The Education of A Schoolmaster: My Years at St. Paul's School [Hardcover]

Jose A.G. Ordonez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 1998

The humorous and poignant memoir of a Cuban-Canadian who taught for 35 years at one of America's premier boarding schools.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Ordonez's literary effort is an interesting memoir of a schoolmaster who gained great respect and many friends from thousands of St. Paul's students and alumni. It is loaded with anecdotes about students and faculty and well-known personalities who visited the school....Ordonez's work is reminiscent of the heartwarming 'Goodbye Mr. Chips,' movie produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s. Mr. Chips, a master at an English school, was timid. Ordonez wasn't. He was forthright....Ordonez's homeland in Havana is never far from his mind. He refers often to his parents who were stranded there, and relates in detail to that New Year's Day in 1959 when Fidel Castro siezed power....The "Education of a Schoolmaster" should be of particular interest to parents who have children attending a boarding school or have thoughts of having them matriculate at one. For alumni, it's certain to provide nostalgia, no matter which school they attended." -- Palm Beach Daily News, 12/6/98

From the Inside Flap

In September 1952 a young Cuban-Canadian named Jose Ordonez arrived in Concord, New Hampshire to begin teaching Spanish at St. Paul's School. Woefully deficient in the skill of explaining the grammar of his native language, unacquainted with basic rules of such established sports as football, hockey, and baseball, and lacking experience in supervising boys over the age of 12, he was poorly equipped to assume the responsibilities of a schoolmaster at one of America's premier boarding schools.

But Ordonez's fine sense of humor, dignity, passion for open honest communications with people of all ages, and determination to succeed more than made up for these shortcomings. By June 1987, when he retired from St. Paul's after 35 years, Ordonez had left an indelible mark on the institution and many of the boys , and later girls, he had known as teacher, coach, and housemaster. He had revived the sport of cross country running, founded and directed for many years the Shavian Society (for devotees of George Bernard Shaw), been housemaster in four dormitories, and developed lifelong friendships with a great many former students and colleagues.

In his memoir Ordonez recounts the story of his education at St. Paul's School with humor and grace. He recalls intriguing conversations with well known visitors such as Dean Acheson, Lester Pearson, Robert Frost, and Carlos Montoya. Though tucked away in rural New Hampshire, St. Paul's was not immune to the upheaval affecting the rest of the country at the nadir of the revolutionary spring of 1968. Ordonez describes the changes the School went through under different leaders in response to new directions in American society.

His homeland was never far from his mind. Ordonez relates in poignant detail the New Year's Day in Havana when Fidel Castro seized power and began the process that would drive his family into exile.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Francis Press; 1 edition (December 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966505107
• ISBN-13: 978-0966505108
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,717,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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