President Bush and Sen. Kerry can argue over education all they like, but I do not believe it is as good or as bad as they respectively claim. Some schools may be in trouble, but thankfully not here in Catoosa County.

I am a firm believer in our public education system. A product of Catoosa County schools myself; I know the benefits firsthand.

And I’m certainly not saying private schools or home schooling are not viable, even valuable, alternatives. But the naysayers who claim public schools are failing our children are not correct concerning Northwest Georgia.

Just look at the school system’s record. Catoosa County has six Georgia Schools of Excellence, four Pay for Performance Schools, three National Blue Ribbon Schools, three Comprehensive School Reform Grant Recipient Schools, 14 Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Accredited Schools, two Georgia Dream Schools, two 21st Century Grant Recipient Schools, a Core Knowledge School, and an America’s Choice School.

Beyond the facts and figures of awards, however, are stories of seemingly small but life-changing events.

Many students realize too late the positive impact teachers have on them. Yet if we think hard enough we can all look back to our school days and find occurrences we consider turning points in our lives.

I know a man with one such story. For him the turning point in his young life came in 1981 at Ringgold Intermediate School.

My classmates and I, roughly midway through our 4th grade year, were busy with the business of learning. From health and P.E. to reading and math, we were with varying degrees of eagerness topping the building blocks laid in the previous grade with more knowledge.

But there were always a few children who struggled with the basics, the aforementioned student being one of them.

Though not severe, these children were termed “learning disabled” or “LD” for short. When math, English, or whichever subjects their particular difficulty began, they would leave the regular classroom and go to their other teacher in the Special Education department.

The boy in question struggled with both math and English, attending Special Ed classes since Kindergarten. But his 4th grade year proved to be a turning point.

One of the many seeds planted by his parents, in this particular case by his father, flourished under his regular classroom teacher, Ms. Scharff.

February came, and the classroom bulletin board featured images of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The boy, who no doubt saw in previous years the images of the two great presidents without any interest, took note this time.

He had received an 8-track tape the previous Christmas containing four episodes of the 1940s Superman radio show, one of them making note of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

He asked his father what the speech meant, and instead of receiving a quick answer his father handed his son an encyclopedia so he could learn for himself. For reasons to this day he can neither fathom nor explain the boy began to memorize Lincoln’s most famous speech.

When Ms. Scharff began teaching the class about Lincoln the boy took the first available moment when no other students were around to tell his teacher what he was learning.

Perhaps she stifled a surprised look, given the boy’s LD classification but nevertheless asked him to present what he had memorized to the class.

I remember him standing before the class, obviously nervous and on unfamiliar ground. As best my memory can recall he delivered what he had memorized up to that point — about half of Lincoln’s speech.

Afterward, Ms. Scharff asked the little boy, the one some of his fellow students made fun of as stupid, to finish memorizing the speech and to represent the entire class in presenting it to the PTO. He agreed, but too shy to do this alone in front of an audience of parents, teachers, and students, asked that his friend also be allowed to memorize the speech.

She agreed, and the boy and his friend learned the speech, presenting it together without a hitch.

As a direct result of Ms. Scharff’s faith the boy began, slowly, to turn around.

Not that previous teachers lacked concern, but this particular educator who challenged him to learn the speech did more than impart knowledge. She helped him develop a love of learning — the true goal and measure of success for any educator.

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. It is the same with education. Drill into a man’s head the facts and figures and he’ll succeed at test time. Instill in him a love of knowledge and he’ll succeed for a lifetime.

And the teachers who followed Ms. Scharff stoked the spark in the boy. After presenting the speech, he tenaciously latched on to the seemingly one thing he was good at.

He consumed every book in the school library on Lincoln. And, as you cannot study any great figure from the past without also becoming acquainted with the world around them and the events they influenced, the boy quickly moved on to books focusing on the Civil War.

A mere brushstroke on the broad canvas of history, Lincoln and the Civil War served as the catalyst for a love of history in general. His teachers, to whom he owes so very much, were supportive all through the remainder of his academic career.

And if you wonder where that little boy ended up, a brief biography is attached at the end of this column.

Yes, I am that once small boy. I sometimes wonder where I would be if not for a simple and seemingly ordinary request from my 4th grade teacher.

God indeed works in mysterious ways, and I would not presume to guess the alternate path my life might have taken.

My story is not one of boastful pride but rather of sincere thankfulness and deep appreciation not only for Ms. Scharff but to all the teachers who did not give up on me, who did not merely shuffle me through grade after grade, and who cared enough to make the extra effort to help me.

Were I to try to name them all I would surely leave too many out, as I do not remember every specific instance of their kindness to me.

But firm in my memory is the knowledge of true care and concern from all of my teachers in the Catoosa County school system. I humbly and sincerely thank them all.

Jeff O’Bryant is an amateur historian and holds two degrees; a bachelor’s in education and a bachelor’s with honors in history. He is a columnist and staff writer for The Catoosa County News and can be contacted at jeffobryant@catt.com.