Tag Archives: Teacher Politicians

Michigan’s Maxine Berman: English teacher, politician, and women’s health care advocate

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Maxine Berman: Former high school English teacher and elected member of the Michigan State House of Representatives.

Many talented educators leave the classroom to go on to successful careers in politics. One of these is Maxine Berman, a high school English teacher who was elected to the Michigan State House of Representatives.

Maxine was born on April 17, 1946. She grew up in Oak Park, Michigan, and attended Oak Park High School. After her high school graduation, she enrolled at the University of Michigan. Once she earned her degree, Maxine returned to her alma mater, Oak Park High School, to teach English.

After several years, Maxine left the teaching profession to run for political office. She won election to the Michigan State House of Representatives on the Democratic ticket. She served there from 1983 to 1996. During her 14-year political career, the former teacher worked tirelessly as an advocate for women’s rights and other social justice issues. Representative Berman successfully pushed for mammography facilities in Michigan to be accredited, and then lobbied the federal government to require accreditation nationwide. She was a member of the House Bi-Partisan Team, which developed a new strategy for funding pubic schools. She also served on the House Elections Committee, where she created an expedited system for voter registration. Maxine also accepted the post of Chairperson for the Michigan Women’s Campaign Fund, a bi-partisan organization that raises money to assist women who run for political office.

Once Maxine completed her terms in office, she established an advocacy and consulting firm she named Capitol Strategies, Inc. She also became the leader of the Women’s Health Network of Michigan. In 2008, Maxine returned to her roots as a professional educator when she accepted a  position as the Griffin Endowed Chair in American Government at Central Michigan University. She was the first woman to ever be named to the position.

Maxine retired in 2013. Two years later she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. More about this at www.michiganwomen.org.

Sadly, Maxine Berman succumbed to lung cancer on March 2, 2018. She was 71 when she passed away. She is interred in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren: The presidential candidate who once taught Special Ed

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Former Special Education teacher Elizabeth Warren, now serving as a US Senator from Massachusetts. She’s also a candidate for president.

Many people who are paying attention to the upcoming presidential election may be surprised to learn that one of the candidates was once a Special Education teacher. The candidate I am speaking of is Elizabeth Warren, who in addition to serving as a US Senator from Massachusetts, is also running for president.

Elizabeth was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on June 22, 1949. She is the fourth child and only daughter of a middle-class salesman and a homemaker. At her political rallies, Elizabeth tells audiences she was in the second grade when she decided to become a teacher. Unfortunately, when young Elizabeth was only 12 years old, her father was debilitated by a heart attack. Then her mother had to take a minimum-wage job to support the family. Her mother was able to save the home they lived in from repossession, but there was no money left over for college tuition.

When she was a teenager, Elizabeth attended Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City. While there, she excelled at debate. Her exceptional skills earned her a state championship and a scholarship to George Washington University. At the time she was only 16 years old. After one year of study, she dropped out of college to marry her high school sweetheart. Later she completed her degree at the University of Houston, a commuter college in Texas. There Elizabeth earned a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology in 1970.

Once she earned her diploma, Elizabeth inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position teaching children with special needs at a public elementary school. She lost her job at the end of her first year when her principal learned she was pregnant.

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, back in the days when she was a teacher.

After moving to New Jersey, Elizabeth returned to college to earn a law degree. She graduated with her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers Law School at Rutgers University, Newark, in 1976. But she never lost her love for the classroom. She became a college law professor, instructing courses at a variety of institutions of higher learning, including Rutgers, the University of Houston, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University. She taught classes on commercial law, contracts, and bankruptcy. In fact, Elizabeth is ranked one of the nation’s top experts on the effects of financial pressures faced by middle class families.

In 2012, Elizabeth was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent Massachusetts in the US Senate. She has served in this capacity since 2013. In the Senate, she is a member of the Special Committee on Aging; the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. In 2019, the former Special Education teacher announced her candidacy for the 2020 US presidential election.

To read more about the life story of this chalkboard champion, you can examine her website at Elizabeth Warren.

President LBJ: Teacher of English-Language Learners

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President Lyndon B. Johnson, our nation’s 36th president, was a teacher for English-language learners in Texas before he went to Washington, DC.

The role of Lyndon B. Johnson as our nation’s 36th president is well-known, but did you know that he used to be a school teacher? Before he went to Washington, DC, LBJ taught English language learners at a junior high school in Texas.

In 1928, LBJ needed a way to pay for his education at Southwest Texas State College. To do this, he accepted a position as a teacher at Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas, a town on the US southern border. There he taught English as a second language to Spanish-speaking junior high school students.

Despite the language barrier between himself and his students, the future president proved to be an enthusiastic and inspirational teacher, organizing speech and debate tournaments and other activities to help the youngsters learn English. “I shall never forget the faces of the boys and the girls in that little Welhausen Mexican School,” Johnson once remarked. “I remember even yet the pain of realizing and knowing then that college was closed to practically every one of those children because they were too poor. And I think it was then that I made up my mind that this nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American,” he said.

When LBJ became president in 1963, he didn’t forget his days as an educator. While in office, he passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965. The legislation granted federal aid to students in elementary grades to achieve his goal of ensuring that every child received a quality education.

To read LBJ’s own words about his teaching experiences, follow this link to “LBJ the Teacher” on Humanities Texas.

Robert P. Bryan: Teach for America alumnus and North Carolina politician

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Robert P. Bryan, Teach for America alumnus and North Carolina politician.

