OPINION – Mr. Chain was a legend
L&T Publisher Earl Watt
I never saw Uncle Eddie studying math or English, but I remember Eddie prepping for his Government final.
His teacher was Mr. Chain. He also taught my brother and me.
I asked him if he could hang on long enough to teach my son, and he said, “I think I’ll make it.” I later asked him if he could hang on long enough to teach my daughters.
“Not happening,” he said.
Ask anyone who had him, and he is either their favorite teacher or at the very least the most respected.
Charles Chain wasn’t showy. He wasn’t looking to be friends with his students, and he didn’t play favorites.
His mission was simple — by the end of the year you will know how the government works whether you want to or not.
Government was my favorite subject. Mr. Chain explained the Constitution from the Preamble to the amendments in a way that made each student he taught understand it.
Mr. Chain was a veteran, and if we could ever get him talking about the Navy we might be able to escape Marbury vs. Madison for a day. There was wisdom in his military stories as well, so it was not a day wasted.
But he would get back on task and back to teaching the critical components of the operation of government.
Mr. Chain was doing more than providing an education. He was creating citizens who would be equipped with the knowledge of their rights and the way laws are created.
A bit monotone? Perhaps. But everything he said was with intent.
Perhaps by today’s standards a Chain lecture might seem boring. Government was not an exciting class for the most part.
But the discussions that became part of class were lively. And Mr. Chain knew his subject matter inside and out.
Even after I graduated and started a career in media, I would check with Mr. Chain from time to time on various aspects of process and governmental action.
Mr. Chain was known as much for his stoic appearance as for the occasional grin, even the rare chuckle.
He was real, and he came with a reputation. Very few students in the Liberal school system who had any relative that had attended Liberal High School didn’t know that one day you would have to pass Mr. Chain’s class.
It was tough material but it was delivered by a competent and qualified instructor.
That’s what made him a legend.
I don’t know the value I could put on every class I took, but I know most value that I can attribute to my education came from Mr. Chain’s government class.
Toward the end of the year, we had to write our own constitutions for are fictitious island nation. Would it be bicameral or unicameral? How long would the terms be and why?
We had our mini constitutional conventions and wrote up our own form of government, and yet none could hold a candle to the one we had come to know in Mr. Chain’s class.
That’s the legacy of the now departed Mr. Chain. He didn’t create high school graduates. He empowered them to be effective citizens. And we owe him our undying gratitude. Thank you, Mr. Chain. Godspeed.
