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Show John By RON GEORG Record staff writer After six years as a Park City High School teacher, John Krenkel enjoys the district enough to predict he'll be here in 35 years. Considering his route to Park City was rather haphazard, that's high praise. In the mid-seventies, while he was teaching high school in a city school in Michigan, the American automotive industry was bottoming out. Lay-offs were iminent, but Krenkel didn't figure he would be included. Unfortunately, affirmative action added a variable he hadn't counted on. Suddenly, Krenkel found himself on the furlough list ahead of people with less seniority than him. While he considers himself liberal, Krenkel had argued against affirmative action in the past, so he felt confidant in filing suit against - the Jackson school district when he was laid off ahead of some minority minori-ty faculty members who should have gone before him. He didn't win the suit until two years ago, long after he had already relocated to Park City, but Krenkel is glad to have been supported sup-ported by the Supreme Court. "Affirmative "Af-firmative action says we're not going go-ing to treat others equally, we're going to treat them better. The residue of discrimination doesn't justify that." The residue of discrimination is something Krenkel is familiar with. As a student at Duke University, in North Carolina, he worked with a friend to get blacks registered to vote. As a fervent supporter of civil rights, he had no qualms about going go-ing on Face the Nation to defend his position on affirmative action. Unfortunately, stage fright took over. "It was the most humiliating experience ex-perience of my life," remembers Krenkel. "I'm a person who speaks loquaciously for a living, and I couldn't come up with a word. The editors of the show strung together at least two sentences to make me look borderline mentally competent." compe-tent." Considering his two choices for a career were teaching or the ministry, it's hard to picture Krenkel at a loss for words. When he graduated from Duke in 1971 with his first bachelor's degree, a dual major of history and religion, Krenkel was leaning toward the ministry. His wife, Susan, pointed him toward educa- (ota1 if "x v-i ci CONTEMPORARY WITH CLASS! Spacious 2.500 sq. ft., contemporary 3 bedroom. 3 bath condo features living room and family room with fireplaces and 2 car garage. Relax on one of 3 decks and en)qy your panoramic view of duck pond and ski slopes. Sleeps 8-12 easilyl Excellent as a rental or second home. Fully furnished for $ 1 59.900! Call Today. Susan Bogie 649-3000 - J Vji'f i- " 1 1 renkel brings history from life to his classroom IPairik.CSiiy IPEMe tf 4U . '11 High school teacher John Krenkel tion with one observation. "If you're going to be a minister, you have to believe in God." With this, he realized his interest in religion stemmed from a simple belief in humanity. "God is the courage to be. If existentialists are right about life, why would we go on living one day to the next? That we do is a good reason to believe." Faith in the human spirit and concern for the human condition, seem to be what drive Krenkel as an educator. He often brings up the theories of Malthus, a philosopher who predicted, centuries ago, that the human race would eventually grow too large for the earth to support. sup-port. "A good Malthusian has got to believe we live in an unusual blip of history. We are incredibly fortunate for-tunate to live in this time you'd have to be a fool to say you'd rather live in the past, when your life expectancy was about one," . said Krenkel. fa? Ms& LOW PRICE Extra convenient location, private hillside for back yard. If you're looking for a lot of space for the money, checkout all I.6S4 square feet of this 2 bedroom. 3 bath plus large loft condo. Priced at only $79,900. CALL TODAY! lessReid 649-3000 Kathleen Park City, UT 84060 1910 Prospector Avenue 649-3000 Or at our office location at The Resort Center 3V X - i 'S. ' ., .m - jY Ron Georg "I don't want to sound like Nostradomous," Krenkel continues, "Because I think the human race can come through. What I hate is the triage philosophy of dealing with population. We need to adopt the spaceship earth philosophy. This is a closed system, and it's all we've got." One would expect someone with such a world view to be teaching kids about current issues, about how the world is working and how it can be saved. Krenkel sees that as an irresponsible method. "I taught a course like that for seven years in Michigan," says Krenkel, "The kids were leaving that class without knowing how they got there. I'd like them to know how they got there." Toward that end, Krenkel teaches a traditional curriculum in his history courses. "Some parents will complain; they want their kids to learn something specific,, say, . the French Revolution. I teach LOTS OF ROOM! n 1 : 41 7 9 - "t I hoi PARK WEST CONDO! Trees off back patio with privacy and comfort. 