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The Mentor's Formula to be Educated

As the end of May approaches every year, I doubt I have ever failed to remember Arthur L. Graham, who, although a speech and drama teacher and a student counselor at Galveston's Ball High School for ever and a day, was the highly regarded mentor to many generations of students.  I was one of them.

He insisted that to be well-rounded and educated, you had to subscribe to and read The New Yorker magazine,  at least the Sunday edition of the New York Times (especially the theater section), and the now-defunct Norman Cousins' magazine, The Saturday Review. 

You had to maintain a spiritual development program by reading the Bible and browsing John Bartlett's Book of Familiar Quotations. 

And you could not pass his class without being able to list in calendar date order every Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner from 1918 ("Why Marry") to 1958 ("Look Homeward Angel") and then give a brief synopsis of each.

I can't name every one of the plays anymore, but I have continued the subscriptions to the Sunday Times and The New Yorker, have my Bartlett's where I can get to it quickly, have a strong interest in theater, and I do my Bible study through college lecture DVDs from The Teaching Company (http://www.teach12.com/).

So here it is, new graduates of high school, junior college, senior college and medical school; after 49 years, I can attest that dear Mr. Graham's advice was right on target.  I hope you'll adopt it.  That's your graduation present from me.  Congratulations!