John Richard Schrock
Schrock attended Indiana State University in Terre Haute, where tuition was $8 a semester hour in 1964, completing a bachelor's degree in biology teaching and a master's in science education. He began teaching in Kentucky before he graduated from I.S.U., and completed his degrees during summers. Schrock taught five years in Alexandria, Kentucky middle and high schools and two years at the I.S.U. Laboratory School before going overseas to teach at Hong Kong International School for three years. Schrock completed his Ph.D. in entomology working on insect ecology and systematics at the University of Kansas and, upon graduation, worked for the Association of Systematics Collections for three years. When the A.S.C. moved to Washington, DC, Schrock took the position at Emporia State University, directing biology teacher training. He was on the state biology committee and closely involved in the Kansas evolution debates of 1999. He writes a weekly Kansas newspaper column on education, produces public radio commentaries, and appears monthly on Kansas television.
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A prominent building at the University of Kansas is named after a man from Osage County who spent most of his childhood unable to read and write. Commentator John Richard Schrock brings us the remarkable story of Lewis Lindsay Dyche, the namesake of KU's Museum of Natural History. -
We thought science had eliminated them, but now... some preventable diseases are making a comeback. So why have some highly-contagious diseases returned? Commentator John Richard Schrock thinks the success of vaccines has helped lead to less vaccination. -
Free college might sound like a good idea. But is it? Universities in Asia and Europe have been down this road before and may provide a lessen for America. Commentator John Richard Schrock says America may have reached -- or even surpassed -- its college-able capacity. -
Today, near a mining town in northeast China, a series of massive walls stand as a memorial to the deadliest earthquake of the 20th Century. Commentator John Richard Schrock tells us more about this tragedy, which killed more than a quarter million people in 1976. -
The rescue of young soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave in Thailand provides lessons for school children everywhere, even in Kansas. -
Ten years ago this month, a massive earthquake rattled areas in west-central China, killing nearly 100,000 people. Commentator John Richard Schrock, who has taught and lectured in China for decades, was in the country when the disaster struck and recalls how that nation responded. -
Outgoing Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has been pushing for $600 million in new money for public schools over five years but it's uncertain whether the incoming governor, Jeff Colyer, will follow Brownback's lead. But even with more money added to education, Commentator John Richard Schrock says some of Brownback's goals for education are unreasonable and unrealistic. -
The governor says the state needs to increase public school funding by $600 million in order to satisfy an order from the Kansas Supreme Court. But he's not proposing a tax increase. Neither is the Kansas Legislature, at least not yet. Is there another way? Commentator John Richard Schrock says yes. It's called school consolidation. -
Students at the University of Kansas pass by Snow Hall all the time, but few have any idea about the man for whom the building is named. -
Teachers help shape the future. They do it every day by helping students learn. If all goes well, young students will become successful and productive members of society. But things don't always go according to plan.
