John Rathbone:  

Life I have two sons, both who live in the Washington, DC area. One works for a consulting firm and the other works for an international adoption agency. School I attend Mount Vernon from 1966 to 1970. Perhaps the teacher who had the greatest influence on me was Mr. Pauley. In a very odd way. My sophomore year, Mr. Pauley was assigned to teach the low-level English class. This was a class of slackers and under-acheivers. Mr. Pauley did not like the class, thinking that most of the students were stupid. I must admit that I did not distinguish myself as a student. Embarassingly, I had a D average for the first half of the year. While handing back the first tests at the beginning of the third semester, Mr. Pauley, in a fit of fustration, called the whole class dummies because we had faired so poorly on the test. This did not set well with me. I was determined to prove him wrong. For the last two semesters of the school year, I had a straight A average. In an odd way Mr. Pauley movitated me to excel in school. I went on to college...Expand for more