Quotes About Things That Mattered to Mike Farmer
Mike was passionate about many things in life. Below are some selected quotes about just a few of his passions:
.....and the never ending
About Teaching and Education
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.
Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards; and curiosity itself can be vivid and wholesome only in proportion as the mind is contented and happy.
To teach is to touch the heart and impel it to action.
Why is it that in most children education seems to destroy the creative urge? Why do so many boys and girls leave school with blunted perceptions and a closed mind? A majority of young people seem to develop mental arteriosclerosis forty years before they get the physical kind. Another question: why do some people remain open and elastic into extreme old age, whereas others become rigid and unproductive before they're fifty? .
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theatre.
Education is man's going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.
Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.
- Teaching,
- Education,
- Learning,
- Life-long Learning,
- Space,
- Science,
- Environment and Ecology,
- Nature and the Outdoors,
- Art and Science and the seams where they meet,
.....and the never ending
- Search for Truth and the Unknown.
We can't stop seeking the unknown. We can't stop looking for what we don't understand. How are we going to understand, if we don't seek it?
-- Mike Farmer in a newspaper article
from 2005 about space travel
About Teaching and Education
Why Are Teachers Like The Light From Stars in the Universe??
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
These words from Henry Adams speak to the lasting impact that Mike Farmer had on his students. Below are additional quotes about education and teaching ......topics which Mike was passionate and about which he devoted his life to.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
--- Plutarch, On Listening to Lectures.
A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.
---Brad Henry
Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.
--- Solomon Ortiz
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
― Nelson Mandela
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards; and curiosity itself can be vivid and wholesome only in proportion as the mind is contented and happy.
--- Anatole France, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
To teach is to touch the heart and impel it to action.
--- Louis Sullivan, architect, "Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings".
The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see.
One mark of a great educator is the ability to lead students out to new places where even the educator has never been.
An original thinker and able teacher very soon attracts a large class and vice versa.
--- Alexandra K. Trenfor,
One mark of a great educator is the ability to lead students out to new places where even the educator has never been.
-----Thomas Groome
An original thinker and able teacher very soon attracts a large class and vice versa.
--- Lord Watson, Caird v. Sime (1887),
Why is it that in most children education seems to destroy the creative urge? Why do so many boys and girls leave school with blunted perceptions and a closed mind? A majority of young people seem to develop mental arteriosclerosis forty years before they get the physical kind. Another question: why do some people remain open and elastic into extreme old age, whereas others become rigid and unproductive before they're fifty? .
--- Aldous Huxley
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theatre.
--- Gail Godwin,
Education is man's going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.
--- Kenneth G. Johnson,
Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.
--- G.K. Chesterton,
I truly believe that if Mike Farmer was compiling this compendium of quotes he would insist on including this final quote from a young american in 2007:
I personally believe that U. S. Americans are unable to [locate the U. S. on a world map] because, uh,....... some people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh,..... I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq,..... everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should—our education over here in the U. S. should help the U. S., uh, ......or, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children.
--- Caitlin Upton at the 2007 Miss Teen USA
Remembering Mike Farmer, beloved physics teacher, space enthusiast
His students are now professors, engineers and brain surgeons.
They have impressive degrees of their own, hold chairs in academia, are experts in their fields.
This is Michael Farmer's legacy.
A retired teacher who had taught physics at Riverside High School, Greenville Technical College and the Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, Farmer died Tuesday in a car wreck not far from his home. He was 73.
News of his death spread quickly as former students took to Facebook to remember a mentor who pushed them and inspired them, who wore tie-dye lab coats and neckties depicting famous pieces of art and who was so close to becoming the first teacher in space.
"He was a force to be reckoned with and drove me to strive for, and perhaps beyond, my potential," said Scott Owens, a 1980 Riverside High grad with an electrical engineering degree from Clemson. "I thank him, blame him and credit him."
Farmer was at Riverside in 1985 when he applied for NASA's Teacher in Space program, hoping to become the first teacher in space on the 1986 Challenger mission.
He was selected as an alternate to Christa McAuliffe, one of seven crew members killed when the space shuttle broke apart 73 seconds after take off.
