His Story
Buel Dale Faughn taught biology at Caldwell County High School in Fredonia, Kentucky, for forty-eight years, beginning in 1949 and continuing until his nomination in 1997 — by which point he had, as his students liked to note, surpassed the retirement age of most teachers by some twenty-one years and showed no sign of slowing down. Before he ever stood in front of a classroom, Faughn served with the Marines in the Pacific during World War II, fighting at Iwo Jima, and returned home to attend Murray State University on the G.I. Bill, earning his Bachelor of Science there in 1949 and his Master of Arts in 1958. He grew up during the Depression on the receiving end of others’ generosity, and resolved even as a boy that he would someday be the one doing the giving — a resolution that, by his own account, the teaching profession allowed him to fulfill for nearly half a century.
Faughn’s list of honors is extraordinary in both its length and its range: 1996 Kentucky High School Teacher of the Year and Kentucky Secondary Teacher of the Year, Kiwanis Citizen of the Year, the William F. Brown Outstanding Teacher Award, the Valley Forge Teachers Medal from the Freedoms Foundation, the Ashland Oil Teacher Achievement Award, a Tandy Technology Scholar Award, a NASA Honors Teacher Award, and a spot as a finalist for the Teacher in Space program aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. He was also, notably, Kentucky’s Poet Laureate, having published seven volumes of original poetry that he wove directly into his teaching and his community life. Even in his final years in the classroom he continued attending National Science Teachers Association institutes each summer — at the University of Florida, the University of Washington, and the University of Texas among them — treating his own education as an ongoing project he never considered finished.
Near the end of his career, Faughn established a fifteen-thousand-dollar trust fund in memory of his parents to award scholarships to graduating seniors who planned to become teachers, with the first scholarship set to be given in May 1998 — a fitting closing chapter for a man who had spent his entire adult life trying to pass along what education had given him.
Beyond the Classroom
Faughn’s community involvement was as varied as his classroom career was long. He served as deputy director of his county’s civil defense program, helped found a new church where he worked as Sunday School teacher, pianist, assistant organist, brotherhood director, treasurer, clerk, and Bible quiz leader, and volunteered for years as a Boy Scoutmaster after growing up in an isolated area with no scouting opportunities of his own. He directed and participated in St. Jude’s Bike-a-thons, helped organize and served as first president of the Caldwell County Rhyming Poetry Society, gave poetry recitals to civic and educational groups across the state, and became, over the decades, one of the most prolific blood donors in the region — donating sixteen gallons and six pints through regular donation, plus additional contributions through a blood pheresis program.
He also helped conceive and start the Western Kentucky Academic Association, voluntarily coaching his school’s academic team for two years before classes even began in the morning, and he involved his students in national competitions through the Farm Bureau and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, including a Farm Bureau National Rural Youth Talk Meet won by one of his students. Perhaps his signature community project was “The Relevancy of Science,” in which he and his students reached out to the medical profession, pharmacists, farm supply dealers, and the Soil Conservation Service to show that science lived outside the textbook — culminating in an original song, “Science Is Relevant,” that Faughn wrote and one of his students set to music, which the class performed and recorded on video. A competitive runner for seventeen years and an avid bicyclist, he made physical fitness another form of the example he tried to set for the young people around him.
Philosophy Into Action
Faughn framed his teaching philosophy around gratitude and reciprocity: having grown up on the receiving end of others’ generosity during the Depression, he saw teaching as his chance to give back, and he never described himself as “just” a teacher, insisting the profession was the wellspring from which every other profession drew its own practitioners. He saw himself as one worker on an assembly line alongside his fellow teachers, with the finished product being the educated student — “as free of defects as possible,” in his words, with no student a “recall.”
In practice, that philosophy translated into unusually high, clearly communicated expectations paired with warmth: he handed every student a detailed sheet of expectations on day one, discussed each item, gave them his home phone number, and invited them to bring problems straight to him. He believed self-esteem and high expectations reinforced each other, that students were “diamonds in the rough” whose potential a teacher had to learn to see, and that innovation was central to good teaching, particularly in a science classroom where the budget for equipment rarely matched the ambition of the curriculum.
