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- Dr. James Barnard
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. James Barnard
LB: You’ve done many things for the department, the College, and for the University among those which do you hold most dearly in terms of your accomplishments and contributions?
JB: Well, I think the research projects that I was involved in the ‘70s was important to me because it helped train me in terms of a bigger view and it held me to certain constraints that I’m not naturally held to, research design. So I think it was very good. And I think we came up with some very interesting results. We found, and today it may not be so surprising, special education students in regular classes were doing better in reading than children that were in special education classes. Yes, these were kids who had been labeled in those days mildly mentally retarded should not be excluded from the usual education environment on the pretence that they couldn’t make it. After all, whose challenge is it that they can’t make it? We might even be speaking of those students who had been labeled as Down syndrome. We’re talking about kids that function socially well in a full functioning class. Probably the most important contribution I made at USF, and continue to make in my second career, is that of the individual relationship I was able to establish with students. This is certainly the contribution I was most proud of. I believe it is through the development of personal relationships that one can make the largest and longest lasting impact on others. I think the most effective way you can really change behavior is through that personal relationship. The stuff of personal relationships runs deep in a personality with roots certainly back into earliest childhood. Identification is a most important construct. Sure, if a person’s already motivated and has a direction they want to take, fine, help them to make their way. But the majority of people I’ve worked with aren’t really so sure of their direction. They need your time and what you can contribute, and I don’t necessarily mean time in class but outside of class. I think that if everyone could do that that would make a difference. That’s what I would do as a counselor at Metropolitan Ministries as the coordinator of the Adult Education program.
LB: Do you have any interesting stories, antidotes, or experiences humorous or otherwise that you’ve experienced while here at USF that you could share with us?
JB: Well my whole approach is one of humor. I think it is because of maybe insecurity, or whatever. But I always look for the funny things. There are funny things happening dozens of times everyday. I don’t know if I can think of anything specific but I’ll have to say that the funniest thing I ever heard happen didn’t happen to me but it happened to Bill Katzemeyer I hope he won’t mind me mentioning this. Bill was an avid flyer as you know; flying his plane everywhere he wanted to go. One day he was parking his plane at the Tallahassee airport and inadvertently whacked the plane next to his. As one might do in a similar situation with your family car, you would leave note on the windshield of the “whackee.” So, Bill went about his business in Tallahassee, which was to attend a meeting with some big-wig legislators to try to convince them that the College of Education at USF was deserving of some grant money. As the meeting was about to start in walks the chair of the education committee, all red-faced with this little piece of paper in his hand looking for the writer of the note who had signed it Bill. I never really knew how the story ended, but it did give me several moments of pleasure.
LB: We’ll have to ask Bill about that.
JB: Yes, he probably won’t remember but I think he gave up his license afterward because it got to be kind of scary.
LB: If you were able to pass on sentiments to former students, particularly students entering into USF in the teaching profession, what would you tell them about the College of Education, about their careers?
JB: Well, I think that I would have to say something that they would believe. As you get older the one thing you have to pass on is that you can share things you’ve been through. I would tell them to find an environment that is good in which the people influencing it allow you to share what you have to offer. Again it is important to allow people to do what they need and can do. I watched my colleagues and the range of approaches they took. Although I didn’t agree with them all, they all were allowed to move ahead in their own way. And I am sure that they all had a certain cadre following them that said,”A.” This is the best way that you should teach. So, there wasn’t one way there were just many ways. So, USF gets very high marks in that regard and I don’t think that’s true in every College of Education. In my position right now as the coordinator of adult education at Metropolitan Ministries. My interest is, and has been for a while, life long learning. I know it has been an interest of yours too, Lou. But it doesn’t necessarily occur everywhere so I would say to prospective students that in the teaching profession find a place where you feel you can do those kinds of things that you know because of your own gifts are going to make the biggest difference. When you find that people are trying to put narrow restraints on you be very aware of that.
LB: Did you sense that in the beginning, even in the interview process or did you learn it after you got here?
JB: I have to tell you the truth. When I first came to USF I felt it wasn’t so much that people were making conscious effort to let me do what I wanted to do, it was chaos. It was kind of like they didn’t know what I was doing it and they probably didn’t care as long as I had work to do, something. From that kind of environment it evolved. I must say the presidents from the very beginning with John Allen and Cecil Mackey even allowed it. I thought they were very supportive of that kind of approach, that you could do the kinds of things you wanted to do. So I think it was here, but I can’t say it was a conscious effort.
LB: Again, without the tradition, we didn’t have walls to break down. We could grow in many directions.
JB: Well, I have to tell you I don’t know if have a lot of time, but I have to tell you this one thing. The first day I was here, on the job, this was in July 1968. I am sitting was sitting in my office which was in the old apartment complex, which has been now replaced by those office buildings.
LB: Those on Fletcher avenue?
JB: Yes, and I was sitting there looking out on this field. And in the field there were all these weeds with a lone dead tree trunk sticking up. And it crossed my mind, “What have I done?” Then I thought, well, there certainly is a lot of room to grow and do your thing.
LB: Were you sure to walk on the sidewalk and not on the grass?
JB: Well, like everyone else probably not. But, I must say, I believe the grass came later.
LB: Well, thank you so much for your time and your willingness to come in and share your experiences at USF. And, thank you for your many contributions to the College of Education and all that you continue to do for the community.
JB: Good. It has been a pleasure.
End of Interview