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There's a message for young people in 80-year-old's mission
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Published: November 23, 2008
At first blush, Kenneth "Al" Williams of Thomasville might not seem like a poster boy for staying in school.
He dropped out during World War II but rose to the level of plant manager, earning a decent living. It wasn't until this fall, long after he retired from the factory, that he got his general equivalency diploma -- at the age of 80.
But when you hear all of Williams' story, you realize that he is an example for others of the importance of graduating from high school, in a state and region in need of much improvement on graduation rates.
"The Lord was good to me," Williams, a grandfather, told me last week. "But you aren't going to get anywhere today if you don't have a high-school diploma."
His story takes in our changing times, and underscores just how important getting a diploma or GED has become in our transforming economy. Many teen-age dropouts don't get that, even as many of their elders, laid off from factory jobs, return to school, realizing that a GED is the bare minimum needed for economic survival. Many of those teens have heard stories about their grandparents and great-grandparents -- those of Williams' generation -- dropping out and doing just fine.
For a long time in this state, dropouts did do just fine.
Back when Williams was growing up in Thomasville, some folks were rightly proud of their education, but it was a given that you didn't need a diploma to make a good living in a textile, furniture or tobacco factory. Generations had done that before he came along, and a few more generations would reap the factory benefits during his long time on the job. Both Williams' parents worked in factories. Neither finished high school. In fact, as far as Williams can remember, his brother was the first to finish high school in their family.
Al Williams dropped out of Thomasville High School in the 10th grade. His friends were dropping out to join the service, he said, but he was too young. "I just went to work," he said.
He worked his way up to a foreman position at Thomasville Furniture Industries, then up to plant manager at Champion, a plywood company in High Point. He retired from Champion in 1987, but has kept working in assorted jobs ever since.
He began the push for his GED about four years ago. It started when he went by Davidson County Community College's satellite branch in Thomasville. Williams was interested in learning about computers, but a teacher encouraged him to start working toward his GED. He'd never really thought that much about an equivalency diploma.
He studied at the Thomasville branch at his own pace, an hour here and an hour there. In his class were people of all ages, from laid-off factory workers trying to make a fresh start to teen-age dropouts. Almost 200 people earned their GEDs at DCCC in the first six months of this year.
Williams, who was juggling security work with caring for his sick wife, got discouraged a few times. He would let his teacher, Vicki Wilson, know it: "I'd tell her, ‘Well, I guess I'm just stupid.' She'd just raise sand. She'd say, ‘You aren't stupid. Just go on with it.'
"She is one of my best friends."
Wilson said, "I'd say, ‘We don't use "stupid;" that's not in our vocabulary.' He's an inspiration to me and the students. They'd say, ‘Here's an older gentleman who's sticking with it when he really doesn't have to. Why shouldn't I?' "
In September, Williams got his GED certificate in a graduation ceremony at DCCC. Sue Tysinger, who took her GED classes in Lexington through DCCC, also got a certificate then. "I wish I could have gone farther in school earlier," said Tysinger, who is 72 and enrolled in the GED course after being laid off from two factory jobs. She left school in the 8th grade, along with her brothers, to work on the family farm in Buncombe County.
She and Williams talk about the importance of staying in school, or at least getting that GED, to those who will listen. Williams recently gave that message to two young women who had dropped out of school. One did eventually earn her GED, he said.
But thousands more teenagers are dropping out and have no plans to return to school or get a GED. The old folks didn't need high school, some of those dropouts are sure to say.
As Al Williams could tell them, that was then. This is now.
■ John Railey writes editorials for the Journal. He can be reached at jrailey@wsjournal.com.
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