In her book, Judyth describes Lt. Col. Phillip Doyle, a retired
military officer and one of her teachers at Manatee High School as her
"high school mentor and hero." She notes he had im****tant links to
scientists, doctors, politicians and had conservative military
friends.
On page 2, she writes,...
QUOTE [all emphasis mine-bj]
Col. Doyle's conservative military friends, learning of my desire to
read scientific journals from Russia, decided to ORGANIZE A RUSSIAN
CLASS AT THE NEW LOCAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE SO I WOULD BE ABLE 'to re****t
on what Russians were publi****ng' in the cancer research field. THEY
LOCATED AND HIRED A RUSSIAN INSTRUCTOR, DR. T. CONCEVITCH, TO TEACH
EVENINGS AT MANATEE JR. COLLEGE -- AND PAID MY FEES. There were some
fifteen students in that FIRST RUSSIAN CLASS. I switched to an audit
basis after missing three cl***** in a row AFTER winning top honors at
The Florida State Science Fair, becoming ONE OF TWO STATE DELEGATES TO
THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FAIR IN INDIANAPOLIS.
END QUOTE
That places this "first" Russian class, especially arranged, with
instructor especially hired to teach it for her, in the SPRING
SEMESTER of 1960.
I had learned from the registrar at the college (now called Manatee
Community College) that in the 1960-1961 time frame I had asked about,
there was a course in Russian and it was taught by an instructor named
Concevitch.
So far, so good.
But, I had also googled Russian and Manatee Junior College and 1960.
And this came up:
QUOTE
JSTOR: Russian in the Public and Private Schools of the USA 1959 Feb.,
1960. Russian in the Public and Private Schools of the USA I959 HE
introduction ... Manatee Junior College, Bradenton, Fla. South Broward
High School, ...
links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7902(196002)44%3A2%3C77%3ARITPAP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U
- Similar pages - Note this
END QUOTE
1959? I was curious. So I clicked on it and went to this "JSTOR" site
which said I was not authorized to access the article.
Turns out JSTOR is an "interdisciplinary archive to sup****t
scholar****p and teaching" ...it's an archive that institutions,
libraries, colleges, etc can pay to join and have access to articles.
I was able to read the article through an institution that belongs to
JSTOR.
There are obviously restrictions, so I am not able to reproduce the
article here, but do have the im****tant part to quote ...and will
provide the link to the JSTOR site and this article. Anyone interested
can find a library or college, whatever, that belongs and ask for
access.
The title of the article is:
Russian in the Public and Private Schools of the USA 1959
Author: Fan Parker [yes...FAN is correct-bj]
Published in The Modern Language Journal, Vol 44, No. 2, (Feb. 1960),
pp. 77 - 81.
The intro is:
"The introduction of the Russian language into the American school
curriculum has grown from a negligible beginning in 1957 to the
encouraging number of 313 in 1959.*
The list which follows reveals the scope of this educational
phenomenon."
The * goes to this note: "As tabulated by the National Information
Center at Brooklyn College."
The rest of this article consists of the list by states, and schools
within those states, offering Russian language courses BY 1959.
It does not indicate which year the course started in any particular
school ...whether it was 1957, 1958 or 1959.
Listed for the state of Florida are 7 schools.
One of them is "Manatee Junior College, Bradenton, Fla."
The other schools listed for Florida are high schools in:
Miami
North Miami
Melbourne
Hialeah
and 2 in Fort Lauderdale
Judyth claims the Russian class taught at Manatee Junior College was
organized, staffed and started for her by conservatibe military
friends of her Col. Doyle in 1960.
This article lists Manatee Junior College as a Florida school that
already HAD a course in Russian by no later than 1959.
Did Judyth take the Russian course that Spring of 1960?
Maybe ... maybe not.
I received this e-mail from the registrar at the college in response
to my verification of attendance query:
QUOTE
From:"Registrar" <registrar@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
[Add to Address Book]
To:<barbjfk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject:RE: Attendance verification request
Date:Wednesday, April 09, 2008 6:47:25 AM
[View Source]
We do not show that Judy A Vary ever attended here; unless she had a
previous name. We had an instructor by the name of Concevitch and
Russian was taught during that time. That is all the information that
I am able to provide.
Registrar Office
PO Box 1849
Bradenton, FL 34206
(941)752-5050
FAX: (941)727-6380
END QUOTE
BUT NOTE!
I received word from another researcher that he had phoned the school
at some point in time in the past and asked to verify Judy Vary having
attended ... and he says he is sure they told him she did.
IMO, it is more likely for someone to overlooks a name (misfiled?)
than it is likely that one would confirm seeing a student record that
does not exist.
The registrar contact info is above for anyone who wants to see which
way they can resolve it .... I would hope that if anyone does, they
post the info, just as I have, regardless of which way it falls. :-)
In my opinion, it doesn't really matter .. Judyth notes in her book
that she withdrew and then audited the class ... and also claims she
audited two other semesters (one in 1961 and one in 1962), one being
conversational Russian.
When one audits cl***** there is no paper trail. :-)
What matters here is the bigger part of the claim .. that the class
was created and staffed FOR her and that "first" class, because of her
timing with the science fairs that semester ...was the Spring semester
of 1960.
Judyth's claim is at odds with the article that lists Manatee Junior
College as already having a Russian class in place by no later than
1959.
The JSTOR link is:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/320654
That links to the page teasing you with the article.<g> From there you
can click around and read about JSTOR and about getting access.
Anyone interested might be able to get access through their local
library, or through a college.
Barb :-)
:
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