2006.07.27: July 27, 2006: Headlines: COS - Turkey: Read the Hook: Once President Kennedy died, the stirring call to "ask what you can do for your country" began to resonate much more intensely, and Larry Eicher quickly signed up for the fledgling service organization that had been Kennedy's pet project since the start of the election campaign
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2006.07.27: July 27, 2006: Headlines: COS - Turkey: Read the Hook: Once President Kennedy died, the stirring call to "ask what you can do for your country" began to resonate much more intensely, and Larry Eicher quickly signed up for the fledgling service organization that had been Kennedy's pet project since the start of the election campaign
Once President Kennedy died, the stirring call to "ask what you can do for your country" began to resonate much more intensely, and Larry Eicher quickly signed up for the fledgling service organization that had been Kennedy's pet project since the start of the election campaign
Like many other Peace Corps volunteers-- and many teachers in the U.S., for that matter-- Eicher quickly jettisoned the methods he had expected to use in teaching for the standardized tests. "Kids were just learning the questions-- kind of like the Standards of Learning today," he says, "so we just threw it out and developed our own.
Once President Kennedy died, the stirring call to "ask what you can do for your country" began to resonate much more intensely, and Larry Eicher quickly signed up for the fledgling service organization that had been Kennedy's pet project since the start of the election campaign
COVER- Peace U.: UVA Corps vets tell tales
Published July 27, 2006 in issue 0530 of the HooK.
By Vijth Assar & Rosalind Warfield-Brown vijith@readthehook.com; copy@readthehook.com
[Excerpt]
Larry Eicher
1964-1966
Turkey
<<>>
Larry Eicher's entire future was born on a Dallas street on November 23, 1963. Once President Kennedy died, the stirring call to "ask what you can do for your country" began to resonate much more intensely, and Eicher quickly signed up for the fledgling service organization that had been Kennedy's pet project since the start of the election campaign.
If it was Kennedy who laid the foundation for the Peace Corps with executive order 10924 in 1961, it was Eicher and the crew of 1964 who built the frame-- they were among the very first Peace Corps volunteers, and as such set the course the organization would follow in the years to come.
"Mine was one of the earliest groups going over there," he says. "Part of the problem was figuring out what one could do" in Turkey, where he was assigned. "We spoke English, so we became English teachers."
It would be an understatement to say that they were sorely needed. "By Turkish standards, if you don't have a teacher, you automatically pass," he explains. Scores of schoolchildren were socially promoted by default only to be wrecked when they ultimately faced a curriculum that would often assume two or three years of experience.
Like many other Peace Corps volunteers-- and many teachers in the U.S., for that matter-- Eicher quickly jettisoned the methods he had expected to use in teaching for the standardized tests. "Kids were just learning the questions-- kind of like the Standards of Learning today," he says, "so we just threw it out and developed our own.
"It wasn't a pleasant meeting with the Ministry of Education," he recalls. "Now that I'm retired, I realize in retrospect that it might have been a bit smarter to do it a little more diplomatically."
Eicher spent 30 years in the foreign service, during which time he was sent abroad as a health development officer with the backing of the U.S. foreign aid program
"In 1964-1966 I lived on a dirt road in a two-story apartment building that had just been built. That was 'modern,'" he says. "When we went back, we returned to the site of my apartment, and it was a four-lane dual carriageway. Lining the streets were 10-, 12-, and 15-story apartment buildings, and my little apartment building was long gone. Down the street was a modern movie theater. All those things weren't there in 1964 and 1966. It's amazing."
When this story was posted in August 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
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Story Source: Read the Hook
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Turkey
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By Tom Peters (quaekerstr.inka-online.net - 217.86.157.247) on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 - 4:49 pm: Edit Post |
Iyi günler,
I write to you as former cooporation with peace corps members in Ait Ourir, Morocco
And Bucarest, Romania, have been fertile.
Your work brings you close to the population and to other projects and organisations.
At the moment I study the Turkish language, French and German in order to become a teacher in German and French colleges.
What I offer is one head and two hands during entire march and april 2007 for a project working with children, people living beyond the poverty line or people with disabilities. And I am open to learn about other sectors and ways of acting in a country like Turkey.
I want to communicate with the people in their mother language.
I want to be in charge of finding a family where I could stay and live.
My aim is offering my forces to project that is worth it, and intercultural exchange.
I will be happy to hear your advice via mail or phone
Toms.pt@directbox.com
0049- 761 -76743008
Yours sincerly
Tom Peters Freiburg in Germany, Wednesday 18th october
