideas that are different. Not expecting to take our ideas ... There is nothing wrong with Jay County. But we are busy trying to take the controversy out of education, and you (shouldn’t) do that ... You are cheating them,” Switzer said.

“If you don’t rock the boat, they are going to just learn the same things they have always learned. The world is changing,” Ford added. “If it is not making them question their values and think, it isn’t doing the job. I don’t care if it is a book on literature ... it doesn’t do any good to read safe books ... or a concept in geography. ... You have to give them all sides and upset their safe world and give them the opportunity to think. If you are not doing that, you are not doing your job.”

“We want them to question, not just to accept things as face value. We want them to question us,” Switzer said.

The couple agrees that kids have not changed over their more than 30 years of teaching. But parents have.

“We have a responsibility to model behavior for them ... You can’t expect a kid to come to school everyday if you don’t. You can’t expect a kid to work if you don’t. You can’t expect a kid to behave well if you don’t,” Switzer said.

“School is the most important thing in their lives right now,” Ford added.

They also agree that students are what make their job worthwhile.

“You walk out of that room full of 30 kids. And you see the (enthused and pensive) look on their faces. You can’t buy that,” Ford said.

“There are people who teach, and there are teachers. It’s true in every field,” Switzer added. “Kids are the wonderful part of this job. They haven’t changed much ... It’s a good job. It’s not a job. It’s a passion.”

Ford realized the power of this passion following an experience earlier this school year involving a student teacher from Taylor University.

A bright, young man, as Ford described him, worked with him for three weeks. One day the student teacher didn’t show up to school. Later that day, he called Ford and told him that he didn’t want to be a teacher anymore.

He told Ford that he could see Ford’s passion for teaching — a passion that he thought he didn’t possess.

“I didn’t know what separates those who can (teach) and those who can’t (teach). It’s passion,” Ford said.

“It’s a love for kids, and we’re in the kid business,” Switzer added. “This has been a good place to be. It will be hard to leave. I think that it is just starting to sink in ... It’s good work. It’s a good place, and it’s a good community. I am very proud of this place.”

Although they will miss teaching, Switzer said that the couple has never had a hard time filling their time.

Outside of school, Ford helps farm land with his family, and the couple has a “sheep hobby that has totally went awry,” Ford said.

They now have 53 ewes, four bucks and approximately 50 lambs. By fall, their herd will be back down to 50 sheep.

“In 1996, I had five student council officers, who were seniors, who apparently wanted to give me something that would never allow me to forget them,” Switzer said, adding that with Ford’s help the students bought her a Shropshire sheep. At that time she served as the student council and senior class sponsor.

“I’ve done a little bit of everything in my life. I’ve farmed. I worked in industry. I’ve had too many jobs. But (teaching) is the hardest job I’ve ever had, hands down. If it’s done right, you go home from here tired. Physically and mentally ... You never get paid enough,” Ford said.

“But you get paid in ways that you can’t ever put any dollars and cents on,” Switzer said. “Watching them get excited about learning. Watching the lights come on when they grasp an idea.”

The couple also plans to visit with their four children and four grandsons and travel.

They intend to drive Route 66 and have talked about taking an Alaskan cruise. Ford also plans to continue his yearly fishing trips with their two sons.[[In-content Ad]]