Sociology prof placed in the spotlight

Michaia Hernandez / Roundup

            James McKeever was born to a dysfunctional and troubled household that turned to violence and substance abuse on a continual basis. All of his brothers and sisters have ended up in jail at least once.

            Though, unlike his siblings, he had never done anything serious enough to get him into legal trouble, he still admits that he didn’t have the cleanest record as a young man. He constantly got into fights, and even involved himself with a bit of gambling.

            When he was 13 years old, he began coaching in what he describes as a low-income, predominantly-Latino park in North Hollywood; to this day, he still trains kids in basketball, baseball and football at the very same park.

            “[Coaching] is what really got me out of trouble,” said the 47-year-old Pierce College assistant sociology professor. “In a lot of ways, the park saved my life.”

            He attributes the impact that the experience made on his life primarily to Bill Dusenberry, the park director at the time he began coaching. Because of McKeever’s youth, many parents protested against allowing him to train their children.

            Dusenberry was unyielding in his decision to let him coach, however.

            “He really stood up for me in a way that no one ever did,” said McKeever. “It really made a big difference in my life.”

            He also lists his family as one of the factors that kept him out of a troubled childhood. He acknowledges that they have been involved with unfavorable practices, but he also says that “they’ve done some good things too,” one of which is make sure that he didn’t walk the same path that they did.

            “People tell me all the time that I’m the exception [among my siblings] in that I made better choices, and that’s not it at all,” he said. “I had things going for me that my brothers and sisters didn’t, and that was them.”

            Placing importance in learning is a somewhat universal practice, but this runs a bit deeper with McKeever. Education is something that he’s immersed himself in, both as a student and as a working professional.

            It took McKeever nine years to go through community college and get his associate degree, because he was “a single father during the recession.” Although he did receive support from his son’s mother, he still struggled.

            “They used to call me ‘James W. McKeever,'” he said. “The ‘W’ stood for ‘withdraw.'”

            Despite the fact that McKeever only attended Pierce as a student for one semester, it is actually the very school that led him choosing sociology as his area of concentration.

            According to McKeever, he deviated from his original plan of pursuing a degree in history to gaining one in sociology after taking a class with Instructor of Sociology Chuck O’Connell.  

            Higher education through the community college system has left such a personal impact on McKeever that he decided to incorporate it once again to his daily life—this time around as a profession.

            “I feel like community college has given me opportunities that I wouldn’t have had if it didn’t exist,” he said. “I mean, who else lets you go to school for nine years?”

            Through his experience with the system in general, McKeever has learned to value not just education through community colleges, but education as a whole.

             “Education represents hope for a lot of people,” he said. “If we take it away, what are they left with?”

            McKeever has always been vocal about his support of accessible higher education. He demonstrated this by speaking at the recent Enough is Enough protest, an effort of Pierce’s student government to raise awareness on the recent budget cuts aimed toward community colleges.

            “When people ask me why I care so much I just want to ask them, ‘why don’t you?'” McKeever said.

            Another thing that impassions McKeever is the issue of equality as it relates to minorities. His drive for raising minority awareness led him to starting Pierce’s Black Student Union.

            According to the club’s Facebook page, one of the goals of BSU is to expand cultural awareness “by being inclusive, not exclusive.”

            BSU member Janae Tyler says that even though McKeever is very vocal about his views and opinions, he “never forces them” on his students.

            “He respects whatever we have to say,” said the 21-year-old psychology major. “You can talk to him about anything, and he’s the same guy both inside and outside the classroom.”

            Tyler isn’t the only one who sees this in the sociology professor.

            “He wants you to have an open mind about everything,” said BSU president Jillian Smith. “He lets you come to your own conclusion.”

            It’s unusual for an instructor to be as willing to share his personal life with his students as McKeever is.

            “It’s great that he shares his life story with us,” said Tyler. “It inspires us to keep pushing forward and never give up, no matter the situation.”

            Of all of his accomplishments to date, McKeever says that what he considers his greatest one is that “[he] tried.”

            “Sometimes, all any of us can do is try,” he added.

Links:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001804664035

http://pierceaso.webs.com/clubs.htm

http://faculty.piercecollege.edu/mckeevaj/