Dan McElderry, left, listens to Dr. Mary Leigh, a humanities instructor, read the Dr. Seuss book ‘You’re Only Old Once,’ which was filled with well-wishes by his colleagues.
Adios, Cuídate, Señor Mac McElderry retires after 24 years of service to ASMSA There is one thing Dan McElderry is extremely proud of about his 24 years of service as a Spanish and arts instructor at ASMSA — he never had to fail a student. That’s not because he felt sorry for students who struggled or gave passing grades to keep his pass rate up. It’s because he never accepted mediocrity, said McElderry, possibly better known as Señor Mac by alumni, students and colleagues alike. “I was a developing teacher before I got here,” said McElderry, who taught 14 years in junior high, high school and university programs before joining ASMSA’s faculty. “I was pretty accomplished but still growing. John Harrison, who was a teacher here, took me aside and said I was taking too much responsibility for students’ failure. He told me not only did I need to allow them to succeed but also allow them to fail. Give them the opportunity to fall on their face, but if they do fall on their face, be there ready to help them. “Most of my students get A’s or B’s and I haven’t had to 2
fail a student. I don’t accept mediocrity. Where are you if you are mediocre?” Many of his tests would be done orally, especially as students moved into more advanced courses. If within the first or second question he could tell a student had not prepared, he would send them out of the classroom with instructions to go study more and come back later. “At times, you’d rather have a fabulous C student rather than a lazy A student. The C student will work his heart out for you. Some of those A students come from their homes thinking they are better than they are. The C students may be more friendly and have a sense of cooperative spirit and a nice semblance of doing homework. Most of our students were dependable, cooperative and creative. That’s what I like,” he said. His methods may have frustrated some students at times, he said. They would ask what he wanted specifically for certain assignments. Whether it was how many pages
