On Thursday evening, January 24, 2008, Dr. Charles Greanoff and his American History students from Lakewood High School met at the pavilion at Lakewood Park with twenty or so veterans of the Second World War, their friends, and some family members. Dr. Greanoff is a life-long Lakewood resident, graduate of Lakewood Schools himself, and is now a social studies teacher at Lakewood High School. He opened the evening by explaining that his students have been studying the Second World War. He wanted them to meet and talk with veterans of that war first-hand, because the service of those veterans, the ones present and the others who had given their lives, was an object lesson in living for his students. He wanted his students not just to learn facts in a classroom, but to hear the stories behind those facts.

Among the Veterans who participated was George H. Dennison, himself a veteran of the Vietnam War, who spoke proudly of his father and namesake, one of the original 29 Navaho Code Talkers (again the subject of the social studies curriculum). Mr. Dennison's father had been sworn to secrecy, and it wasn't until shortly before he received the Gold Congressional Medal of Honor in 2002 that his family know of the important role he played in the War.

Jim Quisenberry and other members of the Joint Veterans Honor Guard and the Memorial Day Association demonstrated and explained the military Flag Folding Ceremony. They also thanked the students from Lakewood High who assisted them in placing flags each Memorial Day on thousands of veteran's graves. They reminded the audience that the veterans of the Second World War are getting older and fewer, and asked that more young people step up to assist in placing flags and honoring those who served their country well.

Tom Farkas who served in the Marines on Iwo Jima told the students about his experience as a soldier, not much older than they themselves, caught up in the middle of a battle in a jungle where it was difficult to sort friend from foe.

Many people worry these days about Proficiency Tests and No Child Left Behind. They worry that the responsibility of the classroom teacher to prepare his or her students for tests will take away creativity, those classroom activities that make learning enjoyable, and that encourage students to go on to be life-long learners.

However, watching these students left one with a very different impression. The students were enthusiastic, and the veterans were impressed with their knowledge and the research they had done on topics such as the Battle of the Bulge, the Japanese Internment Camps, Rosie the Riveter, the Battle of Iwo Jima, etc.

Here was a clear picture of what ought to be: a lesson taught that was clearly within the standards and benchmarks set for by the Ohio Department of Education. Obviously, Dr. Greanoff had been, "teaching to the test." However, the lessons his students were learning went far beyond those standards and benchmarks. They were learning lessons for life and this moment in time – again quoting Dr. Greanoff – was, "Only the beginning of their inquiries."