Archive - February 2013

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Bridging the Xavier-Sapuk Gap

Bridging the Xavier-Sapuk Gap

I’ve been back in Chuuk for the past week as part of an effort to push education reform there. Toward the end of the week, I found myself back at Xavier High School–the place where I was first introduced to the islands just 50 years ago. Xavier is also the new home for the MicSem library. So this trip was something of a sentimental journey for me.

But the flow of memories took some strange turns. Barely an hour after my arrival at Xavier, a man came up and introduced himself as Basilio, one of the workmen at the school. When I told him that I was once director of the school, he said that he remembered me at that time. I asked him how long he had been working at Xavier. ?Six years,? he said. ?Not far enough back,? I replied, ?I was director long before then, during the 1970s.? He smiled but insisted that he knew me long before he began working with the school. ?Don?t you remember?? he said. ?I was the guy you tackled and arrested when I was drunk one day.? Read More