Why Write of Education? Matthew Tulley Speaks

            Matthew Tulley is a journalist for the Indianapolis Star. He is fairly well-known for his column on what goes on inside of Manuel High School. He came to Ball State University to speak about his experiences as a journalist in the classrooms there. Tulley believes that “watching a great teacher in action […] is like watching a concert.” Just as a concertgoer isn’t typically a well-trained musician, Tulley is “not an education expert, just a trained observer.” Tulley spoke fondly of his times at Manuel, he spoke of the teachers and students with a smile on his face. One story he told really captivated me. He told us of two students, Kelly and Allison, whom he encountered shortly after his second Manuel article had been published. He was standing in the hall near two girls, one girl (Kelly) was pushing the other to go speak with Tulley.

            “Can I ask you a question?” Allison didn’t wait for an answer, “Are you gonna write about the kids at Manuel who are doing the right thing?”
            This surprised Matthew Tulley, but he came up with an answer quickly, “Absolutely. I can’t only write about the good things though.”

            Kelly and Allison were both students who had been on the wrong path, but discovered that they wanted to go to college and they wanted to succeed. They were involved in every extracurricular Manuel was able to offer to them so they would have a better chance for scholarships, since they would be unable to afford further education on their own. Tulley wrote about the girls and letters quickly came pouring in asking how people could help the girls pay for their college educations. The article reached Vincennes University, and they offered both of the girls full-ride scholarships.

            Tulley cares about education because he “went to Gary schools. When [he] was ten, [his family] moved to Portage. They saw [he] had all A’s and put [him] in honors classes. [He] immediately flunked.” That is when he learned the difference between schools lied within the school-system. He could get by at Gary, which had a poor educational system compared to Portage, where he later failed all the honors classes he was put into because of the differences between the school systems.