My Childhood: Mr. Wyckoff - General Shop Class

In my second year of junior high, I signed up for general shop, which consisted of wood, plastic and metal shop. A shop class was required, and a combination seemed like the perfect way to get exposed to several different things in a short period of time.

This class would have been wonderful, except for Mr. Wyckoff. As it was, it was merely interesting.

You see, Mr. Wyckoff was an ex-Marine, and believed in hard discipline. He wasn’t going to take any crap from any smartass little punks. We’d do it his way, and only his way, or we’d feel this wrath.

In earlier years, my teachers didn’t have any hesitation about disciplining their students. For example, in second grade, a teacher broke a ruler over my head when I was misbehaving. Another teacher threw an eraser at me, and several teachers took me over their knee.

By junior high, however, things were beginning to change. Apparently, some new morality was coming into affect. No longer could teachers spank children who misbehaved.

Mr. Wyckoff had other ways of maintaining discipline, however. He made us do push-ups. The worse the offense, the more push-ups we had to do.

One day, I was buffing a piece of plastic, trying to get it nice and smooth, when it caught on the buffing wheel. Rather than get my hands pulled into the wheel, I let go. The plastic went flying and banged into the wall.

Mr. Wyckoff came running over, yelling at me. He told me to do "Fifty, on the floor, right now!"

"No", I said.

"What?" He said, not used to his students talking back.

"I didn't do anything wrong", I said as bravely as I could. "It was an accident."

"Don’t you dare talk back to me, you little ...", He screamed.

We went around and around like this for ten minutes. Finally, Mr. Wyckoff grabbed me and hauled me down to the principles office.

The principle was a very intelligent person, very logical and methodical. He listened as Mr. Wyckoff gave his explanation, then looked at me for a rebuttal.

I told him what had happened, and why I believed I should not be punished. I told him I believed Mr. Wyckoff could discipline any student because he needed to maintain his authority, but that, in this instance, he was wrong. I pointed out that my record in the class, and the school, had been perfect so far. I was not a trouble maker.

I didn’t seriously expect the principle to believe me. I expected him to call my parents. I expected my dad to smack me.

Much to my surprise, the principle believed me. He scolded Mr. Wyckoff, and sent us both back to class.

Mr. Wyckoff didn’t let up after that. However I believe he respected me for standing up to him. He never attempted to discipline me again - I went to great pains to make sure he didn’t have a reason. I really wasn’t a trouble maker, and I think he understood that, after that day.