Learning in a one-room school nurtured Gerald Richards' love of teaching.

It helped propel him on a 37-year career in education, the last 35 years as a teacher, counselor and principal at Central Junior High School in Cape Girar-deau. He will retire at the end of this school year.

Richards, 58, received a Meritorious Service Award on Friday during the Missouri State Teachers Association district meeting Friday at Southeast Missouri State University. He was one of three educators honored at a luncheon. The others were retired teachers Jim Lawrence of Campbell, Mo., and Arvella "Tracy" Gant of Dexter, Mo.

About 500 teachers from approximately 50 school districts attended the meeting.

Alice Patrick, a Puxico, Mo., English teacher and president of the MSTA's Southeast Region, said attendance at the annual meeting has dropped over the years. In the early 1990s, as many as 2,000 teachers attended.

Patrick said one reason for declining attendance is that teachers now have more opportunities for professional development. Another is that some school districts like Cape Girardeau no longer require teachers to attend the meeting.

Declining attendance didn't detract from the meeting for Richards, who proudly surveyed his plaque after the luncheon.

Richards said a lot has changed in education since he went through first and second grades in a one-room school near Potosi, Mo.

"The wood pile was your jungle gym," he recalled. "The eighth-grade boys brought squirrel rifles to school."

But one thing hasn't changed, he said. A good education still depends on caring, committed teachers.

"Kids don't care how much you know until they know how much you care," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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