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The night of their first date, after he had picked her up at her
dormitory, another beau Barb and I were there because we’re very sentimental about the Hurts. Mr. Hurt was the principal for 30 years of Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, from 1954 to 1984, the school from which we both graduated in 1959; Mrs. Hurt taught there for many years, too. So what relevance does a long-retired high school principal from Charlottesville have for the rest of the state, all these years later? Ben Hurt is relevant because his methods, even today, would be a positive approach to education’s woes, wherever the school, whoever the students, whatever the era. Are there problems in schools today far different from anything Ben Hurt
ever saw during his many years in academe? Indeed there are, but the
philosophy, character, wisdom, passion, training and conviction that he
brought to education would still go a long way toward straightening out
much of what we see and lament in our schools today. Ben Hurt is one of my heroes, too. Back in the Sixties, when integration was about to take place at his school and all across Virginia, Mr. Hurt made a number of visits across town to what was then the black-only high school, talking with administrators, faculty and students there, speaking at their assembly, listening and learning what he and his school might expect, and sharing what might be useful to those who would soon become part of a new academic environment. He also welcomed representatives from the black high school at Albemarle
for a further exchange of information, putting together an assembly for
them with his students. When integration came, he made sure the students
from across town could assume positions of leadership in the Albemarle
student body. Hurt was ahead of the curve in many ways. In the same interview, he lamented those years when state and local policy decreed that pregnant students were summarily removed from school—an end to their education, he said regretfully, exactly at the time when they, about to be mothers, needed it most. Those are big things, philosophical leanings ahead of his times. But they are not what Ben Hurt is best known for in Albemarle County. Mr. Hurt is famous for always knowing the name of each student in his
school—and not only the student’s name but in most cases the names of a
student’s siblings and a good many things about each family. Whether he
had 800 in the student body on any given year, or 1,500, or sometimes
even more than 2,000, he knew their names only a few weeks into each new
academic year. What a feat! Think of the hours of studying records and
pictures that went into that, and imagine what it meant to the obscure
adolescent whose principal recognized him in the hall. Randy Fitzgerald is chair of the English and journalism department at Virginia Union University. He is a former Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist and University of Richmond administrator. His blog is www.randyfitzgerald.blog.com. |
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unexpectedly showed up to ask her to a movie,
but she was gone. The second swain told her later that he wasn’t feeling
too bad about it until she and her new suitor sat directly in front of
him in the theater.
