SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Earlier today in Milwaukee, a memorial mass honored Dr. Sylvester Kreilein, who died this summer at age 85. He taught German at Marquette High School for 45 years, and I was in his classroom for three of them. So knowing how many of us have teachers out there who touched our lives or made us think differently in one way or another, I wanted to spend a couple of minutes telling you about him. He taught me big things, like how to think about the world. He taught me small but important things like the fact that the object a public speaker stands behind is a lectern, not a podium. The podium, he would always insist, is the platform a speaker stands on. And I have always made sure in all of my reports, from campaign events and political speeches, to say a politician is standing at the lectern.
I was in Kreilein's classroom on the morning of September 11, 2001. Like millions of teachers across the country, he had the gut instinct to throw out the day's syllabus, wheel in the TV and sit quietly with the students, absorbing the enormity of the event and offering comfort in a moment of terror. World politics were front and center over the next few years. And Kreilein made a point to not just teach German in his classroom, but to talk about current events in Europe, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. He didn't impose his point of view. He let us think things through and come to our own conclusions. But he would repeatedly drive home the point that other countries often had very different opinions and perceptions than the United States did, and that that was an important thing to always consider.
For decades, he organized international exchanges, and one of them took me out of the country for the very first time. I'll never forget the weeks we spent exploring Bavaria, getting to know students our own age, the similarities we shared, the differences we had. Every Friday, Kreilein would end the week the same way. He'd cut the lesson short with 15 minutes or so left in class and pass around crinkled, old, photocopied sheets with lyrics of classic German drinking songs, songs like "In Munchen Steht Ein Hofbrauhaus," "Bier Her," "Rosamunde." Decades later, I will confess I do not remember much German. But I remember laughing and singing along, and I do remember the lyrics to most of those songs. So on this Saturday, if you had a teacher like Dr. Kreilein, take a moment and raise a glass, real or imaginary, and toast to their honor.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEUE BOHMISCHE BLASMUSIK'S "ROSAMUNDE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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