"It was one of the saddest days of my life," Farmer later told The Greenville News.
Still, his fascination with space travel never diminished.
"Most science fails," he said in a 2003 News story that ran the day after the Columbia space shuttle explosion. "If you have a setback, you can't stop."
Farmer applied for the space program again that year while he was the chair of the science department at the Governor's School for the Arts.
Julie Allen, dean and vice president of arts and academics, said Farmer was recruited by the school's founder, Virginia Uldrick, because of his proven teaching abilities.
He was popular with students because he was able to take a subject like physics — all mechanics and gears and formulas — and make it practical, Allen said.
Tim Northcutt, another Riverside grad who now co-owns a local chemical manufacturing company, said Farmer often made students answer their own questions.
He was known for his lab experiments, including one Northcutt can still recall in exact detail that involved a ball bearing, a ramp and a cup on the floor.
"You had to calculate where that ball would land in that cup without knocking it over. No trial and error. It was an A or an F, and you just had to do it," Northcutt said.
Farmer would go on to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. He was a Greenville County Teacher of the Year and won awards from Discover Magazine and the National Science Teachers Association.
Colleagues said the day before his death Farmer was filling in as a substitute teacher at the Governor's School, though he had officially retired in 2012.
He was working on a college-level textbook that integrated the arts and physics. He loved to garden and collected art.
"He never took himself too seriously and encouraged other people not to do the same," Allen said. "He could talk with the custodial staff just as well as he could talk with the president of the school."
By Wednesday afternoon, a website full of photos and favorite quotes had been set up in memory of Farmer at http://mikefarmerofriverside.blogspot.com.
"May the mysteries of space be revealed to you now," one former student wrote. "I'll always see you in the stars."
Farmer is survived by his wife, Libby Higgins, also a teacher at the Governor's School, and a daughter, Kenley Farmer.
by
Words FromMike's Colleagues
Mike was loved by his students and was widely regarded by students and colleagues as being one of the best science teachers in the state. I can remember Mike bringing his students in large numbers to our Junior Academy of Science Workshops when I was director in early 90`s. He always provided the best opportunities for his students. Mike was well-liked by his colleagues and was fun to be around.
He was a former SC Academy of Science (SCAS) President and received the SCAS Governor's Award for Science Awareness and in addition the SC Science Council's Doris Helms award.
My prayers and thought are with Mike`s family and especially to his wife Libby and daughter Kenley. We all will miss our friend Mike Farmer.
Contributed by Dr. Don M. Jordan, USC
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I have such fond memories of Dr. Farmer as a coworker at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, where we worked together from the year 2000 to 2012 when he retired. He continued to work as a substitute teacher.
Dr. Farmer was a great educator of students in the area of science and particularly physics. He was always seeking for ways to show the relationship between science and the arts. Whenever he had some discoveries he shared with his students and they took these ideas and findings and developed projects to show these relations.
I often walked down the science hall and Dr. Farmer was eager to strike up a conversation about the projects.
He was energetic, had a giving spirit, loved gardening and took pride in sharing the fruits of his garden with us.
Each Christmas Libby and Mike gave many of us Amaryllis plants and I had the great fortune of having a “Jack in the Beanstalk” kind of experience each year – My Amaryllis was always the prettiest.
Libby I will plant my Christmas 2014 Amaryllis in my flower bed in memory of Dr. Farmer.
“One mark of a great educator is the ability to lead students out to new places where even the educator has never been.”
Contributed by Lela B. McKnight
Director of Guidance South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities
------------------------------------------------
Dr. Mike Farmer - South Carolina has lost a great man, a teacher, a father and fearless trailblazer in better education methods for high school students of S.C.
I had the distinct honor and pleasure of working with Mike at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts. Mike was third in line for the Christa McAuliffe / NASA Challenger Teacher in Space Program. He was NASA’s Teacher of the Year, as well as Discovery Magazine’s Teacher of the Year. The list goes on.
But one of Mike’s greatest contributions was the way he taught. He would say, “If I can discover what intrinsically motivates a student, and apply that to the way they learn, the rest will fall into place.” one would think that Mike’s method of teaching would be complex… but it was quite simple, he believed in really listening and observing the students. Stating, I’m going to teach the way you learn, rather than, you learning the way I teach. It worked brilliantly…
But, Mike’s greatest accomplishment to date is now…. leaving this world a much better place because of the way he thought and the way he taught.
