A quality education lasts a lifetime

Somewhere I read that the mind can absorb only what the seat can endure. The mind is like a sponge: the more it absorbs, the weightier it gets. Educators that I admired in the good old days were the old timers who lived by the motto “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”

I am a proud 1951 graduate of Youngstown College, now Youngstown State University. I attended Lincoln Elementary, East High and Youngstown College.

My all-time favorite instructor was my no-nonsense East High School mathematics teacher. He taught my favorite subject called solid geometry. I was a junior or senior when I signed up for the course. At the time, he was also my homeroom teacher. I wasn’t too keen on taking any more math courses and he told me, “You are going to sign up for solid geometry, period.” A course he taught and a great decision.

He also gave our math class the most memorable quote that I can recall: “You can’t plant seeds on rocks, you must crush them first; after they are pulverized, then plant the seeds.” His advice is still in my memory bank, which is now 77 years later.

My mother was an advocate for education. She completed sixth grade in the old country (Italy), which she felt was equal to high school in the U.S.A. My father completed the third grade and quit school to become a lumber jack in Italy and help his father and three brothers cut down trees atop the Apennines Mountains in Italy.

They would convert the lumber into charcoal and then sell the charcoal by the sack to the villagers for heating purposes.

He could have used a teacher like my no-nonsense high school math teacher to encourage him to continue his education. A quality education lasts a lifetime.

Michael J. Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and member of the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.