Thursday, July 16, 2020
Bruce Getzan was one of my most beloved teachers and he inspired me to a great extent regarding social and political injustice and how these are influenced by public policy.
Mr. Getzan (as he was known to us then) was a young, American History and American Government teacher at Sterling Hts High School; I took his classes in 1972 - 1974.
He was inspired and ON FIRE every day in that classroom! Mr. Getzan sparked intense debate of the most controversial and impactful issues of the day to promote independent and critical thinking and to get his students to debate re: the Vietnam War, Watergate, racial injustice, and the ongoing struggle of the USA to live up to it's creed of 'liberty and justice for all!'
One of the most memorable segments he taught was a 10 week exploration of the most commonly employed methods of propaganda used by politicians, the press, etc., and it was incredibly enlightening. I STILL refer back to that list of specific definitions when analyzing what I am reading, some 49 years later!
I LOVED this teacher, and I couldn't wait to go to his class. A lot of kids in Sterling Hts in the early 1970s had pretty narrow views of political/social/racial issues; I would say they were fairly brainwashed.
Bruce Getzan effectively blew the doors off of those limited parochial vantage points, like some kind of avenging SPOTLIGHT!!!
Bruce Getzan had dramatic impact on me as a developing adolescent, as I am sure he did countless others. The exponential ripple effect of this kind of inspiration and illumination by an impassioned teacher in the culture at large can never be overstated. Mr. Getzan truly DID change the world!
My career was in public policy in the State of AZ for 30 years, where the policies I coordinated/developed/implemented impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and families in my state.
Mr. Getzan was one of my KEY mentors, who greatly sparked my passion for public policy solutions to societal problems.
I LOVED this man, and I will NEVER forget him!
Rachel (Gail) Guilbault
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