A Day in the Life of a Pedagogue

Mr. B.’s Take on Education
By Nikhil Krishnan

Mr. Robert Blankinship has clearly stood out as one of the most accomplished educators at Schutz. Whether one sees him teaching in his classroom, walking down the stairs, or running his laps after school, Mr. B., as he is commonly known around Schutz, has been recognized as someone who is acutely focused on what he does. Mr. B. has become an essential part of the Schutz community and has shared with us his experience both in education and in life.
Mr. Blankinship was born in Long Island, in New York. He was a good student, but he admits that grades did not come easily walking to him, and that he had to work very hard to earn them. He did his M.A. in Science Education at the University of Texas. Since then, he has taught at various destinations including the U.S., Vietnam, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Liberia, Korea, Singapore, Jordan, and presently, Egypt. He taught for 20 years in Singapore, and he considers it as his home.
His most unforgettable moment as a teacher was at Saigon, Vietnam, from 1970 to 1974, which he describes to be the most exciting and depressing time of his life. He vividly remembers how he and other teachers were being evacuated from the city when the North Vietnamese Communists were approaching the city in 1974. Currently, he has demonstrated warmth for Schutz and has labeled it as “a small school with a friendly environment.” However, at this point of time, he believes that he really needs to “change his lifestyle to the one of semi-retirement in order to have more free time.” “I’m approaching 63, and that’s a good time to be doing that”, states Mr. B.
A model student for Mr. B. is a student who is an attentive listener, a curious person, and a hard working human being. He inevitably values education and is very concerned about how education is being carried out today. “America became a great country because of education,” he states. He is especially concerned about the increase in dropout rates from high schools and colleges. He stated that the main reason for students’ dropout from schools and colleges is because of not reaching their potential as students through either lack of study or inefficient study habits. Moreover, he believes we have quite a few math and science teachers and not enough doctors, engineers, and research scientists, especially those dedicated to the examination of alternative forms of energy. “There needs to be a far greater push to motivate students to enter the sciences and only by having dedicated science teachers is this going to happen.” explains Mr. B.
Apart from enjoying his vocation as an educator, Mr. B. likes to participate in and train for marathons. In addition to that, he likes traveling. He admits to not have traveled inside Egypt as would like, but he definitely plans to when time permits. He has expressed his wish to ease into ‘semi-retirement’ by alleviating his workload to part-time teaching and tutoring, especially training in ESL (English as a Second Language).
Mr B. would like to spend half the year in Singapore and the other half in the U.S. and so forth. Mainly, he would like to stay in Singapore, “I like staying more in one place. It’s nice to have roots and a place to call home. Singapore is that for me.” We earnestly wish Mr. Blankinship to have a good last year in teaching the high school level.