Thank you Mike Farmer, for bringing some stars to earth.
He was a former SC Academy of Science (SCAS) President and received the SCAS Governor's Award for Science Awareness and in addition the SC Science Council's Doris Helms award.
My prayers and thought are with Mike`s family and especially to his wife Libby and daughter Kenley. We all will miss our friend Mike Farmer.
Contributed by Dr. Don M. Jordan, USC
----------------------------------------------------------------
I have such fond memories of Dr. Farmer as a coworker at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, where we worked together from the year 2000 to 2012 when he retired. He continued to work as a substitute teacher.
Dr. Farmer was a great educator of students in the area of science and particularly physics. He was always seeking for ways to show the relationship between science and the arts. Whenever he had some discoveries he shared with his students and they took these ideas and findings and developed projects to show these relations.
I often walked down the science hall and Dr. Farmer was eager to strike up a conversation about the projects.
He was energetic, had a giving spirit, loved gardening and took pride in sharing the fruits of his garden with us.
Each Christmas Libby and Mike gave many of us Amaryllis plants and I had the great fortune of having a “Jack in the Beanstalk” kind of experience each year – My Amaryllis was always the prettiest.
Libby I will plant my Christmas 2014 Amaryllis in my flower bed in memory of Dr. Farmer.
“One mark of a great educator is the ability to lead students out to new places where even the educator has never been.”
-----Thomas Groome
Contributed by Lela B. McKnight
Director of Guidance South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities
------------------------------------------------
Dr. Mike Farmer - South Carolina has lost a great man, a teacher, a father and fearless trailblazer in better education methods for high school students of S.C.
I had the distinct honor and pleasure of working with Mike at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts. Mike was third in line for the Christa McAuliffe / NASA Challenger Teacher in Space Program. He was NASA’s Teacher of the Year, as well as Discovery Magazine’s Teacher of the Year. The list goes on.
But one of Mike’s greatest contributions was the way he taught. He would say, “If I can discover what intrinsically motivates a student, and apply that to the way they learn, the rest will fall into place.” one would think that Mike’s method of teaching would be complex… but it was quite simple, he believed in really listening and observing the students. Stating, I’m going to teach the way you learn, rather than, you learning the way I teach. It worked brilliantly…
But, Mike’s greatest accomplishment to date is now…. leaving this world a much better place because of the way he thought and the way he taught.
Thank you Mike Farmer, for bringing some stars to earth.
Contributed by Ric Standridge
I'm a realist and a scientist and a teacher....
In 1985, Mike Farmer was one of 112 semifinalists to be the first civilian educator to travel in space on the space shuttle. The educator who was chosen to make the trip was Christa McAuliffe. The Space Shuttle Challenger with Christa McAuliffe on board exploded soon after take off in 1986. Christa was hailed as a hero and rightfully so.
Every teacher who followed their passion, defied the odds, and applied for the space mission was also a hero.
Here's an excerpt from a news article in 2003:
Every teacher who followed their passion, defied the odds, and applied for the space mission was also a hero.
Here's an excerpt from a news article in 2003:
But Michael H. Farmer, a physics teacher in Greenville, S.C., argued that putting a teacher in space was a rational risk.
"I'm a realist and a scientist and a teacher—and throughout history, any time we do exploration we have tragedy," he said. "We can start with Lewis and Clark, and Magellan, and anyone you want to—when you venture into the unknown, you're going to have casualties."
Mr. Farmer, 60, is preparing his own educator mission specialist application, which must be filed with NASA by April 30.
Though his age might make him an unlikely astronaut candidate to some people, Mr. Farmer was one of the 112 semifinalists in 1985 for the original Reagan-era program, and time has not cooled his passion for space.
Now teaching science to gifted and talented students at South Carolina's 250-student Governor's School for the Arts, he said teaching from space would forge new connections between science and the arts.
He said he tells his students now, "If you experience the universe using only your five senses, you're going to miss most of it."
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