‘I learn from my students’

Point Loma resident Jack Beckman, now 73, worked at Convair as an aeronautical engineer, building B24s, B36s and other airplanes for more than 40 years. When he retired, he turned his sights to volunteering with Project Read, a National City Library program for illiterate adults. He was interviewed by Times staff writer G. Jeanette Avent and photographed by David McNew.

My father died when I was 3 from the flu epidemic in 1918. My mother went back to work for the bank, where she had worked before she was married, and we moved in with her sister.

For seven years, my mother, my brother and I lived in a small house in south St. Louis with her sister and her husband and their two girls. It was a full house. Quarters were close and we learned what community living was. My mother remarried when I was 10 to the only dad I knew, a wonderful man.

Despite everything, I was lucky. I was born and raised in an atmosphere conducive to success. My dad was a scoutmaster, and that was so valuable in my life, and my mom believed in education until the cows wouldn’t come home.

I always wondered why I was so lucky. But my mom taught me there’s always a payback, because there’s somebody who has less than you do, and you have to give them a helping hand. She was always doing something for people.

When I retired, I decided I needed to do something to keep me busy, and I also saw it as this payback, helping-hand idea from my mother.

One of the things I got involved in was Project Read to teach adults how to read. It astounds me how many people can’t read. My youngest student has been about 29, but most are in their 50s and 60s, and both male and female. I try to see them twice a week for at least an hour and a half each time.

Since I started 3 1/2 years ago, I have had about seven students, one at a time. Some I had for as long as one year and others as short as two sessions. I just hate to see someone disappear. I guess I’m not too good of a person volunteering in this area, because it just bothers me, really bothers me when I don’t see them again.

All of my students have had a difficult time at one time or another in their lives because they couldn’t read, but something has caused them to say, “I can’t read and I have to admit it,” whether it’s family, their job, their friends, whomever it is. Something gets to them and they have to do something.

One of my students had a back injury, and he wanted to move up to a supervisory position because of it, but he couldn’t read very well, and it got to be real tough. So I worked with him for a year to get him up to speed.

One of the things I do is talk to my students and find out what their goals are. Some just want to read labels on a bottle. One fellow was a cook and he wanted to read recipes. Another one wanted to read so that when their youngster came home from school and needed help reading, they could help.

The program has all kinds of teaching materials to meet the need of each individual, but somewhere they have to start with the ABCs.

Some of them don’t know the difference between a B and a D or how to sound out words. But one of the things you don’t want is to make it so demeaning that they are reading out of a child’s book. They are, after all, adults. They just have that one thing--they can’t read. The fact that many have high school degrees makes it all the worse because they say, “I have a high school degree, but I didn’t learn to read,” or they tested at about the third- or fourth-grade level.

After three years with Project Read, I’m evolving some instructional materials and trying to get them into the computer system. I make little crossword puzzles on it. To see how well they know the alphabet, I have them find letters on the computer at the library.

I also have them pick out simple words such as at , cat and bat . It gets them acquainted with the keyboard and they learn to form words.

Working on the computer helps them get over the fear of making a mistake. They learn they can backspace and delete; they don’t need an eraser.

Pretty soon they get excited, and once you get them to that point, they’re hooked.

For me, it’s like having a child or grandchild in school. I also want to get the motivated ones to a point where they can go back into the community and help the community.

It’s not enough that people like myself come into a community from the outside and work with them and then disappear.

One of my motivated students, who is about 40, went on to work in a church helping little kids. She said she might not do too well with teaching, but I told her the mere fact that she was there was helping not only her own child but somebody else’s too. Get them young, get them early.

Like any teacher, I learn from my students. First of all, I’ve learned how lucky I am, and I’ve learned how much help is needed. You learn that things you assume, like a student having a car to get to class, you can’t assume. You learn patience, and that money isn’t everything.

Some people just flood the money in to community organizations, but it’s not the only answer.

Everybody has either time, talent or treasure. Treasure is just one piece. The time they have and the talent they have can also be put to use.