a nationwide project called the Biological Science Curriculum Study. It was an effort
to put together a textbook to show teachers how to teach biology in an experimental
manner – which is much harder than standing in front of a classroom lecturing. Each
spring I would come back to my college and teach this approach.
One year, the professor who had taught me told me something that startled
me. She said, “Myra, you must go back to school and get a Ph.D.” I was astonished.
I had never contemplated such a thing. I thought, “My God, how can I do
that? I have a young child.” She said, “You must find a way, Myra. This is your
destiny.” I had never thought of it before, but I began to apply to the state universities
in our region – including Oklahoma State, which is a really good school,
Arkansas State and Memphis State. I applied to all of them, even though I was
thinking, “How in the world can I do this?” At the same time, though, I welcomed
the idea of preaching about the experimental approach to teaching biology.
I’m afraid that many teachers dull students’ interest in science, because they
teach a whole bunch of words and terms and make students memorize them.
They don’t take students outside and teach them the fun part of science, which
they can see every day. It’s a shame that kids get the wrong idea about science. It’s
not boring – it’s exciting. And that’s how teachers should teach it.
So I decided to get my master’s degree. I got admitted to Memphis State.
Unfortunately, Martin Luther King had just been killed in Memphis. There were
riots, and my family and friends all resisted the idea of me taking my 5-yearold
child and starting a new life there. But I’ve always been hardheaded. So we
started a new life there. I could hear destiny calling me! Seriously! It worked out
very well for me, I must say. Because this was my introduction to the medical
education continuum.
In Memphis I began to teach medical and dental students in the labs as a
teaching assistant. That’s how I made my living in graduate school. Can you
believe I lived on $6,000 a year with a 5-year-old child? Thankfully a church in
the Memphis area subsidized school for my child, and I got Paul into kindergarten
and, later, a good public elementary school. Meanwhile, at Memphis State,
I started gaining research experience with a microbiologist in the graduate program
who was using yeast to dissect a synthesis of the amino acid tryptophan. I
jumped into it. I had always loved chemistry and biochemistry. This researcher
told me: “Myra, you’re too smart for this program. You need to take your GRE
and apply downtown” – to the microbiology Ph.D. program at the University
of Tennessee Health Science Center. So I took the Graduate Record Exam, put
together an application and took it to them right away. They called me up and
wanted to interview me.
As I said, I’m a blonde, and I’ve had a problem with male attention my whole
life. So I put on my frumpiest suit, which my mother had made for me and was
less figure-flattering, put on my biggest pair of eyeglasses, went downtown and
interviewed with them. I got into that Ph.D. program, a really good one. They
gave me a research assistantship. When I told them about my son, the professors
downtown said, “Myra, you don’t want to let Paul go to that elementary school.
16 | Breaking the Mold