Many individuals who have made a name for themselves in politics have also distinguished themselves as talented educators. One of these is Robert P. Bryan, a former member of the State House of Representatives from North Carolina. He also served a two-year stint as an elementary teacher for Teach for America.

Rob was born on June 4, 1971, in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. His mother enjoyed a career as a public school teacher and his father was an engineer. His younger sister is Melissa Bryan Kruger, a published author of renown.

As a teenager, Rob attended Sanderson High School, where he graduated in 1989. Following his high school graduation, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There he earned his Bachelor’s degree in History (1993). While in college, Rob was inducted into the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society and the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, where he served as an officer. He was also active in student government and served as president of the Inter-varsity Christian Fellowship.

Following his college graduation, Rob accepted a position with the Teach for America program. Through this program, he taught second and third grade at Abbott Elementary School in Lynwood, California. His classroom was bilingual. Rob’s career as an educator lasted only two years, but during that time his students progressed exceptionally well. During the summer between the two years he was teaching, Rob interned at the Center for Education Reform in Washington, DC.

Once he fulfilled his commitment to Teach for America, Rob returned to North Carolina and enrolled at the Duke University School of Law. He graduated with honors from Duke in 1998.

In 2012, Rob was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives on the Republican ticket. He represented Mecklenburg County,District 88, from 2013 to 2017. While in office, the former teacher served as the Chairman of the Education Appropriations Subcommittee. He also served as the Co-Chairman of the Educator Compensation and Effectiveness Task Force. In addition, he chaired a House Judiciary Committee and the House Appropriations Committee, and he served on the Commerce and Job Development Committee.

Currently, Rob serves as a member of the Board of Governors for the University of North Carolina, a post that he has occupied for the past two years. There he serves as the Chairman of the work group for online education. He also serves as the Vice Chairman for Education Planning and Policy.

To lean more about Rob’s work as a North Carolina legislator, consult this link: Ballotpedia.

Golda Meir: Teacher and first woman Prime Minister of Israel

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Golda Meir: Teacher and first woman Prime Minister of Israel

Many people have heard of Golda Meir, the “Iron Lady of Israeli Politics” who served from 1969 to 1974 as the Prime Minister of Israel. But did you know that Golda was also a teacher?

Golda was born Golda Mabovitch in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 3, 1898. Her parents were Moshe and Blume Mabovitch, and Golda was one of eight children born to the couple. Five of her siblings died in infancy; Golda was the middle child of three surviving daughters. When she was a young child, her father immigrated to the United States; the rest of the family followed him three years later. The Mabovitches settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

As a youngster, Golda attended the Fourth Street Grade School where she graduated as the valedictorian of her class. She then enrolled in North Division High School, against the wishes of her parents, who believed that girls should get married, not pursue an education or a profession. In her freshman year, Golda moved to Denver, Colorado, to live with her older sister, Sheyna, and at that time she transferred to North High School. In Denver, Golda met Morris Myerson, and she fell in love. Despite this romance, in 1915, Golda returned to her parents’ home in Milwaukee, and the following year she graduated from North Division High School.

After her high school graduation, Golda enrolled at Wisconsin State Normal School to pursue a three-year degree in education. During her training, the neophyte educator taught young children reading, writing, and history three days a week at a folkshule, a Yiddish school at the Jewish Center of Milwaukee. She also gave numerous lectures on Zionism, a movement to establish a homeland for the Jewish people.

In 1917, Golda married her long-time boyfriend Morris Myerson. Later, she modified her surname to Meir. In 1921, the fourth year of their marriage, Golda and Morris emigrated to Palestine, where the couple quickly joined a kibbutz. Over the next five years, Golda and Morris had two children: a boy named Menachem in 1924, and daughter named Sarah in 1926.

Unfortunately, Morris contracted malaria, so the family left the kibbutz and moved to Jerusalem, where Golda accepted employment in a government job. She worked as the secretary of the Working Women’s Council, and represented the council at a number of international labor meetings. In 1929 Golda was named a delegate to the World Zionist Organization. In the next decade, Golda organized illegal immigration of Jews to Palestine when it became obvious that they faced persecution by the Nazis. In 1946, at the end of WWII, Golda was appointed the acting head of the Jewish Agency’s political department, a position she held until Israel was founded on May 14, 1948. The former teacher was among the signers of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

Golda began her political career in Israel as that country’s representative to the Soviet Union. When she was elected to the first Israeli Parliament, she returned to Israel, where she was appointed minister of labor and social insurance. While serving in this capacity, she endeavored to solve the most important problems Israel faced at the time: housing and employment for 700,000 new immigrants. In 1947, David Ben Gurion, then Prime Minister of the fledgling country, appointed Golda his Foreign Minister, Israel’s second most powerful position. The only female foreign minister then serving in the world, Golda nevertheless conducted herself in a very informal way. She flew tourist class, hand-washed her own underwear, shined her own shoes, and entertained foreign dignitaries in her kitchen wearing an apron and serving them her homemade pastries.

In 1966, sixty-year old Golda decided to retire from public service, but her political party persuaded her to become their secretary general and the secretary of the Unified Labor Party. When Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died suddenly in 1969, her party prevailed upon her to become Israel’s next Prime Minister. She guided her country through the difficult period of the Yom Kippur War. However, the former teacher was suffering from lymphatic cancer, and because of her declining health and political pressures, she decided to resign in 1974.

Golda Meir passed away on December 8, 1978, at the age of 80. At the time of her passing, Golda was recognized as one of the first women to lead a nation in the modern era.