Education was a calling for Jesse Stuart. In his books he portrays the teacher as a devoted nurturer, an advocate, and a liberator, rescuing children and their families from decline, illiteracy, social decay, or economic instability. “We educate our people or we perish,” he often said.
Stuart recounts his experiences as a teacher, principal, superintendent, educational reformer, lecturer, and ambassador for education in his books. Beyond Dark Hills, his autobiography of his early years, chronicles his education and early teaching experiences, beginning at age seventeen.
The Thread That Runs So True, designated America’s outstanding book on education in 1950 by the National Education Association, and in print continuously since its first publication, tells the story of his years as a one-room-school teacher and superintendent in Greenup County.
To Teach, To Love collects stories and essays covering the middle part of his career, including his experience teaching in Egypt in 1960-61.
Cradle of the Copperheads, published posthumously, vigorously describes his fights for educational reform against politicians, tight-fisted school boards, and educators who looked out for their own interests instead of their students’ welfare.
Mr. Gallion’s School, first published in 1967, toward the end of his writing career, powerfully illustrates Stuart’s belief in how vital schools are to the life of a community and the success of a nation. Stuart’s book shows how courageous teachers can change the moral and political life of a community. It also demonstrates just how committed Stuart was to education, even when it endangered his life.
Mr. Gallion’s School fictionalizes Stuart’s personal experience, recounting his one-year return in 1956-57 to the principalship of McKell High School, where he had previously been principal from 1933 to 1937. He had just recovered from an almost fatal heart attack that had kept him bedridden the previous year. If education truly needed him, he would risk his health—much to his family’s dismay.
The novel, which he began writing in the winter of 1959, was written about the decline of McKell High School and his reaction to the social decay, the rejection of authority, and the decline of education in America. Set in the 1959-1960 school year, his novel champions Stuart’s core beliefs: that every individual can achieve success through hard work, honesty, fairness, respect for others, a commitment to excellence, and a competitive spirit.
Mr. Gallion’s School elevates Stuart’s personal experiences to heroic proportions. Mr. Gallion, Stuart’s counterpart in the novel, defeats bullies, school boards, and politicians, catches thieves, and restores pride in the school, which wins academic, band, and athletic recognition.
Gallion represents the kind of old-fashioned champion many of today’s readers want in their heroes and students deserve in their schools. And today there are many Greenup Countians, including JSF Board Members Ron Cartee and John McGinnis, who still fondly remember Jesse Stuart as the principal of McKell High School in the 1956-1957 school year.
For more information about Mr. Gallion’s School, contact the Jesse Stuart Foundation, located at 4440 13th Street in Ashland. Call 606-326-1667 or email jsf@jsfbooks.com.
For more information, call 606-326-1667 or email jsf@jsfbooks.com.
James M. Gifford, Ph.D.
CEO & Senior Editor
Jesse Stuart Foundation
Education was a calling for Jesse Stuart. In his books he portrays the teacher as a devoted nurturer, an advocate, and a liberator, rescuing children and their families from decline, illiteracy, social decay, or economic instability. “We educate our people or we perish,” he often said.
Stuart recounts his experiences as a teacher, principal, superintendent, educational reformer, lecturer, and ambassador for education in his books. Beyond Dark Hills, his autobiography of his early years, chronicles his education and early teaching experiences, beginning at age seventeen.
The Thread That Runs So True, designated America’s outstanding book on education in 1950 by the National Education Association, and in print continuously since its first publication, tells the story of his years as a one-room-school teacher and superintendent in Greenup County.
To Teach, To Love collects stories and essays covering the middle part of his career, including his experience teaching in Egypt in 1960-61.
Cradle of the Copperheads, published posthumously, vigorously describes his fights for educational reform against politicians, tight-fisted school boards, and educators who looked out for their own interests instead of their students’ welfare.
Mr. Gallion’s School, first published in 1967, toward the end of his writing career, powerfully illustrates Stuart’s belief in how vital schools are to the life of a community and the success of a nation. Stuart’s book shows how courageous teachers can change the moral and political life of a community. It also demonstrates just how committed Stuart was to education, even when it endangered his life.
Mr. Gallion’s School fictionalizes Stuart’s personal experience, recounting his one-year return in 1956-57 to the principalship of McKell High School, where he had previously been principal from 1933 to 1937. He had just recovered from an almost fatal heart attack that had kept him bedridden the previous year. If education truly needed him, he would risk his health—much to his family’s dismay.
The novel, which he began writing in the winter of 1959, was written about the decline of McKell High School and his reaction to the social decay, the rejection of authority, and the decline of education in America. Set in the 1959-1960 school year, his novel champions Stuart’s core beliefs: that every individual can achieve success through hard work, honesty, fairness, respect for others, a commitment to excellence, and a competitive spirit.
Mr. Gallion’s School elevates Stuart’s personal experiences to heroic proportions. Mr. Gallion, Stuart’s counterpart in the novel, defeats bullies, school boards, and politicians, catches thieves, and restores pride in the school, which wins academic, band, and athletic recognition.
Gallion represents the kind of old-fashioned champion many of today’s readers want in their heroes and students deserve in their schools. And today there are many Greenup Countians, including JSF Board Members Ron Cartee and John McGinnis, who still fondly remember Jesse Stuart as the principal of McKell High School in the 1956-1957 school year.
For more information about Mr. Gallion’s School, contact the Jesse Stuart Foundation, located at 4440 13th Street in Ashland. Call 606-326-1667 or email jsf@jsfbooks.com.
For more information, call 606-326-1667 or email jsf@jsfbooks.com.
James M. Gifford, Ph.D.
CEO & Senior Editor
Jesse Stuart Foundation
