REFLECTIONS ON A BLESSED AND HAPPY LIFE NO. 28: TEACHERS COLLEGE

There was never any doubt as to which college I would attend. I think I was only 5 years old when I announced to my Mother that I was going to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a teacher in the parochial school system of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and that is where I landed.

 In 1945 Concordia Teacher College (CTC) was a very closed institution. It enrolled only LCMS Lutherans aspiring to be parochial school teachers. While it was co-ed it was far different from today’s coed colleges. Males were not allowed to visit the women’s dorms except on a few rare occasions and the women were ordered to keep their room doors open at any of the rare times when males were allowed on the floor. Once a year a wife of one of the Profs gathered the “girls” and gave them a lecture on sex. The women had to be signed into their rooms by 11:00 pm except for once a term when they received a special permit to stay out until 1:30 am.

Academically the school was very traditional. The Profs were committed to their students and all of them had to be rostered ministers of the LCMS. Of course, there were no computers and I had no typewriter. Teaching by assigning group projects was unheard of.

I did not do well in my freshman year and in one term made three grades of “C”. Then I caught on and did well always being on the Dean’s List and eventually graduating with highest academic honors.

Our education courses turned out to be not very helpful. However we had an English professor, Diesing, who taught me how to read, to organize, to write, to appreciate theater. It was also obvious that the teachers really cared about us students. Their office doors were always open. They always knew my name, and gave me much positive affirmation. My piano and organ teachers were unbelievable. All students were required to play an instrument. Teaching me to do that was hopeless, yet my teachers were kind, kept my weekly sessions with them short and encouraged me to fully use my other talents..

 The school helped shape my spiritual values and beliefs. I am grateful to Doc Koehler who indoctrinated me in the Lutheran tradition. Daily chapel attendance was required and not very creative. I now realize that all of this helped my spiritual formation but I also realize that I no longer believe much of what I was taught, especially as it relates to the role of women, the insights on all world religions, the wide arms of grace, the definition of church, the inclusiveness of the sacraments, etc. etc. I am grateful for what I was taught and that I have continued to learn and develop.

In retrospect CTC helped shape me, gave me a commitment to learning, prepared me for graduate work, gave me my first teaching placement and maybe most important of all: gave me the opportunity to meet a young woman named Jane Scheimann about whom I will write in my next blog.