Chapter 23: John Lounsbury: Wise Educator or Wizard of the Organization?

The two of us shared cherished glimpses of John Lounsbury, a source of inspiration and encouragement both in our work as teachers of middle school students and also in our work in higher education. He managed that magical blending of the serious and thoughtful academic with the whimsy of a jongleur singing to charm middle school teachers and students. In telling briefly how each of us came to know and appreciate this amazing man, we hope to honor aspects of his influence on the field using many of his own words.

The world I encountered when I began teaching junior high school in the late 1970s was a sort of in-between place for most of my colleagues. Not experiencing the real satisfaction of those adoring little children or the real substance of deep dives into biology, history, or English, the junior high teachers I worked with seemed to lament that they had somehow missed out on the very things that made teaching attractive. At the time, people would inevitably ask, “What do you teach?” The high school teachers had smug confidence in responding with their subject matter and the elementary teachers’ grade-level responses drew admiring nods. But those of us who taught junior high learned to shrug off the condolences we received for our responses. It was as though this teaching assignment was an exile to life among an Orwellian race of sub-humans.