TOUGH BUT FAIR

It was August 1970 when I first heard the name George McCrackin. As a
freshman at North Charleston High School while attending JV football
practice, I was informed that we were getting a new science teacher.
He had just graduated from The Citadel and he didn't "take any crap."
Not to worry. How bad could a guy be whose younger sister was one of
the sweetest and prettiest girls in school?

What I was subjected to during that semester left an indelible imprint
on my life. Talk about tough. No nonsense and no excuses. Come on, Mr.
McCrackin, it's just a science project -- what's the big deal? I had
football practice. We've got a big game tonight.

Unfortunately, my father accepted the calling of a church in Maryland.
My family and I moved at the end of that semester. What I learned
later and came to accept was that semester spent with Mr. McCrackin
proved to be an academic turning point in the life of an adolescent
teenage boy; 3-1/2 years later, I returned to Charleston to attend The
Citadel. I never saw Mr. McCrackin again until the early 1990s when a
few fellow Citadel graduates and I attended the College Baseball World
Series in Omaha, Neb. There he was! Now a principal at Stratford High
School who traveled all the way to Omaha to watch a former Stratford
standout and Citadel star athlete compete in the CWS.

In retrospect, I am grateful. I wish I had more teachers like George
McCrackin. Sure he was tough, but he was fair and he really cared
about us. And he convinced us that we were far more capable than we
believed. As a parent, I certainly appreciate it. I wonder how many
other students he touched. I thank God he touched me. Sorry, Rev.
Jackson, no support here for your actions against this man and educator.

Steve D. Peper,

Mount Pleasant