A High School Education

Over the years, I have interviewed hundreds of people for employment. There are many stories that go with these interviews. There have been a number of employment applications on which there have been words misspelled. I could often ignore the misspelling if it was not important to the position. There was one type of misspelling I could never ignore. When the individual misspelled the name of the high school he attended, it always caught my attention because it indicated to me a more serious problem. It indicated a problem with focus.

I cannot imagine someone attending high school and not learning the name of the institution. He had to go past the school’s name posted on a wall, perhaps several times a day. That had to register by osmosis. And what about attending a pep rally for his school, call it Smith High. The cheerleaders always have a participatory cheer that goes, “Give me an S, give me an M, give me an I, give me a T, and give me and H.” Surely the repetition of the high school’s name would have registered itself somewhere. If not, I did not want to hire the applicant. He might forget where we was working or how to find his way there.