3 bedroom. 2 bath with fireplace. Close to tennis courts. Swimming pool area features year-round outdoor hot tub and children's wading pool. CALL NOW! Nolte 649 8895 that, but not uitil after they understand European History. . What the hell good does the French Revolution do without a background in European History?" Along the same lines, Krenkel is glad to see the stringent curriculum cur-riculum and discipline guidelines Park City has adopted. "I believe in what Jack Dozier has created. He has a vision, and he has the support sup-port of the community and the board of education. This might not work in other communities, but here people realize the graduate is the bottom line." Coming from an avowed liberal, this seems incongruent. However, Krenkel says he is not a knee-jerk liberal, he doesn't simply react to a situation, he considers it carefully. Many people have criticized Dr. Dozier's strict methods, but . Krenkel sees it from a different perspective. "Jack is more responsible respon-sible for the success of Park City High School than any four or five people. Jack is as much in love with the students as anyone. It's tough to think of him that way, but it's there. He doesn't think of students as a just a product." Dinner 6 a.m. Midnight 7 days a week MONDAY Spaghetti Dinner $3.35 "lo'.M.-d green alad. vegetable. g.irlic bread. TUESDAY Chicken-J-ried Steuk $4.85 Whipped potatoes, vegetable, tossed green salad, dinner roll . & huiier. WKDNKSDAY Prime Nib H ounce 96.95 Baked polain, tossed salad, seeelalile, dmnei loll ,v. bulla reggae lwi ii.,U Asked if he thinks setting lofty standards for high school students is a bit hard on adolescents, Krenkel replied, "Yes, we're asking ask-ing a hell of a lot of these kids. But, you don't love a person by making it easier; the world is not an easy place." For a person as ambitious as Krenkel, it certainly is not. While he lives in Heber to avoid Park City's high cost of living, he spends more than half his life in Park City, working with kids. As a coach of the academic decathalon team, along with science teacher Linda Preston, he spends a good number of mornings, afternoons, and Saturdays helping students learn a curriculum which is often completely separate from the school's curriculum. Academic decathalon students are tested on a range of subjects, and the coaches are responsible for covering all of them, or bringing in guests to help. Krenkel and Preston also have one other curriculum to teach now. The two are co-founders of the Park City Institute, a summer program pro-gram designed to expand upon standard high school curriculum uNr CAFE ' TIURSDAY 2 large Pork Chops $5.45 Baked poialo, applesauee, . . i i .n josseu ireen saiau. uiiiiivi '"y Park City friendly family restaurant. As good as the best, belter than the rest. II e also serve u breakfast and luncheon special daily Private parties. No siihsniuiions Thurs. Feb. 1 8th 9 pm Charlie "Alligator" Owen and the Tempo Timers Feb. 1 9th & 20th 9 pm Friday & Saturday Redpine Back Country Rescue Fundraiser featuring Backwash Monday Feb. 22 Park with enrichment courses ranging from literature to robotics. Through PCI, Krenkel will be teaching a course which reflects his devotion to the spaceship earth environmental en-vironmental philosophy. His course, "wilderness ethics" will allow Krenkel to combine his environmental interests with his main hobby, the outdoors. The course will culminate in a week-long week-long trip to the Wind River Mountains Moun-tains in Wyoming. When he's through with his PCI responsibilities, which take over right at the end of the school year, Krenkel will be back to preparing for another season of academic decathalon. Somehow, between all this, Krenkel manages to maintain a family life. He's been married to his wife Susan, a high-school sweetheart, for twenty years now, and they have two sons, Nathaniel and Aaron. Susan Krenkel, a medical technologist at the Utah Valley Medical Center, is active in the Park City Community Church, and their oldest son attends Park City High School. Specials Jet. 224& 248 l ast Park Ci( 649-9868 I- It II) A V Halibut Steak 8 ounces $6.50 Baked poialo, los-ed ercen salad, vegetable, dinner roll l .SV hiiitjT v y ( svirmiAY T-ltone Steak 12 ounce $6.95 Baked pol.iio, toised green alad, vegetable, dinner roll A y miller. SIM1W One half tried Chicken $5.95 Baked poialo, lossed green salad, vegetable, duinei lull A. bin lei . V HI Watch the Olympics on our TWO Wide Screen TV's City Ski Area 649-3500 JESS REID J It I A L I S I A 1 I! |