“My approach to teaching is that ‘I GET TO TEACH’, not that ‘I HAVE TO TEACH’. Teaching is something that I thoroughly enjoy. It is something that I voluntarily chose to do, and it would be the same profession that I would choose if I were choosing all over again.”— from his essay, “In the Classroom”
“As a teacher, I see myself as working on the assembly line with other teachers, and our finished product is the educated student, as free of defects as possible. I do not want any of my students to be ‘recalls’.”— from his essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
In His Own Words
“Growing up during the depression, I was often on the receiving rather than the giving end of food and varied ammenities we call essential. At a very young age, with deep appreciation for what others were doing for me, I resolved that some day I would be on the giving end in helping other people who needed me.”— from his essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
“One reason why I love it so: It helps me help my students grow— Much like the flowers, so many whom Burst from the bud and into bloom.”— from his poem, “I’m A Teacher And I’m Proud,” quoted in “Philosophy of Teaching”
“They break the ground; foundations lay— They build great structures—not with clay; The structures that can bless this land, And keep our history proud and grand… The builders are the ones who teach— Influences through the centuries reach.”— from his poem, “Teachers Are Builders,” quoted in “In the Classroom”
“It is the feeling that through the years I have made a positive difference in the lives of boys and girls who were entrusted to my care. It is such a joy to receive letters from students saying how much they have been helped; they make me feel humbled and gratified that I could be a part of their lives.”— from his essay, “In the Classroom”
“In conclusion, may we never try to hide from the big educational issues and pretend that they do not exist. Teaching is far more than just what goes on in the classroom. It involves being active beyond in our professional organizations and in our democratic government.”— from his essay, “Educational Issues”
What Others Said
“Mr. Faughn was the teacher and role model who gave me a career I love as he has so many other young people in the last 48 years. He continues to spread the love of learning to all who come in contact with him. He’s an example for our nation!”— Patsy Kemp-Oliver, District Instructional Supervisor, Caldwell County Schools (Nominator)
“If there ever was a teacher who should be included in the National Teacher’s Hall of Fame, it is Dale Faughn. With twenty years service as a superintendent, I can attest that there are none better than Dale… Dale is one of those rare teachers who throughout his career has been the personification of the tenants of a master teacher.”— Lawrence W. Allen, Superintendent of Education, Jessamine Schools
“I have had the pleasure and privilege of teaching with Mr. (Buel) Dale Faughn for the past 18 years in the science department… His past experiences of 48 years of teaching, conducting workshops, attending seminars and working to start a new church in his community should make him a viable candidate for the American Teacher Awards.”— Daniel F. Beavers, Instructor, Biology Department, Caldwell County High School
“When I was a junior in 1990-91, Mr. Faughn was sixty-five years old and had been teaching for over forty years. Prior to beginning his teaching career, Mr. Faughn fought in the Pacific during World War II. He was with the Marines at Iwo Jima and went to college on the G.I. Bill after the war… He will always be a true ‘Hall of Famer’ in my eyes.”— Aaron Carner, Former Student, Second-Year Dental Student, University of Kentucky
“Within the confines of one’s lifetime, certain individuals stand out as inspirations and motivators. That individual for me is Mr. Dale Faughn. He has motivated and inspired me to teach for 21 years, be an assistant-principal for 2 years, and to be a principal for 3-1/2 years; these accomplishments in spite of both legs and left arm paralyzed by polio at the tender age of four.”— R. W. Oliver, Sr., Former Student and Principal, Caldwell County Middle School
“Mr. Faughn is our most experienced teacher (47 years); and, at the same time, our most enthusiastic. He is here each morning at 6:30 a.m. and often stays late… I know of few individuals who have pursued the career of teaching with such diligence, integrity, and joy.”— Harry Byrd, Principal, Caldwell County High School
“My son, Jason, has had the good fortune of learning under Dale Faughn for the past two years in Biology and Biology II classes. In that time, he has written more papers, researched more topics, created more models, and evaluated more student work than in all of his eleven years of school combined.”— Diane A. Still, Parent of a Student