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# Mr. A’s Final Exam
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/mr-as-final-exam/
- Published: 2007-07-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T00:24:14.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Harvey Allen’s grandson, Zachary asks him, as recorded in the last chapter of this memoir, “Should I become a teacher?” It is a good question. It is a question that needs to be asked and answered.

The author answers it in “Mr. A’s Final Exam: The Good, the Comical, and the Absurd.” This memoir, told in the first person, covers the 43 year period from 1959 to 2002 when he worked within the Los Angeles public school system educating the city’s youth. He may not have always succeeded, but he did the best he could with what was given to him.

The theme of this memoir is the educational process at public schools. The thesis is the teachers’ influence depends on the teachers’ involvement with the students.

Allen treats the student as he would like to be treated. He uses stories to show the effects a teacher can have for good or ill on a students’ total schooling experience. He picks out some milestone events in his students lives. If they wanted to improve themselves he was willing to help them do so. He really cared for his students. We need more teachers such as he was.

Chapter one covers his first year of teaching and the adjustments he made to the system. The structure seems choppy in places but he soon centers his memoir on the individual students in the subsequent chapters.

The students covered a vast range of abilities. “Their IQ’s ranged from 85 to 170,” is how he put it for his early class. Another teacher told him, “Harv, don’t concern yourself with trying to reach every kid in class. Just know that somewhere along the line, maybe another teacher will relate better with them. You can’t be all things to all students; nobody can” But he did try.

The subsequent chapters optimistically relate individual stories of students he encountered during his years as an educator.

We watch as he moves up in the system from teacher to assistant principal and then back to teacher. We see a concerned and hands-on type of teacher. He expected the best from his students and they respected him enough to achieve to the best of their ability.

The last chapter acts as a summing up of the points covered in the book. As for the question asked by his grandson, the answer seems to be that your decision should be based on knowledge, that you shouldn’t approach this life choice with blinders on.

This book should be part of the school counselors’ library to be loaned out when a student comes for career advice.

DANE ROBERT SWANSON would like to receive your feedback. Contact him at

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(Photo: Photo courtesy)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 26, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/072607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)