Friday, March 15, 2024
I would like to share this memory of my outstanding German teacher, Frau Evelyn Reiter. I was in her German class in Metuchen High school in 1966 and 1967. On our first day, she wrote the word, "discipline," on the blackboard, and stated how the root word was related to the word, "disciple," or learner. The connection between learning and discipline was a lesson from her that has stayed with me for all of my life. Later, she related how she and her fellow Jews would teach each other during their captivity, to keep alive and to retain hope. In our class, Frau Reiter was a demanding teacher, in the best sense of that word. She required that we memorize many aspects of the German language, because that was necessary to gain mastery of it. A few years later, as a cadet at West Point, I was in German class and the situation required me to rattle off the table of German articles, by gender and case. My instructor was very impressed and he said to the class, "Gentlemen, this man has an unfair advantage," which is West Point talk for "This guy knows his stuff better than you do." During my army career, I took the Defense Language Test in German, and got the highest rating for a non-native speaker. I was stationed in Germany three times, and my ability in German was invaluable; among other things, it helped me get soldiers out of trouble with the local police! I was fortunate in my life to have had many outstanding teachers, but none had the lasting influence that Frau Reiter has had on me. She was a great teacher and a wonderful person. Vielen Dank, Frau Reiter!
