Six years ago I was teaching in a suburban junior high school of about thirteen hundred students. To my dismay I was unsatisfied with my job, my students, the world, and myself. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of inharmony in my daily life.
I worked in an overcrowded classroom with a number of juvenile delinquents. Many of the students indulged in vandalism, smoking, drinking, drugs, and theft. My ideal was to conduct every class on the basis of the Golden Rule (see Matt. 7:12). However, this attitude seemed to annoy many of the students, and several of them threatened me and my property from time to time.
In addition to the feeling of unrest, I was not utilizing my talent to its fullest. My college degree was that of a double major, and I was licensed to teach much more than my duties allowed. I decided to earn a master's degree so that I could be delivered from this unhappy situation by teaching college. While still teaching during the day I enrolled in graduate school and attended classes at night.
