An Old Quarrel Story
“Old Quarrel,” John Ransack asked the man as they walked across campus one day, “Who’s the most important person in class?”
Before Old Quarrel could answer, John Ransack continued: “It’s the student, right? The student is the most important person. Without her there’s no class!” he practically shouted in self-satisfied triumph.
“Well,” Old Quarrel began. He often began this way, somewhat lugubriously, when he saw that he needed to bring his young friend down gently. “Well,” he began again, “that isn’t wrong. Classes need students. But classes also need teachers. If there is no teacher, folks can certainly learn, but that isn’t a classroom – it’s a coffee shop.”
“Then who?”
“The janitor.”
John Ransack knew there might be an explanation if he waited, so he did, keeping his mouth shut. Old Quarrel noticed and seemed pleasantly surprised. He smiled.
“You could be your own janitor, of course. Booker T Washington built his first school for teachers alongside his students, and they cleaned the same classrooms they studied in. What I mean is that the janitor’s job makes the biggest difference.”
“But there are janitors everywhere,” John Ransack blurted out. He could only keep quiet for so long.
“Yes,” Old Quarrel continued, “but look at it this way: if a student is sick, she’s marked absent and that’s the end of it. If you, the teacher, are sick, there can be a substitute. If an administrator is sick, no one even notices, except for a few folks who dance a jig when they realize they can get some real work done. But if the janitor’s sick? The school would shut down in the blink of an eye.”
“Never forget,” Old Quarrel said at last, “that as a teacher you prepare young people for every kind of task in the world. If they don’t respect the task of the janitor, then you haven’t really done your job.”
When they got to Old Quarrel’s classroom, John Ransack wiped down the desks and picked trash up off of the floor.